Introduction
Clarity Payment Hub replaces the manual collections process that finance teams run every week, printing invoices, answering balance calls, chasing Net 30, rekeying receipts, reconciling at month-end, with a branded self-service portal, automated dunning, payment reminders, pay-by-link, ACH auto-debit, and real-time ERP posting that compounds the cash flow gains and improves the billing process over time. Typical Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) drops 30 to 50 percent within 60 to 90 days, and cash flow improves as fast as the dunning cadence, payment patterns, and broader collections process run. The finance team stops chasing volume and starts managing exceptions. Accounts receivable automation is the umbrella term for the shift, and Payment Hub is the AR automation software layer and automation solution that delivers it without replacing your ERP. AR automation is what separates teams that compound cash flow gains from teams that scale headcount; the right AR automation software treats the accounts receivable process as a system to engineer, not a queue to staff.
What AR collections software actually replaces
The manual accounts receivable collection process consumes most of an accounts receivable management team's week. The accounts receivable collection process today still spans inbound calls, manual updates, and follow ups across multiple tools. Printing and emailing invoices, answering "where is my invoice?" and "what is my balance?" calls, running aging reports, working exception queues by hand, sending payment reminders on a staff-maintained schedule, taking card and ACH payments over the phone, manual data entry and rekeying receipts into the ERP, reconciling cash at month-end. Almost every step of that AR process cycle is mechanical, and almost every step is something AR automation software handles.
Before Payment Hub, the collections process looks familiar to any accounts receivable manager. The accounts receivable process before automation has the same shape across most teams. The accounts receivable team emails or prints invoices one at a time. Customers call to ask "what do I owe?" and "can you resend invoice 12345?". The accounts receivable team runs aging reports inside the accounts receivable system to figure out who to chase. Dunning reminders and follow ups go out manually from a staff-maintained spreadsheet. Phone-in card payments get keyed into a virtual terminal and then again into the ERP. Net 30 means 30 days of waiting plus late payments after the chase calls on day 31, day 35, day 45. Month-end cash reconciliation takes two or three days of accounts receivable time. Disputes, unpaid invoices, and short-pays live in spreadsheets or email threads.
With Payment Hub running the AR process and the broader accounts receivable collection process, invoices sync to the branded portal the moment they post in the ERP. Customers self-serve invoice lookup, aging, balance, and receipt history around the clock. Payment Hub's AR automation runs aging and surfaces only exceptions to the accounts receivable worklist. Automated AR automation dunning sends branded emails plus pay-by-link on the schedule you define. AR automation removes the rekey: tokenized one-click payment by card, ACH, or wallet eliminates the rekeying and manual effort. Net 30 converts to authorized ACH auto-debit on the due date. Cash receipts post in real time visibility, cash flow visibility, and real time insights, so cash flow updates with each transaction, so month-end reconciliation is hours rather than days. Disputes and short-pays get captured in the AR automation portal with a full audit trail back to the ERP.
The shift is not "AR people work harder" or "replace AR with software." It is "stop your AR team from doing the repetitive manual tasks and mechanical work and manual processes that software should be doing, and free their time for the exception handling, relationship, and cash flow analysis work that actually moves the business." Payment Hub is the automation software layer that sits between your customer and your ERP. The customer experience gets better (self-service, mobile-first, 24/7). The accounts receivable team experience gets better (exception-only worklist, automated cash application). The CFO experience gets better as credit risk falls (DSO drops, working capital improves, cash flow accelerates, bad debt falls). And no one changes ERPs to get there. AR automation is the lever; the AR automation software is the vehicle; the accounts receivable process is what gets engineered. Cash flow improves because invoices clear faster, not because Net terms got shorter.
How Payment Hub automates the AR process
Eight financial operations capabilities of the automation software do the heavy lifting on the AR automation side. Each one replaces a manual step the accounts receivable team runs today, and together they form the AR automation software stack and automation solution inside Payment Hub. The result is an AR automation solution that closes the gap across the entire AR process. The AR automation solution applies the right cadence per segment between invoice posting and cash receipt.
Branded self-service portal
Customers log in to your URL under your brand to see outstanding invoices, aging, credits, payment history. The portal lists outstanding invoices by aging bucket so customers see what they owe, and receipts. Mobile-first and available 24/7. Replaces inbound balance-inquiry and invoice-copy calls almost entirely.
