Fix Finance First: Late Payments Expose Broken Processes (Before You Add AI)

In this candid, rain-spattered car chat from Johannesburg, I unpack a tough truth: chronic late payments are rarely a “client problem” alone—they’re a signal that internal processes (from quotes to POs to invoices) aren’t tight enough. Before racing to adopt shiny tools, get the basics right: visible workflows, clear accountability, and disciplined procure-to-pay. That’s where efficiency, predictability, and cash flow stability begin.

Once finance is flowing, layer on analytics and then AI to scale what already works. This is how you move from firefighting to foresight: dashboards that surface bottlenecks, automations that remove hand-offs, and intelligent assistants that nudge the right actions at the right time. Put finance first; let AI amplify a solid foundation—not mask a broken one.