Accounts Receivable Automation: A Complete Guide

Accounts Receivable Automation Software - ScienceSoft

ScienceSoft applies 16 years of experience in corporate finance software development to introduce seamless automation of accounts receivable processes.

Accounts Receivable Automation: the Essence

Accounts receivable (A/R) automation is a way for companies to eliminate manual efforts across all A/R-associated workflows, from bookkeeping to cash inflow forecasting to debt recovery. Accounts receivable automation software helps companies effectively manage customer invoicing, receivables tracking, and collection procedures.

A/R automation solutions integrate with CRM, general ledger software, cash management software, and payment gateways. The implementation of accounts receivable automation may take 8–12+ months. Average costs for building accounts receivable automation software range from $140,000 to $400,000, depending on the solution complexity.

ROI for accounts receivable automation can reach up to 390%.

Main Use Cases of Accounts Receivable Automation

A/R bookkeeping

Automate 90%+ of enterprise-wide A/R transaction capture, processing, and recording tasks and achieve 3x+ increase in the A/R team productivity.

Invoicing

Get automated invoice creation and submission to customers to drive 2–3x faster invoicing cycle and eliminate manual billing errors.

Payment processing

Provide customers with seamless digital payment experience and rely on automated payment processing to benefit from 30% improvement in timely cash inflow and get 100% visibility of paid invoices.

Debt collection

Employ AI to leverage fully automated planning, execution, control, and optimization of personalized collection strategies. It brings 25–75% cut in past-due receivables and helps speed up debt recovery.

Accounts Receivable Automation Software: Key Features

Below, ScienceSoft shares a sample feature set that forms the core of A/R automation system.

Trade credit management

  • Assigning and reassigning trade credit terms based on a customer credit history.
  • Pre-built standard (net 30, 45, 90, etc.) and custom trade credit terms.
  • Defining customer discount percentages for early payments / customer penalty amounts for late payments.
  • Multi-department trade credit approval.
  • Creating custom formulas for customer credit rating assessment.
  • Trade credit risk monitoring based on the up-to-date customer credit ratings.
  • Generating credit memos with customizable templates.
Read all

Invoice generation

  • Automated invoice generation based on the data imported from ERP, CRM, customer portal, or order management system.
  • Customizable invoice templates.
  • Multi-currency invoices.
  • Multi-language invoices.
  • Automated calculation and application of taxes, discounts (including those on early payments), additional charges (e.g., interest on late payments, carriage, insurance), and billable expenses.
  • Applying region-specific e-invoice elements, e.g., a unique QR code for e-invoice data validation for Saudi Arabia.
  • Embedding a payment link into an invoice to enable direct payment via a pre-defined payment gateway.
  • AI-powered invoice validation based on SLA/billing guidelines.
  • Pre-defined triggers (invalid account, tax location, or invoice date) to identify suspicious invoices that require a manual check.
  • Signing invoices using an e-signature.
  • Multi-department invoice approval.
Read all

Invoice submission

  • Automated invoice submission to customers via email, messaging apps, or a connected customer portal.
  • Incorporating a “Pay now” button into emails to enable direct payment via a pre-defined payment gateway.
  • Sending invoices:
    • in advance/on delivery
    • by schedule/on the spot
    • on a single/recurring basis
Read all

Payment processing

  • Real-time payment processing via the connected payment gateways (e.g., PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net, or a custom payment gateway).
  • Support of multiple payment methods, including bank transfers, wire transfers, ACH, credit cards, cheques.
  • Multi-currency payments.
  • Co-payments.
  • Partial payments, including deposit payment.
  • Split payments.
  • Automated payment collection by direct debit.
  • Automated allocation of received payments.
  • Cash refund/chargeback to the customer’s original payment method.
Read all

Invoice tracking

  • Recording invoice data in the A/R ledger.
  • Real-time invoice tracking by status (sent, received, partially paid, paid, due, overdue, etc.).
  • In-app/email user notifications on due invoices (on due dates), received payments, invoices written-off to bad debts, etc.
Read all

Dunning management

  • Automated customer notifications about upcoming payment card expiries.
  • Automated payment retry in case of payment failure based on pre-set retry rules.
  • Automated scheduled notifications on a payment method failure if a customer failed to complete payment.
Read all

Reconciliation

  • Automatically aggregating data on the amounts received from the company bank accounts.
  • Automatically matching the aggregated payment data with open invoices.
  • Recording full/partial payments against outstanding invoices.
  • Reconciliation of the A/R ledger end balance (against monthly bank statements).
Read all

