Guide to order-to-cash

By Qvalia  |  Updated September 2026

Order-to-cash (O2C) is the end-to-end process a business follows from the moment a customer places an order to the moment payment is received, covering order management, credit checks, fulfillment, shipping, invoicing, accounts receivable, payment collection, and reporting.

Your sales team has worked hard to find new clients and convince them that your solutions are ideal for their circumstances. When it comes time to order, the last thing you want is for a frustrating transaction experience to muddle an otherwise sure-fire sale.

When it comes to high-volume business-to-business (B2B) transactions, there’s a lot at stake. Having a formal and well-planned out process for B2B payments is paramount to improving your customer experience and encouraging long-time partners to continue working with you.

Improving your sales in B2B commerce is all about simplifying the customer experience, as there are many roadblocks and speed bumps along the way that you have a chance to smooth out. Customers not only have to choose the right products and services that will give them value for their money but also have to work through purchase orders, invoices, and other documentation during the ordering process. Other steps like the use of credit cards add to the cost of the process and come with extra bureaucratic burden to work through, for you and your customers.

For this reason, the finance sector has a name for all the order processing a business handles: the order-to-cash (O2C) process.

In this guide, we’ll explore what the O2C process is, why it matters, and its key components.

Order-to-cash est un sous-ensemble de votre processus de vente global. Lorsqu'un client passe une commande, vous effectuez ces actions afin de livrer les biens ou les services et de recevoir le paiement.

A common mistake online retailers make is treating business clients as if they were consumers. Companies make up a large part of the consumer base and have unique needs that should be addressed in O2C. B2B and B2C transactions differ in several ways:

We typically consider sales and marketing to be the steps preceding O2C as you attempt to push for conversions from potential buyers, but these efforts are not entirely absent from the O2C process either.

Similarly, even after the order is fulfilled, businesses still continue to record the activity and find new ways to optimize the procedure. These steps are also considered part of order-to-cash.

We will go into detail regarding every step of order-to-cash later on. For now, think of O2C as an umbrella term for order management, credit checks, invoicing, shipping, payment, accounting, debt collection, and other actions related to the fulfillment process.

Business-to-business refers to the business relationship between companies, for example when a company provides products, services, or both to another company in exchange for money. The customer involved is always another legal entity, organization, company, governmental organization, or NGO.

This is the case for business-to-business (B2B) payments; for example:

B2B typically involves larger cash amounts and may be, but not always, more logistically complex compared to B2C (business-to-customer). The result is a generally longer, slower process as more verifications and decisions must be made throughout.

Thanks to the rise of the “as a Service” economy, B2B transactions are likely to increase greatly in the coming years.

It should be clear as to why order-to-cash deserves attention. It directly contributes to your bottom line, whether you are selling to customers or obtaining invoices for a major purchase from another business.

By taking action regarding your order-to-cash process, you also put yourself in a position to adopt new technologies and trends that will put you ahead of the competition. For instance, roughly a quarter of B2B payments are still made by paper check rather than electronically, which leaves plenty of room for process optimization.

The exact payment methods used in these transactions depend on what the suppliers prefer, but the following are some general types. B2B is not as straightforward as B2C, as most of us rely entirely on credit cards or cash whenever we go to a store.

Invoices are the most common transactional document used by sellers. Invoices define the specifics of a transaction, including date of sale, the invoice number, both the supplier and customers full name, address, VAT identifiers, the quantity, description, price, and payment terms for the goods and services, and more.

Invoices can be paid through a variety of methods. Here are a few of the most common options:

De nos jours, l'argent liquide est assez rare, qu'il s'agisse de B2B ou de B2C. Il n'est pas toujours pratique d'avoir tout cet argent liquide en main en même temps, et vous devez vous trouver physiquement à proximité de votre fournisseur pour que la transaction puisse avoir lieu. Les espèces posent également des problèmes de sécurité lorsqu'elles sont envoyées par la poste. Ne vous attendez pas à ce qu'il s'agisse d'un facteur sur le marché actuel.

