transcript (Note: There may be typos due to automatic posting errors.)
randy johnston 00:00
Hello and welcome to the Technology Lab. I'm your host, Randy Johnson, and my co-host, Brian Tankersley. Today I want to talk about the collection and billing platform known as Aiwyn. Now I Go itself has been around for several years, and its fundamental value proposition is to speed up the revenue cycle, submit invoices faster, and help customers get paid faster. . We're getting a lot of attention. There are several different competitors trying to enter this space. Now, as has traditionally happened in many CPA firms, the billing process is very labor-intensive, partner-intensive, takes a huge amount of time, and includes a lot of manual processes. . So internally, it's a big deal. However, for clients, paying can prove difficult. And many of these new platforms allow for click-to-pay methods via email. I do too. You can also pay multiple bills at once. So all these things are very interesting. Brian, what do companies report being able to do with it? Good,
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 01:15
This is also Aewyn's stats. Again, as with any type of presentation, your results will vary. But here, for example, DSO is said to have tripled the collection of online payments and increased the total collection by 41%. 69% of the invoices were paid within 7 days. If there are collection reminders for 89% of invoices that are paid within two weeks at the time of collection, and there are reminders for late invoices paid by customers after one collection reminder, a company may have 42% stated that it received payments from it. These are individual statistics for each company. And they quote it in their presentation, so he's probably the best-in-class use of Aiwyn. But the general approach they're taking here is to build faster, have faster reminders and collections, and make it easier for the other side of the transaction. Yeah,
randy johnston 02:21
Basically, they call the platform Action Intelligence, but it's actually divided into two parts: the billing side and the payments and collections side. And today, the county rated this product as the best product in his 21 and 22 years. I think it's worth paying attention to in that respect. It turns out that the payment and collection system is currently configured as three different components: a command center, customized email sequences, and intelligence based on available client behavior. As such, it appears to integrate well with various practice management systems. That's part of what they've been leveraging. That's because many traditional practice management products are a little clunky on the billing side. Also, the internal processes aren't all that great. So you can think of it as potentially speeding up cash flow, reducing staff frustration, and generally improving the customer experience. That's where a few dollars can go a long way for the company now that I've seen a variety of quotes over the years for what I've done. But, you know, it's clear that if your billing processes are broken, this could help speed them up. Brian, when I think about the billing process for all kinds of practice management systems that I've discussed with clients, most of the time, the partners aren't doing online reviews. It sounds very old-fashioned, but we often empty all our invoices, manually review them, mark them on our desks, and hand them back to management, other team members, staff, I also give it to my seniors. This whole interaction can be overwhelming for those working on the project and asking for additional comments.and
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 04:37
The problem here is that, realistically, with a few exceptions, it exists in the accounting industry. Most of us work with billing software and, by extension, the billing process. It was written before 2000. This means that most of the software is over 25 years old. Understood. All of them are at least 10 years old. So, Chat, what you have to think about here is that back in the day, when you had paper trunks and you could run Excel on your laptop, that's not how we did business. , you may or may not have a dot matrix printer, as we think of it, it's a different era. The problem is that you actually have technical debt around these processes. Those that aren't used don't really update, and many companies don't use their CRM systems or other tools. It's about making it easier for seniors to get more done, better understand what's going on, and have immediate access to the information they need for their customer relationship efforts. So, realistically, I think it can't be helped. Because it actually provides a billing workflow process that is much more modern and much closer to what we see in Fortune 500 companies and the Big Four. Others use implementations in SAP and other similar tools.
randy johnston 06:08
Yes, that makes sense. And, you know, you might point out that a lot of my customers in Iowa are also my customers, so I want to disclose that. But since we're talking about this platform, I'd like to branch out the conversation a little bit. Because most of the companies participating in Iwan today are large companies. And I know some of our listeners work in small businesses. We'll also have another podcast about billing systems like Transfer, or billing systems like CPA Charge or Quick Feed, which are probably easier to adapt to your needs. But if you think about the companies that are on the platform, the process here is justified in order to accelerate the revenue cycle, and that means it's very interesting to introduce Iwan. These are companies that are well known and respected in my opinion. Again, if you watch the video version of this particular podcast, you'll see that they have about 40 or so companies listed in their customer base. And I think at least half of it was something I personally worked on. And I can tell you that we've been talking to companies about their claims process, in some cases for decades, who are trying to get it right. This has clearly become a pain for these large companies. And they recognize the value of this kind of platform. Other large and robust platforms are also discussed here. However, I would like you to think about how you think about your billing cycle. And the day before I recorded this podcast, I got a call from a client I was working with in Oklahoma asking the same question. And that appealed to me. Because I thought they had wired the process very well and had great operations people in place. In any case, I just want to point out that the potential corporate targets here may be bigger than some of you. But I hope you understand conceptually what we're talking about here.
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 08:35
So what I want you to understand is that I want you to think about this. And consider what happened in the era when we created most of our practice management applications. This was the early days of the Internet, dial-up or ISDN, or pre-Internet days. People were smoking in the office, so were we, and you had to go to the office to do anything. Everything was on. The process was all on paper. And the problem that many of us have in our companies is that we haven't updated those practices to use today's paperless workflows. Or even if you go paperless, you've pushed it into email, so you end up with another 10 to 10 emails, and instead of just saying yes or no, you're talking about this and that. You need to check your unstructured data. Approve invoices in the workflow queue. That's what I want to think about here. Even if you don't know if I'm right for you, check it out. If it doesn't quite fit, check your bill. Now, as this podcast goes live, some of you may be stuck with bills from last tax season. Because you're just trying your best to meet a deadline, I highly recommend that you really look at the process and see it in action. And ask yourself, what if I were trying to demonstrate my company's leadership and technology to a new manager or senior manager who came in to acquire me? How embarrassed would I be if I showed them my paper workflow for billing, collections, etc? It's not 1985 anymore. And it's time for us to get our hands on the product. It's time to get the products, tools, and workflows that make you think of 2024. In a world where we have to deliver far more work from anywhere, with far more flexibility than we ever imagined, in the past, not being in the office was as good as dead to them. . Realistically speaking, I think it's important to know what you do when you think about the billing and collections process, and not just me. And. And again, remember that so many of you are eating things that are destroying businesses. But there are two types of companies: those that eat what they crush, and those that are shared chairs, and most companies fall somewhere in between. But especially if you're in a company that eats what you eat, when you start getting into billing and collections and things like that, everyone gets really nervous. Because they are afraid of losing money. My point here is that you can almost always benefit from more timely construction. And with more timely collection, all of your staff will be happier, you're off, you, your partner, and the client, because let's be honest, the client wants to pay you. You just send them money, even a ridiculous bill if you want.
randy johnston 11:44
Well, Brian, I was going to ask if you had any thoughts of breaking up, but that may still be out there. The I go software platform helps you assess, track, and improve your cash flow. So if you're looking for that kind of solution, one of the multiple platforms that Brian and I have reviewed is the one for you. So, any other thoughts?brian
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 12:06
I think I made my point there, Randy. I may have been thinking a little too much here. But frankly, it shows the plumber. Pipes leak all the time. Shoemaker's shoemaker, kids always have holes in their shoes. As you know, we always want to work on our clients' processes. Because they get paid for it. But we don't want to go through the process. And the problem is that we haven't worked on him for a long time. And now we have not received a salary as a result of it, so we have to act on it. If we like money, and if you don't like money, don't worry.
randy johnston 12:39
Okay. Okay. Well, thanks for asking about another accounting technology lab. Let's meet again. how do you do.