Automated dunning (email and SMS)
Scheduled reminder cadence you configure per segment: pre-due, due, past-due at 3, 10, 30, and 60 days. Branded templates, open and click tracking, and escalation routing and structured follow ups and timely reminders when a customer does not respond.
Single-use signed pay-by-link
Every dunning email carries a deep-link that opens the portal pre-authenticated at the specific invoice. Customer clicks, authorizes with a saved card or ACH method, and the payment posts. The path from email open to paid is around ninety seconds.
Tokenized one-click payment
Saved cards and bank accounts live in the gateway's PCI vault, not on your infrastructure. Repeat customers pay in one click. Raw PAN never touches Payment Hub or your servers, which keeps you in SAQ A PCI scope.
ACH auto-debit for Net terms
Replace Net 30 with authorized customer payment via tokenized ACH auto-debit on the due date. The customer keeps the 30-day timing; you eliminate the chase cycle, DSO drops, cash flow accelerates, financial health improves, and write-offs fall and late payments decline. NACHA authorization capture is handled automatically.
Configurable payment plans
Publish plan offers (3-month, 6-month, 12-month flexible payment options) with rules you define. Customers self-select plans from the portal, authorize the recurring schedule, and the ERP reflects the plan balance with scheduled dates. The accounts receivable team only sees requests outside policy.
Collections worklist and aging dashboard with real time analytics and real time visibility
The accounts receivable team sees only the accounts that actually need attention: dunning-unresponsive, overdue accounts, disputed, past payment-plan lapse, delinquent accounts, high-exposure. Aging buckets for overdue invoices at 30, 60, 90, and 120-plus days. Each row tracks the customer, the overdue invoices count, and the exposure, sortable by amount, with one-click drill to customer detail and action buttons.
Real-time ERP posting
Every cash receipt, credit application, dispute status, and payment-plan schedule writes back to your ERP the moment the customer acts. No overnight batch, no CSV import, no manual tasks like cash application at month-end.
The automated collections workflow, invoice to receipt
A concrete walkthrough of what happens from the moment an invoice posts in your ERP to the moment the customer's payment clears and closes the invoice. No accounts receivable staff involvement except at the exception stage.
01 Invoice posts in the ERP. Your ERP generates an invoice as it always has: same line items, same tax, same PO reference, same terms. Clarity Connect picks up the new invoice in real time and mirrors it to the branded portal plus the customer's notification inbox. The ERP stays unchanged.
02 Invoice-posted email to the customer. The customer receives a branded email with the invoice data including invoice number, amount, due date, and a single-use signed pay-by-link. One click opens the portal pre-authenticated at that invoice. Tokenized saved payment methods appear automatically for repeat customers.
03 Dunning cadence runs silently until payment. The reminder schedule and follow ups run per your rules (based on customer segments, for example: 7 days before due, on due date, then at 3, 10, 30, and 60 days past). Every reminder carries a fresh pay-by-link. Open and click tracking feed back to the worklist so the accounts receivable team can see who is engaged versus unresponsive.
04 Customer pays, any method, any time. Portal, pay-by-link email, mobile, MOTO via AR staff, or scheduled auto-debit. Multiple payment methods including Card, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, or Amazon Pay where configured. Tokenization happens at the gateway vault; raw PAN never touches Payment Hub or your servers.
05 Cash receipt posts to the ERP in real time. The moment the gateway authorizes the transaction, Payment Hub writes the cash receipt to your ERP through Clarity Connect, applied to the correct invoice, against the correct customer, in the correct GL account. Aging, balance, and invoice status update immediately.
06 Exceptions bubble up to the worklist. When implementing AR automation, if a customer disputes, short-pays, lets the invoice age past 60-plus days, or misses a payment-plan installment, the account surfaces in the AR worklist with context (history, exposure, authorization artifacts, last engagement). The accounts receivable team works the roughly 5 to 10 percent of accounts that actually need judgment.
07 Month-end reconciliation is already done. Because every receipt posted in real time throughout the month, the reconciliation work that used to eat two or three AR days at month-end is already complete. Your controller sees a clean cash and AR tie-out and the GL is current.
Industries where AR automation wins hardest
Every vertical benefits from accounts receivable automation, but the magnitude of DSO reduction and cost savings varies with invoice size, customer volume, and the manual-chase baseline. Payment Hub applies the right collections workflow per industry automatically.