Just like cash, paper checks have the usual inconvenience and risk of cash. Similarly, processing checks is error-prone and time-consuming. Checks now account for just 26% of B2B payments, down from 81% two decades ago, and the method is rapidly losing traction in favor of digital options.

Wire transfers have one of the fastest processing times of any B2B payment method, as the funds can generally be used by the receiving party within 24 hours. Wire transfers can be costly to complete, but are ideal for international payments.

L'ACH consiste à transférer directement de l'argent d'un compte bancaire à un autre. En raison de la quantité de paperasserie qu'il implique, il est peu probable qu'il soit utilisé pour des achats ponctuels, mais il est très utile pour les paiements répétitifs. En effet, il est relativement rapide et ses frais sont peu élevés. N'oubliez pas cependant qu'il n'est disponible qu'aux États-Unis et qu'il peut être difficile de revenir en arrière en cas d'erreur. Il y a aussi le problème de la protection de la vie privée, puisque vous devez communiquer vos informations bancaires pour que le paiement ait lieu.

Credit cards and ACH are already some examples of electronic payments, but another that’s gaining attention in the B2B space is the virtual card. It’s generally free of fees, fast to use, and secure. Expect to see it in the near future for business transactions. As with any credit card, one of the main downsides is the processing fees.

Certains fournisseurs de services font office d'intermédiaires entre l'expéditeur et le destinataire de l'argent. Le fournisseur de la passerelle collecte l'argent et le dépose en toute sécurité à destination. Un exemple bien connu est Stripe. Les passerelles de paiement peuvent être utilisées pour des transactions uniques ou récurrentes, mais n'oubliez pas que vous dépendez de l'expertise du vendeur de la passerelle lorsque vous l'utilisez.

Payment solutions optimized for business customers, with capabilities to send invoices in various formats upon checkout. Authentication of customers can be managed via integrated workflow apps or mandatory accounts with secure log-ins.

Le processus order-to-cash peut être décomposé en plusieurs étapes générales : gestion des commandes, gestion du crédit, exécution, expédition, facturation, comptes clients, recouvrement des paiements et rapports.

Le point de départ du processus order-to-cash est le moment où le client passe une commande, qui peut se présenter sous la forme d'un formulaire :

Regardless, the order management phase begins here. Use automation to notify everyone involved about the order and the next steps for it. Only then can you ensure fast fulfillment and order accuracy. The result will ultimately be a satisfied customer and more revenue for you.

Si cet achat est le premier pour un client particulier, des vérifications de solvabilité peuvent être nécessaires. L'automatisation peut aider à prendre en charge la majeure partie du travail, tandis que les employés du service financier peuvent s'occuper des cas qui nécessitent une supervision plus complète.

La gestion du crédit est en grande partie le travail du service des comptes clients, car elle permet aux clients qualifiés de passer à l'exécution tout en veillant à ce que votre entreprise n'offre un crédit que lorsqu'elle en a besoin.

Les solutions d'automatisation sont utiles pour conserver des enregistrements en temps réel lorsqu'ils sont nécessaires. Elles peuvent également vous aider à numériser vos commandes afin que les détails pertinents soient toujours lisibles. Les traiter par la voie traditionnelle du papier peut entraîner des erreurs et un manque d'efficacité.

Si vous ne pouvez pas honorer une commande, informez-en le client et procédez à une annulation afin d'éviter de nouvelles frustrations en matière de facturation.

Du côté du vendeur, il est logique de mettre en place des pratiques de gestion des stocks adéquates afin de ne pas être en rupture de stock lorsqu'une nouvelle commande arrive.

La phase d'expédition du site order-to-cash s'appuie fortement sur une logistique précise pour garantir la fiabilité et la rapidité. Les délais d'expédition et les horaires d'enlèvement sont importants pour s'assurer que les commandes parviennent aux clients à temps.

