Every finance leader reaches this moment: staring at a whiteboard covered in portal logins, watching their team juggle dozens of customer payment systems, and thinking, “There has to be a better way.” That’s when the question inevitably arises: should we build our own multi-portal AR automation solution, or invest in an existing platform?
It’s a deceptively complex question. The allure of a custom-built solution can be strong, especially for organizations with unique processes or specific integration needs. After all, who knows your business better than your own team? But beneath this seemingly straightforward decision lies a web of considerations that could impact your company’s financial operations for years to come.
The Reality of Building In-House
Let’s talk about what “building your own” really means. This isn’t just about hiring a few developers to write some code. Creating a robust multi-portal AR automation system requires assembling a specialized team that understands not just software development, but the intricate dance of financial systems integration, portal APIs, security protocols, and compliance requirements.
The investment goes far beyond the initial development phase. Every time a customer portal changes its interface, your team needs to update the integration. Every new customer with a different portal requires custom development work. Every security certification needs renewal, every compliance requirement demands updates, and every piece of institutional knowledge becomes critical when key team members leave.
What many organizations discover too late is that building a multi-portal AR automation solution involves challenges that aren’t immediately obvious during the planning phase. Each customer portal has its own quirks, its own way of handling data, and its own update cycles. Your solution needs to be flexible enough to handle these variations while maintaining consistency in how it processes your AR data.
When you’re dealing with financial data across multiple portals, security isn’t just a feature – it’s a fundamental requirement. Your team needs to build robust security protocols that protect sensitive financial information while maintaining compliance with various regulatory requirements. As your business grows and adds new customers, each with their own portal preferences, your solution needs to scale seamlessly. This isn’t just about handling more volume – it’s about maintaining performance while adding new portal integrations and features.
Using Existing Multi-Portal AR Automation Platforms
Contrast this with purchasing an existing solution. Modern multi-portal AR automation platforms offer something compelling: proven results. These systems come with pre-built portal integrations, security frameworks that have weathered countless audits, and features refined through real-world usage across diverse industries.
Think about what this means for your team. Instead of starting from scratch, they could be leveraging advanced features like predictive analytics and automated reconciliation. The question isn’t just build versus buy – it’s whether you want to spend your resources reinventing the wheel or accelerating ahead of your competition.
One often-overlooked aspect of established multi-portal AR automation platforms is the benefit of collective learning. These systems have processed millions of transactions across thousands of portals, learning from each interaction. They’ve encountered and solved problems you haven’t yet faced. They’ve optimized processes based on data from diverse industries and use cases.
This collective intelligence translates into practical benefits. The system can anticipate issues based on patterns it’s seen across its entire user base. When portals change their requirements or interfaces, the platform updates automatically, protecting you from sudden disruptions. You benefit from workflows and processes that have been refined through real-world usage across multiple industries.
A Decision Framework
To navigate this decision, start by taking a deep look at your current AR operations. How many portals do you manage? What are your team’s pain points? What are your specific requirements that might need custom solutions? These questions help establish your baseline needs.
Then, look to the future. Where do you want your AR operations to be in two years? Five years? How might your portal landscape change? What new capabilities might you need? The answers help you understand the full scope of what you’re building toward.
Consider your available resources carefully. How would building a solution impact other strategic initiatives? What’s the opportunity cost of dedicating resources to this project? Remember that every hour spent developing and maintaining an in-house solution is an hour not spent on your core business objectives.
Finally, assess the risks. How would different approaches impact your business continuity? What security and compliance requirements must you meet? How would each option affect your ability to scale? The most successful organizations focus their resources on their core competencies while leveraging specialized solutions for peripheral functions.
Making a Strategic Choice
The true comparison goes beyond simple feature lists. When organizations build their own multi-portal AR automation solution, they’re not just investing resources – they’re betting on their ability to keep pace with the rapidly evolving landscape of B2B payments. Every new payment technology, every emerging security threat, every regulatory change becomes their responsibility to address.
The future of accounts receivable is increasingly digital, increasingly automated, and increasingly complex. Success requires not just keeping up with these changes but staying ahead of them. For most organizations, this means choosing a proven multi-portal AR automation platform that can scale with their business, adapt to new requirements, and provide immediate value.
The decision between building and buying multi-portal AR automation isn’t just about today’s needs – it’s about future-proofing your financial operations. As payment portals continue to proliferate and evolve, the complexity of maintaining a custom-built solution only increases.
If you’re thinking through this right now – let’s chat!