B2B Distribution and Wholesale
The single biggest accounts receivable automation win in the Clarity book. Net 30, 45, and 60 terms; commercial-card programs; and call-in payments all convert to tokenized portal self-service plus ACH auto-debit. Typical DSO improvement is 35 to 55 percent in 60 to 90 days.
Manufacturing
Progress billing, milestone invoices, balance-on-delivery, and dealer-network commercial-card flows: every pattern where the back-and-forth between AR and the customer eats calendar days. Milestone invoices get paid in one click from the portal; deposits on sales orders are automated; dealer commercial cards qualify for Level 3 savings. Typical DSO improvement is 30 to 50 percent.
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Patient self-pay is the largest uncollected segment for many practices. Automated dunning plus payment plans plus a mobile-first portal plus HSA/FSA acceptance converts aged receivables into monthly-plan revenue. Typical patient-balance collection lift is 25 to 45 percent.
Nonprofit and Fundraising
Pledge receivables, event-invoice collection, and foundation-grant disbursements all benefit from automation. Recurring ACH on sustaining giving has meaningfully lower churn than card. Typical pledge-collection lift is 20 to 40 percent.
Education
Tuition, fees, activity charges, continuing-ed registration: volume-heavy AR that benefits from self-service plus payment-plan automation. Multi-year plans on ACH avoid card-expiry churn. Typical tuition-plan compliance is 90-plus percent on-time.
Government and Public Sector
Permit, license, utility, and commercial-supplier AR. Automated dunning within fee-pass-through rules, CEDP Level 3 on commercial cards, and portal self-service for citizens and vendors. Typical accounts receivable labor hours saved: 40 to 60 percent.
Professional Services and Agencies
Retainer collection and project-invoice follow-up are where professional services lose the most AR time. Auto-debit on retainers and pay-by-link on project invoices collapse the cycle. Typical invoice-to-paid lift: same-day on 60-plus percent of retainers.
Subscription, SaaS, and Membership
Dunning, retry, and involuntary churn on recurring billing is a solved problem when the dunning cadence, retry logic, and card-updater flows are automated. Payment Hub handles all three. Typical involuntary-churn reduction: 40 to 70 percent.
Eight verticals, one accounts receivable automation layer. Payment Hub applies the correct AR pattern per vertical out of the box (the dunning cadence, the payment-plan rules, the portal copy, the payment-method mix) so a distributor on Sage, a clinic on Epicor, a nonprofit on NetSuite, and a school on Oracle all get the automation that fits how their industry actually collects money. One 48-hour rollout covers every vertical you operate in.
DSO, cash flow, and the better cash flow management and healthy cash flow math
Accounts receivable automation is not a brand play. It is a working-capital play. Here is where the compression comes from, with honest math.
Where DSO reduction comes from
Three mechanisms compound. First, customers pay earlier when the portal makes it one-click to do so, especially on mobile, and especially when the reminder email carries a deep-link into the invoice. Second, Net 30 converts to authorized ACH auto-debit on the due date for customers who opt in, which eliminates the grace period, ensuring timely payments and consistent timely payments between "due" and "paid." Third, real-time ERP posting means the invoice closes the moment the bank confirms: no overnight batch, no CSV-import delay, no manual cash application. These three layers typically combine to drop DSO by 30 to 50 percent inside the first 60 to 90 days, which is the consistent cash flow swing that actually justifies the AR automation journey investment in financial health.
Working-capital impact (worked example and cash flow forecasting)
A B2B distributor with $50M annual revenue and a 50-day DSO is carrying about $6.85M of AR at any moment ($50M times 50 divided by 365). Drop DSO to 30 days, a 40 percent compression, and AR carries about $4.11M. That is roughly $2.74M of working capital released. At a 7 percent cost of capital, that is about $192,000 per year in saved financing cost, on top of the direct cost savings on AR labor and improvements in credit management and the reduction in bad debt.
Full-stack savings against that same example: roughly $192,000 in annual financing cost, plus around $90,000 in redeployed AR labor, plus roughly $100,000 in bad-debt reduction, totals about $382,000 per year against a Payment Hub subscription that is a fraction of that and goes live in 48 hours.