Les retards de facturation sont connus pour ruiner l'expérience du client. Les retards et les inexactitudes sont gênants pour tout le monde, c'est pourquoi l'audit de votre processus de facturation vous aide à planifier votre trésorerie et à minimiser la frustration de vos clients.

The rapidly accelerating shift from analog invoice formats to e-invoicing moves the paperwork into the digital workspace. By utilizing completely digital formats, and emerging exchange networks for business documents such as Peppol, the digital management provides greater efficiency and gives you more control over the content and accuracy of your invoices. The advantages of e-invoicing are numerous:

Le service des comptes débiteurs est chargé de superviser les factures en souffrance et de réagir à toute erreur susceptible de retarder le paiement. Ces collaborateurs doivent généralement plonger dans les données du système order-to-cash afin de pouvoir émettre une facture révisée dans les plus brefs délais.

C'est pour cette raison que l'automatisation de la facturation a fait son apparition. Les factures nécessitent une quantité notoire de travail manuel et de points de données, notamment la date de la commande, les délais d'expédition, les spécificités du produit, etc. Alléger la charge de travail de votre personnel se traduit par une amélioration significative des performances.

Si votre service des comptes clients est suffisamment efficace, il traitera les paiements des clients assez rapidement pour que votre processus O2C puisse les accepter. Dans le cas contraire, vous risquez de créer des frictions avec vos clients et de perturber vos estimations de trésorerie à long terme.

On the other side, you also have to plan for customers being late on their own payments. In this case, the system must automatically notify those clients if they attempt to make further purchases. Your finance teams must similarly review overdue payments and make decisions based on debt forecasts.

Because invoices often have long payment terms that cause issues with cash flow, companies that sell in B2B markets consult with factoring companies. Factoring is the practice of buying up unpaid invoices at a discounted price so that the owner of the invoices gets the cash faster.

Once a factoring provider receives the invoice, that firm takes over the payment process for the invoice. Factoring makes sense when you’re okay with a lower amount as long as you receive it in a shorter time frame. In other words, you are accelerating cash flow by accepting the money before your client has finished paying off the invoice.

La connaissance de ce qui se passe dans votre processus order-to-cash est importante car elle vous permet de comprendre l'impact de ces activités financières sur le reste de votre entreprise :

C'est pourquoi de nombreux logiciels intègrent des fonctions de reporting et d'analyse. Order-to-cash est un processus fortement interconnecté ; une étape retardée peut entraîner des problèmes pour tout le reste. La direction utilise souvent des outils de reporting pour déceler les petits problèmes et les résoudre afin d'améliorer O2C en général.

Businesses must frequently monitor all aspects of the order-to-cash process to make sure everything’s running properly and efficiently. There are several common metrics that experienced management teams look for in this regard.

Also known as DSO, the day’s sales outstanding metric shows us how long it takes for the business to receive the payment after a sale is made. Cash flow can be challenging to keep track of, and managers running the company on credit must know this figure to keep debt in check and track earnings accurately.

How much is the order-to-cash process contributing to the total revenue of the business? The higher this figure is, the more you are earning from selling products as opposed to other sources of income. Most management teams would obviously prefer to maximize this value, and it typically takes the form of a percentage of total revenue.

Full-time equivalent (FTE) is a measure of an employee’s workload. It matters for O2C because you want to know the individual productivity of each staff member related to sales.

If the workload is too high for the number of employees on site, then you have an indicator to assign more staff to that task. Likewise, you might want to drop some people if there are too many.

Mesurer l'ETP est un moyen d'optimiser vos coûts aujourd'hui et de vous aider à planifier l'avenir lorsque vous devrez décider du nombre d'employés dont vous aurez besoin pour un projet ultérieur.

We’ve mentioned before that reporting and analytics matters in the order-to-cash process, whether we’re looking at the supply chain, the inventory management, the manufacturing, or the logistics.

Regular reports give you an up-to-date picture of how smoothly everything is running and allow you to track key performance indicators directly related to O2C.

