The pressure is on for organizations across a broad swath of industries to integrate AI into their workflows.

In some cases, companies are setting ambitious OKRs, initiatives, and goals around having teams implement and use AI within a matter of months.

Exactly how that should happen isn’t always clear, much less what vendors are out there, how to evaluate them, what AI automation can accomplish, and how people should think about it.

The AI space is very noisy and crowded right now, so there are a lot of accounts receivable automation solutions out there. Unfortunately, when some fall short of their promises, you run the risk of wasting resources and developing heightened sense of skepticism around any AI solution that claims to solve your problems.

After speaking with hundreds of accounts receivable teams, we’ll share what questions you and your finance team should consider before searching for an AR automation solution, what you should ask when you hop on a sales call, and what information you should have beforehand.

‍

Key Takeaways:

• Do your homework before hopping on a vendor call. Define where your AR team spends the most time and where errors or inefficiencies occur.
• Don’t rush into a decision. Focus on long-term value, not just quick wins or internal pressure to embrace AI. Choose tools that integrate with your current systems and ensure that customer data is protected.
• Bring in your tech team early. Understanding access requirements and integration complexity upfront can save time and prevent roadblocks during implementation.
• Document your processes. Clear documentation of workflows, tech stack, and responsibilities makes it easier for vendors to deliver tailored solutions and for AI solutions to operate effectively.
• Ask vendors about data security. Ensure they have protections and protocols in place to handle sensitive financial and customer information safely.

How to prepare for accounts receivable automation

In accounts receivable, you need to exercise due diligence when managing credit memos, investigating potential fraud, and evaluating a customer’s credit risk.

It’s paramount to be as equally discerning when you’re evaluating vendors who will be tasked with processing sensitive customer information and connecting vital workflows for your team.  

The possibilities of what AI can do may feel endless, but here are a few questions that you should consider before hopping on any sales call:

• ‍What are the most manual parts of your process?
• Where is your team spending the most time?
• What parts of your current process will not scale if your company doubled or tripled in size?
• What do you wish you could do today but can’t because of a lack of resources?
• Where is there the most room for human error?
• Where is visibility lacking in the process today?
• Where in your organization or processes do you wish you could be making more strategic decisions and changes that could have larger impacts? AI allows you to make quick and broad changes just by updating policies, whereas change management may make it difficult to enact change.

Answering these questions will help you cut through all the noise, get some clarity on where automation is needed, and create a focused game plan before you meet with any prospective vendor.

‍

How to evaluate accounts receivable automation software‍

A rush to automate shouldn’t be a rush to judgment.

It may be tempting to hop on sales calls as soon as possible to meet a company-wide goal or even be the first team to integrate an AI solution into your workflows, but you also want to make sure your customers are protected and your company is making the right investment.

Here are a few quick tips that will help you find the right accounts receivable automation solution and get it implemented quickly:

• Include someone from your information technology or engineering team early in the discovery process. The type of access that’s needed to work with your existing tech stack can vary widely, especially if a vendor is using AI agents to carry out specific tasks. Vendors typically need API details to create a seamless integration between systems. In other cases, they may need user login details for certain systems. Be sure to ask your vendor what type of access is required for specific systems.
• Work with your team to document current procedures and processes. Apart from making it easy to cross-train colleagues and onboard new hires, documenting procedures and processes will help you transfer that knowledge to your vendor, as well as ensure an AI solution is configured with the same workflows and exceptions.
• Document your current tech stack. Doing this will let your vendor know what software integrations you need.
• You don’t need to have all of the answers or somehow come up with them. Let a vendor pitch you on what they’ve done at other companies and then evaluate if that could be useful for you. If it’s not, then consider another vendor.
• Don’t rush the decision just to bring AI into your organization. It’s easy to get burned these days by saying yes to an AI vendor right away and not seeing the measurable impact from that adoption.
• Always ask for a demo, if it’s not offered to you. Searching for an automation vendor is like shopping for a new car. After doing your research, you’ll probably want to see how it works and take it out for a test run to make sure you’re not buying a lemon. For example, you may want to ask how AI agents work and what they do to drive accounts receivable processes.
• Ensure that solutions can work for your customers and offer you control. Ask vendors how they put up guardrails for the AI, what sort of approval workflows exist, and if they do any custom prompts to tailor the AI to your specific business.
• Ask about AI security and what’s being done to ensure your organization’s data is protected. Some solutions will have a zero data retention agreement with an AI model provider like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. This proof of AI data security ensures that any processed data will only be used to complete a task or process. If a vendor is going to be working with sensitive customer data, such as personally identifiable information, they should have a zero data retention agreement in place.

Getting your ducks in a row and asking the right questions can help you select the right AR automation solution and see results faster.    

‍

Get the AI solution your AR team deserves

Adopting AI for accounts receivable automation doesn’t have to feel overwhelming or risky.

With the right preparation and a thoughtful evaluation process, your finance team can find a solution that streamlines operations, protects customer data, and integrates seamlessly into existing workflows.

AI agents can handle time-consuming, error-prone tasks and free up your team to focus on more strategic work. But that’s only possible when you ask the right questions, vet vendors thoroughly, and prioritize solutions built with transparency, security, and control in mind.

If your team is ready to unlock efficiency and improve cash flow without sacrificing accuracy or customer trust, give Fazeshift a try.

Ask us how we can help you automate complex, high-volume workflows, from creating invoices or subscriptions from contracts to matching incoming payments to open invoices.