Other hard savings
Payment processing optimization: payment processing on commercial cards with Level 2 and Level 3 data enrichment typically save 0.5 to 1.0 percent per transaction, automatic on every eligible transaction through Payment Hub. ACH substitution: moving high-dollar invoices from cards to ACH auto-debit can save 2.0 to 2.5 percent per transaction on the shifted volume (roughly $200,000 to $500,000 per $10M of B2B card volume reassigned). Bad-debt reduction: authorized ACH auto-debit and automated dunning typically reduce write-offs by 30 to 60 percent on segments converted. Finance teams and AR staff productivity: balance-inquiry volume falls about 70 percent, manual cash-application time falls about 80 percent, freeing AR headcount for exception handling and relationship work.
The point is not that every number above applies to every customer. It is that the mechanics are known and the math is repeatable. In a 30-minute discovery call we will pull a rough before/after model against your own AR book.
ERP integration, your AR system stays the book of record
Payment Hub does not replace your ERP. Clarity Connect, the accounting system integration engine under Payment Hub with 15-plus years of active development and 25-plus ERP connectors, syncs bidirectionally with your existing AR system and other existing systems and accounting software in real time. You keep your chart of accounts, your customer records, your aging logic, and your GL structure. Payment Hub is the customer-facing accounts receivable management and accounts receivable automation layer on top.
Inbound from ERP
Customers, contacts, open invoices with line items, account balances, credits, payment history, aging, and statements: all in real time via each ERP and accounting software supported API layer.
Outbound to ERP
Applied cash receipts, tokenized payment-method references, payment-plan schedules, dispute reason codes, short-pay deltas, credit-memo applications, and address updates: written back the moment the customer acts.
25-plus ERP connectors
NetSuite, Acumatica, Dynamics 365 BC and F&O, Dynamics GP and NAV, SAP S/4HANA Cloud and ECC, Sage 100 and 300 and Intacct, Oracle EBS, Epicor P21 and Kinetic and Eclipse and Eagle, Infor SX.e and CloudSuite, SYSPRO, Workday, Tyler, and more.
No ERP modifications
Clarity Connect uses only documented, supported integration points. No schema changes, no ERP-side custom code, no schema changes across ERP systems, no plugins to maintain across upgrades. ERP-vendor-compliant. For cloud ERPs (NetSuite, Acumatica, Dynamics 365 BC, SAP S/4HANA Cloud), Clarity Connect talks directly to the ERP's cloud APIs. For on-premise ERPs (Dynamics GP and NAV, Sage 100 and 300, SAP ECC, Oracle EBS, SYSPRO, Epicor P21 and Eclipse and Eagle) we use a lightweight outbound-only secure agent that calls from inside your network: no inbound firewall ports to open, no VPN tunnel, no public ERP exposure.
Reporting, real time visibility, and AR performance metrics
Accounts receivable management is judged on a small set of numbers: DSO, aged balance by bucket, collection efforts per FTE, and the percent of customer payment received on or before the due date. Payment Hub gives finance teams real time visibility into all of them. Real time analytics dashboards roll up by customer segment, by ERP company, by sales rep, or by industry vertical, and core metrics like first-attempt collection rate, average days to pay, and payment behaviors per segment surface without a manual export. Forecast cash flow on a rolling basis using the same data, so the CFO has cash flow forecasting that ties back to specific overdue accounts and delinquent accounts. Healthy cash flow is no longer a quarterly conversation; it is a daily metric.
Security, PCI scope, and NACHA compliance
Accounts receivable process automation touches payment credentials, customer data, and authorized debits. Clarity Payment Hub, as accounts receivable automation software, is built to push your deployment to the lightest compliance scope available across all three.
Tokenization at the gateway vault. Cards and ACH accounts are tokenized directly at your gateway's PCI-scoped vault. Raw PAN and raw bank credentials never touch Payment Hub's infrastructure and never touch your servers.
SAQ A PCI scope. Because cardholder data is captured and stored entirely inside the gateway's environment via hosted fields or tokenization SDK, your PCI self-assessment drops to SAQ A: the lightest self-assessment available, with no cardholder-data environment to audit.
NACHA-compliant ACH authorization. Every recurring or one-time debit captures NACHA-required authorization (electronic signature or audit-trailed click-to-authorize) and stores the artifact for the NACHA-required two-year retention window. SEC code selection (WEB, PPD, TEL, CCD, CTX) happens automatically based on transaction context.
Portal authentication controls. Invoice-bound authentication, customer-matched billing addresses, single-use signed Quick Pay links, and session controls tuned for B2B and industry-specific fraud patterns.
SOC 2 Type II. Clarity Ventures operates to SOC 2 Type II standards. Security, availability, confidentiality, and data-handling controls are independently audited on an ongoing basis.
