How Automation is Streamlining Revenue Management
Finances are crucial for both individuals and businesses, especially during times of economic and financial turbulence across the world. To help with managing and safeguarding it, tech solutions have emerged. Our “The Evolution of Wealth Management Technologies” post highlights that tech advancements have become integral in the wealth management landscape. Wealth managers are not just financial advisors but caretakers of customers’ financial lives, and technologies make the job easier.
The same goes for the business realm. In the fast-paced business world, it’s not enough just to have enough capital or regularly earn from customers; maximizing revenue is a constant pursuit. Revenue management, the practice of optimizing prices and inventory to generate maximum profit, has become increasingly complex. This is where automation comes in, streamlining the process and empowering businesses to make data-driven decisions. Here’s how automation is transforming revenue management:
Dynamic pricing
Automation empowers businesses to use sophisticated algorithms to set optimal prices. These algorithms consider a multitude of factors, automatically adjusting prices based on demand, competitor activity, and market conditions. The hospitality industry has long been pioneers in revenue management, and automation takes it a step further. According to HospitalityNet, automation in revenue management empowers revenue managers to make better and faster pricing decisions, which can include the benefit of dynamic pricing. Real-time data analysis allows hotels to adjust room rates based on factors like seasonality, local events, and competitor pricing. This ensures they capture peak demand periods and avoid leaving money on the table during slower times. Dynamic pricing algorithms can even adjust rates based on individual guest profiles, creating a more personalized experience.
Managing complexities
Revenue management can easily become complex, especially as the business grows. Manual procedures can also make things like contract renewal and revenue recognition much more complicated and prone to error. Automation can swiftly and efficiently tackle these processes, regardless of complexity. Softrax’s revenue management software solutions demonstrate how tasks like order management, billing, renewal management, and revenue recognition can all be handled on one platform and accommodate different billing models from subscription to consumption. Automation software can also be integrated into existing systems, automating the flow of order and fulfillment data to trigger billing and revenue recognition. These capabilities can help with tech or software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses, which typically use recurring or usage-based pricing to keep their user base active as opposed to one-time purchases. Companies like Epicor use revenue management solutions to grow and scale their install base and recurring billing, boosting development and customer satisfaction.
Efficient documentation
Aside from complexities, the revenue cycle can involve many time-consuming, repetitive, and menial tasks. Healthcare is one such industry where these tasks can easily pile up and burden revenue managers and revenue cycle leaders. However, automation can streamline processes and return accurate results, such as in aspects of the revenue cycle like clinical documentation. While traditional methods won’t go away, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) may improve coding and other areas that rely on good documentation. Generative AI applications like ChatGPT have the potential to automatically write letters for prior authorizations, medical appeals, and deals, or some post-procedural instructions for patients, which can speed up the revenue cycle. Cost estimates and claims management can also be repetitive aspects of the revenue cycle. Automation can make tackling these tasks easier by limiting human intervention instead of having a staff member undergo lengthy procedures.
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