Brian Gaynor, European Chief Executive at BlueSnap
Fear may be the mind-killer, but the growth-killer for B2B businesses? That’s manual invoicing.
Despite rapid digitisation across procurement, logistics, and customer experience, many B2B organisations still rely on offline invoicing and fragmented payment processes. These legacy approaches slow order-to-cash cycles, tie up working capital, and create unnecessary friction for customers who increasingly expect digital-first payment experiences.
Across sectors, from manufacturing to technology services, companies that fail to modernise are losing the efficiency gains their competitors are achieving through integrated financial systems. Finance teams spend hours on manual reconciliation that could be spent analysing trends, forecasting cash flow, and enabling business growth.
What was once a back-office inefficiency is now a significant commercial risk. As customer expectations evolve and competitive pressure increases, businesses that fail to modernise invoicing and payments are finding it harder to protect cash flow, scale operations, and maintain customer loyalty.
Manual invoicing blocks growth
Manual invoicing drives inefficiency across finance, sales, and operations. Outdated offline billing methods both slow and complicate payment collection, resulting in sluggish order-to-cash cycles, tied-up working capital, and overstretched resources.
For mid-market companies, these inefficiencies can accumulate into high costs. Each delayed invoice or payment dispute can ripple through procurement schedules, inventory management, and even supplier relationships, making slow invoicing a competitive liability rather than a minor inconvenience.
Increasingly, invoicing and payments are no longer isolated finance functions. They sit at the intersection of finance, sales, and operations, influencing forecasting accuracy, cash planning, and commercial decision-making. When invoicing remains manual and disconnected from ERP and commerce systems, leadership teams lack real-time visibility into receivables performance, making it harder to manage risk, plan investment, or respond quickly to market changes.
Recent IDC data shows that organisations adopting digital accounts receivable platforms see finance teams become up to 50% more productive. This efficiency gain translates into faster reconciliation, improved cash forecasting, and more time spent on strategic financial management rather than manual administration.
Finance teams can redirect this time to scenario planning, credit risk assessment, and identifying cross-departmental efficiency gains. This holistic view of operational finance can inform board-level strategy and investment decisions, ensuring the business remains agile in volatile markets.
Customer experience is also directly impacted. In a world where buyers expect seamless digital payments, friction in the invoicing process results in lost revenue, lower average order value, and weaker customer loyalty.
Automation delivers measurable ROI
Modern accounts receivable automation is proving its value across B2B operations. IDC’s data shows a 13% increase in average order value for businesses using digital AR platforms. By integrating invoicing and payment experiences into commerce and ERP systems, organisations can present upsell and cross-sell opportunities at the point of payment. This is something that offline processes often make difficult.
Over a three-year period, companies adopting digital AR solutions achieved an average of 391% return on investment, equating to nearly $400,000 in average annual benefits per 1,000 customers. These gains compound as transaction volumes increase, positioning invoicing infrastructure as a key enabler of scalable growth rather than a fixed operational cost.
Significantly, the ROI extends beyond finance. Sales teams benefit from faster payments, freeing them to focus on revenue-generating activities rather than chasing overdue invoices. Operations can plan with greater certainty, knowing that cash flow projections are more reliable and actionable.
Competitiveness depends on digitisation
Digitising invoicing is about more than operational efficiency; it’s central to staying competitive in 2025 and beyond. Rising interest rates and economic uncertainty make cash flow management a top priority. Online invoicing improves cash flow visibility, reduces Daily Sales Outstanding (DSO), and frees finance and sales teams to focus on revenue-generating activities.
The customer relationship benefits are equally important. Streamlined digital processes reduce friction, helping retain customers and strengthen customer loyalty. As younger, digitally native professionals increasingly occupy senior roles, the expectation for smooth, integrated payment experiences will only grow.
Companies that fail to adapt risk eroding brand trust and losing repeat business. Conversely, businesses that digitise their AR workflows demonstrate responsiveness, reliability, and an understanding of modern buyer preferences, qualities that drive long-term customer retention.
Putting it into action
For B2B leaders, the question is no longer whether invoicing should be digitised, but how quickly it can be integrated into core commercial and financial systems. In an environment defined by tighter capital, higher customer expectations, and increased competition, invoicing infrastructure has a direct impact on cash flow resilience and revenue growth.
Businesses that continue to treat invoicing as a low-priority back-office function risk falling behind more agile competitors that use digital AR to improve visibility, accelerate cash collection, and strengthen customer relationships.
Implementation doesn’t require a complete overhaul. Many mid-market firms begin by integrating invoice automation with existing ERP or e-commerce platforms, then scale up features such as recurring billing, automated reconciliations, and real-time reporting. These incremental improvements quickly accumulate into measurable business impact.
As B2B organisations plan for growth beyond 2025, putting invoicing and payments online is not an operational upgrade; it is a strategic investment in financial control, customer experience, and long-term competitiveness. Executives who prioritise digital accounts receivable now position their companies to respond faster to market fluctuations, optimise cash utilisation, and unlock growth opportunities that manual invoicing simply cannot support.