Outbound-only agent for on-premise ERPs. No inbound firewall ports. No VPN tunnel. No public ERP exposure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does AR collections software actually replace?
It replaces the manual collections cycle that consumes most of an AR team's week: printing and emailing invoices, answering "where is my invoice?" and "what is my balance?" calls, running aging reports in the ERP and working exception queues by hand, sending dunning reminders on a staff-maintained schedule, taking card or ACH payments by phone, rekeying receipts into the ERP, and reconciling cash at month-end. Clarity Payment Hub replaces each of those steps with a branded self-service portal, automated reminders and follow ups, pay-by-link emails, tokenized one-click payment, real-time ERP posting, and a collections workflows that only surface true exceptions for AR to work.
How much does DSO actually drop?
A typical Payment Hub rollout drops Days Sales Outstanding by 30 to 50 percent within the first 60 to 90 days, depending on vertical and starting point. The compression comes from three places: customers pay earlier because the portal makes it one-click to do so (especially on mobile); Net 30 converts to authorized ACH auto-debit on the due date for customers who opt in; and real-time ERP posting eliminates the reconciliation delay between receiving a payment and closing the invoice. The effect compounds because cash flow as DSO drops, working-capital needs drop with it.
Does Payment Hub send the reminder emails, or do we still use our AR system?
Payment Hub sends the reminder emails (and SMS where configured) on a schedule you define per customer segmentss, for example: 7 days before due, day of due, 3 days past due, 10 days past due, 30 days past due. Each reminder is branded, includes the invoice detail, and carries a single-use signed pay-by-link that opens the portal pre-authenticated at that invoice. You control the cadence, the customer communication, and the copy; Payment Hub handles the send, the open and click tracking, and the escalation routing when a customer does not respond. If you already use a dunning tool you prefer, Payment Hub can be the payment page the reminders link to while the other tool handles messaging.
How does Payment Hub handle disputes and short-pays?
When a customer disputes an invoice from the portal (or pays a partial amount with a reason code), Payment Hub captures the dispute reason, holds further dunning on that specific invoice, posts the dispute status to the ERP, and routes the case to an accounts receivable queue with the customer's contact details, invoice history, and authorization-to-pay artifacts attached. Partial payments are accepted and posted as short-pays against the invoice with the outstanding AR balance staying open; both customer and AR see the remaining balance clearly. Dunning resumes automatically on the remaining balance only; the fully-paid portion stops generating reminders.
Can customers set up their own payment plans?
Yes, within rules you define. Payment Hub lets you publish payment plans offers (for example, "invoices over $X are eligible for a 3-month auto-debit plan at 0 or 5 percent") that customers self-select from the portal. The customer authorizes the plan, Payment Hub schedules the installments against a tokenized card or ACH, and the ERP reflects the plan balance with scheduled dates. No AR approval is required for standard plans; AR only gets alerted on plan requests that exceed the rules (unusual dollar amounts, high-risk customers, out-of-policy extensions).
How does this integrate with our ERP?
Payment Hub syncs bidirectionally with your ERP through Clarity Connect, the integration engine with 25-plus ERP connectors including NetSuite, Acumatica, Dynamics 365 BC and F&O, Dynamics GP and NAV, SAP S/4HANA Cloud and ECC, Sage 100 and 300 and Intacct, Oracle EBS, Epicor P21 and Kinetic, Infor SX.e and CloudSuite, SYSPRO, Workday, and others. Customer data, open invoices, credits, payment history, and aging flow from the ERP into the portal in real time; cash receipts, payment-plan schedules, dispute status, and credit applications flow back the moment the customer acts. Your AR system remains the book of record; Payment Hub is the automation layer on top.
What happens to AR headcount? Do we cut staff?
Most Clarity customers do not cut AR staff after switching to automated follow ups. They redeploy them from reactive collection efforts and ad-hoc dunning into higher-value work: reviewing the small set of exceptions Payment Hub surfaces, managing disputes, negotiating terms with slow-pay customers, analyzing aging trends, payment behaviors, customer payment behaviors, and key metrics, and supporting customer satisfaction and customer success. The automated systems eliminate the volume work (invoice lookups, status questions, manual payment entry, dunning queue and managing overdue payments and other manual tasks), not the judgment work. In high-growth businesses, AR typically holds flat in headcount while invoice volume grows two to three times, which is the real win.