Deduction management

  • Deduction validation based on automatically matching deduction claims with the existing customer commitments.
  • Automatically assigning deduction processing to the staff members performing deduction resolution.
  • Multi-department deduction approval.
  • Automatically sending customer notifications on denied and approved deductions (via email, messaging apps, customer portal).
  • Assigning credit memos to customers upon valid deductions.
  • Applying changes to invoices / invoice records based on approved deductions.
Read all

A/R collection planning

  • Creating collection queues by priority based on invoice aging and customer credit profile.
  • Automated creation of collection schedules.
  • Collections tasks assignment/reassignment.
Read all

A/R collection communications

  • Personalized collection notifications to customers (via email, messaging apps, a customer portal), tailored by language, frequency, tone, etc.
  • Scheduled collection phone/VOIP calls.
  • Single view/record of all collection-related interactions with customers.
Read all

Customer self-service portal

  • Portal customization to match changes in corporate branding.
  • Setting up location-based portal content and ads.

For customers:

  • Adding, saving, and updating personal info, billing details, including tax IDs, and payment methods, including payment card details.
  • Managing subscriptions (update, cancel, pause, etc.).
  • Paying bills, making advance and automated recurring payments.
  • Tracking paid and outstanding invoices.
  • Creating disputes and attaching supporting documents to claim deductions/chargeback.
  • Live chat, submitting support tickets via a portal.
Read all

Analytics and reporting

  • Real-time analytical dashboards and configurable ad hoc reports on revenue, received, due and overdue amounts, DSO, debtors, aging balance, etc. (by customer, date, and more).
  • Scheduled monthly reports on A/R totals, A/R turnover ratio, etc.
  • On-demand customer statements by time period.
Read all

Security and compliance

  • Multi-factor authentication.
  • Role-based access control.
  • Payment data encryption.
  • Invoice timestamping.
  • Comprehensive audit trail.
  • AI-based fraud detection.
  • Customer data retention and deletion policies.
  • Compliance with global regulatory standards, including GAAP (specifically ASC 606 and IFRS 15), SOC1 and SOC2, PCI DSS, SOX, GDPR (for the EU), ZATCA (for Saudi Arabia), and more.
Read all

Speed Up Cash Inflow with Robust A/R Automation

ScienceSoft’s team is ready to plan and build robust accounts receivable automation software to streamline your collection efforts with powerful bespoke functionality.

Key Integrations for Accounts Receivable Automation Software

To ensure timely and accurate A/R data collection and eliminate double data entry across disparate systems, ScienceSoft recommends integrating A/R automation solution with the following systems:

Key integrations for accounts receivable automation software - ScienceSoft

CRM

  • To upload automatically sales orders and quotes from CRM to A/R automation software and enable input of relevant data when generating invoices.
  • To upload automatically real-time data on paid/open invoices from A/R automation software to CRM to match payments received/dunning or payment delay details to the appropriate CRM records.

General ledger software

To upload automatically data on invoices paid/due/overdue from A/R automation software into the general ledger application to provide relevant data for financial close and financial reporting.

Cash management software

To upload automatically data on the amounts received across a company’s multiple bank accounts from cash management software into A/R automation software for faster invoice reconciliation.

Customer portal

  • To upload automatically up-to-date customer personal info, billing address, payment methods, subscription details from a customer portal to A/R automation software for accurate and timely invoicing.
  • To upload automatically invoices from the A/R automation solution to the customer portal to enable customers to pay invoices via the portal and view their invoice and transaction history.

BI tool

To upload automatically data on the amounts received, due and overdue, and customer interactions on debt collection from A/R automation software to the BI tool to create reports on the forecasted A/R performance.

Success Factors for Accounts Receivable Automation

ScienceSoft’s consultants have defined important factors that help bring the customer additional value across A/R management workflows.

Real-time A/R data collection

To enable high visibility into the current status of the money owed to an organization (paid/partially paid/due, etc.) and ensure timely actions on debt collection.

Fully automated invoice generation

To eliminate manual errors in invoices and ensure rapid invoice creation for timely submission to customers.

ML-powered A/R forecasting

To predict accurately various A/R parameters (e.g., expected payment dates on invoices, or total accumulated customer debt at a specific date in the future) based on historical customer behavior and payment data analysis.

AI-enabled digital assistant

To automatically capture customer promises to pay from emails, messages, recorded calls, provide automated A/R reconciliation, and recommend optimal actions, time and communication channels for proactive debt collection.

A Featured A/R Automation Success Story by ScienceSoft

StreamServe invoice management software for a mobile operator with 5 mln clients

  • Template-based generation of customer invoices.
  • Designing custom invoice templates and adding marketing materials to invoices.
  • Invoice e-signing.
  • Automated invoice submission to clients via email.

