How Better Integration Helps Microsoft Dynamics Finance Teams Get Paid Faster and Spot Problems Earlier

This article is sponsored by Flywire.

If you're a finance leader running Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP, you already understand that accounts receivable represents a key intersection of financial management and business performance. It’s about getting paid faster, keeping days sales outstanding (DSO) low, and catching payment issues before they turn into major cash flow headaches.

Through our latest research and our work with B2B companies we have found that a focus on properly connecting the systems, data, and workflows behind the entire invoice-to-cash process both improves AR metrics and gives financial teams new tools to spot the bottlenecks that delay payments and drive up DSO.

Where Dynamics Finance Teams Feel the Strain

We recently surveyed 300 U.S. finance leaders who manage accounts receivable, cash flow, and collections, and 92% said their AR workloads had increased over the past year. And 81% felt their teams spend too much time on manual work that could be automated. 

In addition, 70% said that they have the data, but they don't have the insight to know who to follow up with and when, and 50% said that they still lack real-time visibility into the status of their invoices and the progress of payments.

For Microsoft Dynamics users, the challenges start outside the ERP. While Dynamics may hold the invoice and customer data, payment details and activity often live in other systems. That makes it harder for finance teams to get a clear picture of who may pay late, which invoices are stuck, and which payments still need attention.

In our view, building a better integration capability means pulling invoice, payment, remittance, and dispute data together around Dynamics so finance teams can see everything in one place. Otherwise, they'll spend their time chasing details instead of using those details to improve collections and forecast cash more confidently.

How Poor Integration Can Drive Up DSO

Our research also shows how integration problems can slow down collections. When we asked finance leaders about the biggest internal barriers to getting paid faster, 26% pointed to manual data entry between systems, and 26% said it was following up on overdue invoices. Another 25% cited cash application and reconciliation, while 23% said it was hard to know which accounts to prioritize first.

On the customer side, 35% of finance leaders said disputes slow things down, and 33% said customers run into payment problems, either because it's hard to complete a payment or there aren't enough payment options. Just as important, 83% said poor integration between AR, ERP, and CRM systems is a challenge, and the same percentage said they don't have enough visibility across their AR systems.

For Microsoft Dynamics finance teams, these problems often show up in familiar ways. Payment data doesn't always flow smoothly back into the ERP, and teams still have to match remittance details by hand.

Not only that, but collections teams often have to jump between Dynamics, bank portals, and AR tools to figure out what's going on with a payment. That can slow the invoice-to-cash process and add days to collections.

This is where stronger integration starts to pay off. When Dynamics is more tightly connected to AR automation and payment workflows, teams can cut down on manual work, apply cash faster, and get a clearer view of what's happening between the invoice and the payment. Those improvements help drive better B2B payment performance and put finance in a stronger position to keep DSO under control.

Turning Payments Data Into an Early‑Warning System

By tying invoice data in Dynamics to payment and remittance information, finance teams can spot issues sooner.

For example, a customer may pay late because the payment process is too hard, a short payment may be caused by fees or confusion about the invoice, or a payment may be left unmatched because important details are missing. These are the kinds of issues that can drive DSO higher and rarely show up in an aging report until they’re already a problem.

That's why we think finance leaders should see integration as both a way to improve efficiency and as a tool for creating a clearer view of what's happening.

Why Cross‑Border Payments Raise the Stakes

The challenge gets even greater when companies are collecting from customers in multiple countries. Although Microsoft Dynamics may be used to create the invoice, the payment often happens outside the ERP through bank transfers, cards, or local payment methods. That leaves finance teams trying to pull together payment timing, remittance details, fees, and foreign exchange information from different systems.

In our report "ERP Systems and Cross‑Border B2B Payments: Expectation vs. Reality," nearly nine out of ten finance professionals told us they believe their businesses could save money if more of the cross‑border receivables process were integrated with their ERP systems. 

Eighty-seven percent said they would like to offer additional payment methods to help reduce DSO. At the same time, more experienced global companies were almost twice as likely as soon-to-be-global firms to report challenges with payment reconciliation, local‑currency invoicing, FX, and higher DSO.