Tying into the last point, it’s clear that O2C relies heavily on paperwork, data entry, and analytics. These three tasks are all much faster and more reliable on automated software-based solutions as opposed to traditional manual methods. Adopting automation allows you to increase your throughput, minimize delays, and lower the risk of error. It also often results in better analytics and reporting capabilities. So don’t neglect keeping track of your automation rate and automation potential.

Order-to-cash is an essential process, but it’s not without its difficulties. B2B payments can be a hassle to file efficiently for several reasons.

We’re talking about paperwork. From checks to cash, the traditional methods of payment are just too slow for modern-day operations, yet they still make up 26% of all B2B transactions. Converting to digital is an inevitable change that will take some work to get going.

Une grande partie de la facturation effectuée sur le site order-to-cash implique de nombreuses saisies de données et de la paperasserie. Les entreprises s'efforcent de trouver un équilibre entre ce type de travail et des tâches plus importantes que les employés pourraient effectuer autrement. L'attrait de l'automatisation financière réside en partie dans le fait qu'elle permet de libérer du temps pour d'autres tâches telles que la planification stratégique.

L'une des principales conséquences de ces deux problèmes est le ralentissement général du processus O2C. Si vous ne parvenez pas à accélérer ce processus workflow, vous risquez de subir des retards ou de ne pas profiter des remises pour paiement anticipé.

Dans le cas des grandes transactions interentreprises, il faut parfois plusieurs jours entre le moment où une commande est passée et celui où l'argent apparaît sur l'autre compte. Comment vous assurer que votre flux de trésorerie est configuré de manière à tenir compte de ce délai ?

A lot of payment methods require some type of added processing cost, which can add up especially when you have recurring payments. You will have to factor those in when doing your financial planning.

Protecting the sensitive data shared during a transaction matters, as you don’t want to lose the trust of your customers, merchants, or business partners.

Le suivi des flux financiers est important pour assurer la visibilité de vos transactions et vérifier les erreurs potentielles, mais de nombreuses entreprises n'ont pas mis en place les systèmes adéquats pour le faire.

Invoicing software rarely include support for checkout solutions, and traditional payment gateways are, with few exceptions, not optimized for the needs of B2B transactions.

A recurring theme of this guide is the role of automation in solving many of the issues companies today are experiencing with regards to the order-to-cash process.

In addition to the reduced fees of using virtual cards, handling invoices through a B2B payment solution can result in several dollars saved each invoice. These amounts add up for companies managing a lot of orders.

Automation always results in better efficiency, but don’t expect it to take over your employees’ jobs entirely. These solutions aim to supplement the workflow so that human staff can focus on more interesting, and value creating, parts of the job.

Having full visibility into the activities of accounts payable and receivable gives you more options for tracking down payment statuses, managing cash flow, and finding new ways to optimize the entire process.

The threat of cybercrime is always on our mind, but thankfully many O2C solutions have responded with their own built-in security features to protect against fraud, non-compliance, and other potential threats.

Optimal O2C management lies in having access and control over every step of the process at all times. You’ll also need all the extra tools like digital invoicing, support for e-commerce solutions, payment reconciliation, and automated shipping notifications. Only recently have dedicated financial platforms arisen to allow this type of management in today’s workflows.

Order-to-cash includes all the activities, tools, and processes businesses undergo to fulfill an order from a customer. From initial purchase to delivery and the data analytics afterwards, there’s a lot that goes into this complex yet essential process.

Companies that master O2C often experience improved customer satisfaction due to fewer payment delays and setbacks. For instance, having a user-friendly B2B payment gateway in place like Qvalia’s Autobilling on your e-commerce website helps B2B customers place orders without any phone calls, expense reporting procedures, or credit cards. Fewer potential points of frustration mean better sales figures.

Automation has also helped a broad range of businesses achieve reliable O2C processes by eliminating menial tasks and facilitating comprehensive visibility, which in turn results in more ways to optimize B2B transactions.