Customer’s benefit: Faster invoice generation and processing, reduced DSO.

Steps to Automate Accounts Receivable

Below, ScienceSoft shares a sample roadmap to accounts receivable automation:

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ScienceSoft’s Tech Stack for Accounts Receivable Automation

Programming languages

Back end

Microsoft .NET

Practice

19 years

Projects

200+

Workforce

60+

Our .NET developers can build sustainable and high-performing apps up to 2x faster due to outstanding .NET proficiency and high productivity.

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Java

Practice

25 years

Projects

110+

Workforce

40+

ScienceSoft's Java developers build secure, resilient and efficient cloud-native and cloud-only software of any complexity and successfully modernize legacy software solutions.

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Python

Practice

10 years

Projects

50+

Workforce

30

ScienceSoft's Python developers and data scientists excel at building general-purpose Python apps, big data and IoT platforms, AI and ML-based apps, and BI solutions.

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Node.js

Practice

10 years

Workforce

100

ScienceSoft delivers cloud-native, real-time web and mobile apps, web servers, and custom APIs ~1.5–2x faster than other software developers.

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PHP

Practice

16 years

Projects

170

Workforce

55

ScienceSoft's PHP developers helped to build Viber. Their recent projects: an IoT fleet management solution used by 2,000+ corporate clients and an award-winning remote patient monitoring solution.

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Golang

Practice

4 years

ScienceSoft's developers use Go to build robust cloud-native, microservices-based applications that leverage advanced techs — IoT, big data, AI, ML, blockchain.

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Front end

JavaScript

Practice

21 years

Projects

2,200+

Workforce

50+

ScienceSoft uses JavaScript’s versatile ecosystem of frameworks to create dynamic and interactive user experience in web and mobile apps.

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Front end Javascript frameworks

Angular JS

Practice

13 years

Workforce

100+

ScienceSoft leverages code reusability Angular is notable for to create large-scale apps. We chose Angular for a banking app with 3M+ users.

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React JS

Workforce

80+

ScienceSoft achieves 20–50% faster React development and 50–90% fewer front-end performance issues due to smart implementation of reusable components and strict adherence to coding best practices.

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MeteorJS

ScienceSoft uses Meteor for rapid full-stack development of web, mobile and desktop apps.

Vue.js

By using a lightweight Vue framework, ScienceSoft creates high-performant apps with real-time rendering.

Next.js

With Next.js, ScienceSoft creates SEO-friendly apps and achieves the fastest performance for apps with decoupled architecture.

Ember.js

When working with Ember.js, ScienceSoft creates reusable components to speed up development and avoid code redundancy.

Mobile

iOS

Practice

16 years

Projects

150+

Workforce

50+

ScienceSoft’s achieves 20–50% cost reduction for iOS projects due to excellent self-management and Agile skills of the team. The quality is never compromised — our iOS apps are highly rated.

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Android

Practice

14 years

Projects

200+

Workforce

50+

There are award-winning Android apps in ScienceSoft’s portfolio. Among the most prominent projects is the 5-year-long development of Viber, a messaging and VoIP app for 1.8B users.

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Xamarin

Practice

11 years

Projects

85+

Workforce

10+

ScienceSoft cuts the cost of mobile projects twice by building functional and user-friendly cross-platform apps with Xamarin.

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Apache Cordova

ScienceSoft uses Cordova to create cross-platform apps and avoid high project costs that may come with native mobile development.

Progressive Web Apps

ScienceSoft takes the best from native mobile and web apps and creates the ultimate user experience in PWA.

React Native

Practice

8 years

Projects

300+

ScienceSoft reduces up to 50% of project costs and time by creating cross-platform apps that run smoothly on web, Android and iOS.

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Flutter

ScienceSoft will save you from double or even triple expenses associated with platform-specific coding by creating cross-platform apps in Flutter.

Ionic

With Ionic, ScienceSoft creates a single app codebase for web and mobile platforms and thus expands the audience of created apps to billions of users at the best cost.

Desktop

C++

Practice

34 years

Workforce

40

ScienceSoft's C++ developers created the desktop version of Viber and an award-winning imaging application for a global leader in image processing.

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Qt

Practice

4 years

Workforce

40

We used Qt to deliver a cross-platform desktop app for a global leader in image processing, a desktop version of Viber, VoIP messenger with over 1 billion users, and an anti-procrastination app acknowledged by The Daily Telegraph and BBC.

