ARTICLE
Secure deposits on-site
The preferred method of payment by customers in developing countries is cash, meaning that fast growing businesses in emerging markets generate large amounts of collections each month. Until cash collections are transported and deposited in a bank facility, in a machine with bank-grade security, keeping those collections safe in money bags is an issue because it makes collections subject to fraud, theft, and human error. For this reason, businesses require their staff to focus their efforts on manually reconciling and keeping cash collections safe, and transporting money from multiple points of sale to a bank, deviating their time and effort from activities that grow the business. The end result is increased overhead costs combined with reduced efforts dedicated to business growth.
Cash deposit machines, also referred to as reverse ATMs, alleviate this pain point for businesses. Fast growing businesses can install cash deposit machines on-site – which can be configured to meet the needs of your on-site location, be it a shop, warehouse, or a hub. Cash deposit machines are built with bank grade security and can count up to 200 banknotes in 15 seconds, while detecting any counterfeit banknotes. Having cash deposit machines nearby collection points can reduce cash leakages and overhead costs for businesses which will enable their staff to focus on activities related to business growth.
Instant deposit automation and verification
For fast-growing businesses with multiple points of cash collections, managing cash becomes a complex problem. Various delivery agents are responsible for collecting, counting, and verifying the amount of collections generated at each location. The manual interactions of dealing with cash expose cash collections to fraud and error. Foul players can steal a portion of collections and reconcile collections to a lower amount. There is an inherent human error risk that comes from handling large amounts of cash manually. In addition, detecting counterfeit banknotes among thousands of notes is often impossible in practice.
Smart cash deposit machines are interlinked with a Financial OS that provides instant deposit verification at all points of collection, in online and offline environments. Delivery agents can enjoy the benefits of automated counting and verification of banknote authenticity at scale. Once a delivery agent makes a successful deposit in a cash deposit machine, the deposit machine will generate a QR code for the successful transaction. That QR code allows businesses to track delivery agent details, time and amount of deposit, in a structured way across all points of collection. Agents can deposit collections and generate a QR code for the completed transaction offline. Fast growing businesses do not have to wait for days until their collections are transported to a bank and that bank verifies the amount of collections via an online platform. With cash deposit machines, businesses can instantly automate their completed deposit transaction data by installing cash deposit machines near all points of cash collections. The generated QR code upon every successful deposit transaction can be shared offline digitally.
Organisation-wide cash flow distribution and visualization
The need for fast growing businesses to have access to cash collection data in a timely manner is one of the most pressing needs of their operations. The working capital requirements of a business increase as the business grows. In addition, there are multiple points of collection that have different dynamics: some locations generate more cash than others, some locations require more delivery agents than others, some vendors need to be paid immediately while others can wait. It is important for businesses to make these types of decisions in a timely manner, but manual cash collections limit their ability to do so. Thus with manual collections working capital is never optimised.
A smart cash deposit machine interconnected to a financial operating system can provide businesses with real-time access to their cash flow analytics, allowing them to make timely decisions so that they can optimise their working capital. For example, one collection point may be falling behind due to security or renovation needs while another collection point is generating significant collections. A business can view this cash visualization data and divert resources to the lower performing collection point and complete renovations. In addition, it may hire a security guard so customers feel safe to make purchases. One collection point, lets say a shop may be lagging behind with collections due to limited delivery agents. However, at another shop deposit transactions by delivery agents are being completed very efficiently, as seen by the QR codes generated on the interlinked financial OS. With access to this real time data, a business can divert and allocate some delivery agents from the well performing collection location to the one that is being underserved. The business can then track the effectiveness of this reallocation of delivery agents via QR codes generated, and discover the optimal level of agents required at each collection point. Moreover, the real time insight into cash analytics allows a business to optimise their payments to vendors. A business can gauge their digitised collections organisation-wide and pay their vendors in a consistent and efficient manner. Where payments to vendors can be delayed without any disruption to their relationship, businesses can leverage that cash instantly for their working capital needs.
Automated CIT services with real-time data
A holistic solution for financial operations (FinOps) management stacks all services related to digitising the cash collections management cycle into one platform. The financial operating system (FOS) connected to the smart cash deposit machines offers a feature to view all ‘cash in transit services near me’ and can be used to book cash-in-transit services to gain real time visibility by tracking cash in transit delivery in real time via Google maps. Fast growing businesses can handle increased cash in transit (CIT) demand, receive, and review CIT requests from hundreds of users in real time. Moreover, permissioned business stakeholders can review requests, update pickup and drop-off timings on terms convenient for both the business stakeholder and the client. Fast growing businesses can track and complete cash in transit operations, manage differences, upload deposit slips, and conveniently view the entire history of completed orders.