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C#

Practice

19 years

Projects

200+

Workforce

60

Our C# developers created the world’s largest PLM software. Their recent projects: development of SaaS for vCIO services management and underwriting software for a global aviation insurer.

WPF

Practice

15 years

Workforce

~40

We have delivered WPF-based solutions for a leading market research company and a global leader in image processing.

Objective-C

We use Objective-C to implement native macOS features in desktop apps.

Python

Practice

10 years

Workforce

30

We use Python for rapid development of cross-platform desktop apps.

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Databases / data storages

SQL

Microsoft SQL Server

Our Microsoft SQL Server-based projects include a BI solution for 200 healthcare centers, the world’s largest PLM software, and an automated underwriting system for the global commercial insurance carrier.

MySQL

We’ve implemented MySQL for Viber, an instant messenger with 1B+ users, and an award-winning remote patient monitoring software.

Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Database is great for handling large volumes of data and varying database traffic: it easily scales up and down without any downtime or disruption to the applications. It also offers automatic backups and point-in-time recoveries to protect databases from accidental corruption or deletion.

Oracle

ScienceSoft's team has implemented Oracle for software products used by GSK and AstraZeneca. We’ve also delivered Oracle-based SCM platform for Auchan, a retail chain with 1,700 stores.

PostgreSQL

ScienceSoft has used PostgreSQL in an IoT fleet management solution that supports 2,000+ customers with 26,500+ IoT devices. We’ve also helped a fintech startup promptly launch a top-flight BNPL product based on PostgreSQL.

NoSQL

Apache Cassandra

Our Apache Cassandra consultants helped a leading Internet of Vehicles company enhance their big data solution that analyzes IoT data from 600,000 vehicles.

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Apache Hive

ScienceSoft has helped one of the top market research companies migrate its big data solution for advertising channel analysis to Apache Hive. Together with other improvements, this led to 100x faster data processing.

Apache HBase

We use HBase if your database should scale to billions of rows and millions of columns while maintaining constant write and read performance.

Apache NiFi

With ScienceSoft’s managed IT support for Apache NiFi, an American biotechnology corporation got 10x faster big data processing, and its software stability increased from 50% to 99%.

MongoDB

ScienceSoft used MongoDB-based warehouse for an IoT solution that processed 30K+ events/per second from 1M devices. We’ve also delivered MongoDB-based operations management software for a pharma manufacturer.

Cloud databases, warehouses and storage

AWS

Amazon Redshift

We use Amazon Redshift to build cost-effective data warehouses that easily handle complex queries and large amounts of data.

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Amazon DynamoDB

We use Amazon DynamoDB as a NoSQL database service for solutions that require low latency, high scalability and always available data.

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Azure

Azure Cosmos DB

We leverage Azure Cosmos DB to implement a multi-model, globally distributed, elastic NoSQL database on the cloud. Our team used Cosmos DB in a connected car solution for one of the world’s technology leaders.

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Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Database is great for handling large volumes of data and varying database traffic: it easily scales up and down without any downtime or disruption to the applications. It also offers automatic backups and point-in-time recoveries to protect databases from accidental corruption or deletion.

Google Cloud Platform

Google Cloud Datastore

We use Google Cloud Datastore to set up a highly scalable and cost-effective solution for storing and managing NoSQL data structures. This database can be easily integrated with other Google Cloud services (BigQuery, Kubernetes, and many more).

Big data

Apache Hadoop

By request of a leading market research company, we have built a Hadoop-based big data solution for monitoring and analyzing advertising channels in 10+ countries.

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Apache Spark

A large US-based jewelry manufacturer and retailer relies on ETL pipelines built by ScienceSoft’s Spark developers.

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Apache Cassandra

Our Apache Cassandra consultants helped a leading Internet of Vehicles company enhance their big data solution that analyzes IoT data from 600,000 vehicles.

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Apache Kafka

We use Kafka for handling big data streams. In our IoT pet tracking solution, Kafka processes 30,000+ events per second from 1 million devices.

Apache Hive

ScienceSoft has helped one of the top market research companies migrate its big data solution for advertising channel analysis to Apache Hive. Together with other improvements, this led to 100x faster data processing.

Apache ZooKeeper

We leverage Apache ZooKeeper to coordinate services in large-scale distributed systems and avoid server crashes, performance and partitioning issues.

Apache HBase

We use HBase if your database should scale to billions of rows and millions of columns while maintaining constant write and read performance.

Azure Cosmos DB

We leverage Azure Cosmos DB to implement a multi-model, globally distributed, elastic NoSQL database on the cloud. Our team used Cosmos DB in a connected car solution for one of the world’s technology leaders.

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Amazon Redshift

We use Amazon Redshift to build cost-effective data warehouses that easily handle complex queries and large amounts of data.

Find out more
Amazon DynamoDB

We use Amazon DynamoDB as a NoSQL database service for solutions that require low latency, high scalability and always available data.

Find out more
MongoDB

ScienceSoft used MongoDB-based warehouse for an IoT solution that processed 30K+ events/per second from 1M devices. We’ve also delivered MongoDB-based operations management software for a pharma manufacturer.

Google Cloud Datastore

We use Google Cloud Datastore to set up a highly scalable and cost-effective solution for storing and managing NoSQL data structures. This database can be easily integrated with other Google Cloud services (BigQuery, Kubernetes, and many more).

AI

Machine learning platforms and services

Machine learning frameworks and libraries

Platforms

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Practice

14 years

Projects

25+

Workforce

10+

A certified Microsoft partner, ScienceSoft creates CRM and ERP solutions powered by Dynamics 365 and optimizes most effectively a range of business operations.

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Salesforce

Projects

10+

ScienceSoft achieves at least 20% increase in sales and 30% improvement in case resolution with well-thought-out and business-tailored Salesforce solutions.

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Adobe Commerce

Practice

11 years

Projects

20+

Workforce

10+

A certified Adobe Solution Partner, ScienceSoft builds on robust functionality of Adobe Commerce to create highly automated and scalable ecommerce solutions.

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SharePoint

Practice

15 years

Projects

100+

Workforce

20+

Solid expertise in SharePoint services has earned ScienceSoft a place in Clutch’s list of Top SharePoint Developers in 2023.

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ServiceNow

Practice

12 years

A certified ServiceNow partner, ScienceSoft offers a proprietary 4-level implementation model that helps deliver the best value from ServiceNow adoption.

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Power BI

Practice

7 years

ScienceSoft sets up Power BI to process data from any source and report on data findings in a user-friendly format.

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SAP SE

SAP products are powerful and intricate. ScienceSoft will help you understand and realize the full value they can offer to your business.

DevOps

Containerization

Automation

CI/CD tools

Monitoring

A/R Automation Costs and Financial Outcomes

Pricing Information

Accounts receivable automation costs vary from $140,000 to $400,000, depending on the automation solution complexity and the scope of integrations.

Want to know the cost of your A/R automation solution?

Get a free estimate

With accounts receivable automation software, you can reach up to 390% ROI, based on Total Economic Impact™ Study.

Financial benefits of A/R automation

  • Up to 80%

    cost savings from automated invoicing

  • Up to 70%

    reduction in debtor coverage costs

  • Up to 50%

    decrease in DSO

  • 30%+

    cut in write-offs

When Custom Accounts Receivable Automation Software is the Right Choice

We recommend opting for custom development in the following cases:

You need accounts receivable management software providing specific features, for example, creating priority rules for payment and collection queues based on your specific trade credit and collection policies.

You need specific integrations with your existing corporate software, which ready-made accounts receivable automation solutions can provide only via costly and time-consuming customization.

You need a highly scalable accounts receivable automation solution that allows continuous evolution and functionality extension when needed.

Accounts Receivable Automation with ScienceSoft

In financial software development since 2007, ScienceSoft helps businesses implement effective A/R automation to improve their invoicing and collection processes.

Accounts receivable automation consulting

  • Accounts receivable automation needs analysis.
  • Assessment of the existing invoicing and payment processing tools and their integration points (if any).
  • Suggesting the optimal A/R automation software features, architecture, tech stack, and integrations.
  • Creating a business case, including cost and time estimates.
  • Delivering an implementation roadmap and risk management plan.
Go for consulting

Accounts receivable automation implementation

  • Accounts receivable automation needs analysis.
  • Accounts receivable solution conceptualization.
  • Architecture design.
  • Accounts receivable automation software development.
  • Integrating the automation solution with the required systems.
  • Quality assurance.
  • User training.
  • After-launch support and evolution.
Go for implementation

Our Customers Say

The invoicing system created by ScienceSoft automates data integration from different sources, invoice generation, and provides visibility into the invoicing process. We have already engaged ScienceSoft in supporting the solution and would definitely consider ScienceSoft as an IT vendor in the future.

Heather Owen Nigl, Chief Financial Officer, Alta Resources

About ScienceSoft

About ScienceSoft

ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and software development company headquartered in McKinney, Texas. Since 2007, we design and develop effective accounts receivable automation software tailored to each client's unique credit and cash collection strategies. Being ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified, we apply a mature quality management system and guarantee that cooperation does not pose any risks to our customers' data security.