Australian manufacturers and wholesalers love talking about automation.

• We’ve automated production lines.
• We’ve automated warehouse picking.
• We’ve automated inventory management.

But when it comes to the most critical part of the business — getting paid — most companies hit a wall.

Automation stops cold at the invoice.

The Digital Mirage

On the surface, many Australian businesses look digital.
They’ve invested in new ERPs, integrated CRMs, and cloud-based inventory systems.

But behind the scenes, there’s still a person chasing payments over email.
Still someone manually checking ABNs, credit terms and customer details.
Still someone exporting reports to spreadsheets every Friday afternoon.

We call it digital transformation — but for most businesses, it’s digital fragmentation.

Everything up to the invoice is automated. Everything after it? Manual, inconsistent and slow.

The Cost of Manual Money

Here’s what happens when automation ends at the invoice:

• Sales momentum dies the moment you ask for payment.
  
• Customers wait days for credit approval.
  
• Admin teams drown in follow-ups and reconciliations.
  
  
• Cash flow slows to a crawl.
  
  

And while all that’s happening, your ERP keeps telling you how “streamlined” everything is.

The irony is that businesses spend thousands automating stock levels, but still rely on human memory to collect what’s owed.

The B2B Bottleneck

In B2C, automation runs end-to-end. A customer clicks Buy, money clears in seconds, inventory updates instantly.

In B2B, we stop halfway.
We automate order creation, but not order completion.

That’s why manufacturers and wholesalers are still waiting 45–60 days to get paid — even as every other part of commerce has gone real-time.

The result?

• Slow cash flow.
  
• Manual onboarding.
  
• Lost sales momentum.
  
• Frustrated staff stuck doing work software should handle.
  
  

Why It Happens

It’s not that businesses don’t care. It’s that the tools have never been built for how Australian wholesalers and manufacturers actually operate.

ERP systems manage data — not customers.
Payment gateways collect money — but don’t handle credit, terms or onboarding.
And finance teams get left holding it all together with spreadsheets, email trails and crossed fingers.

The Fix: Automate the Last Mile

The next frontier in business automation isn’t in the factory — it’s in finance.

The businesses that win over the next decade will be the ones that automate the last mile of the sale:

• Digital credit applications that verify company info automatically.
  
• Instant approvals for new accounts based on clear criteria.
  
• Embedded payment links on every invoice, quote and sales order.
  
• Automated payment plans and reminders that keep cash flowing without awkward phone calls.
  
  

This is where automation stops being about convenience — and starts being about survival.

Because in a market where everyone’s fighting higher costs and tighter margins, faster money isn’t just better — it’s essential.

The Bottom Line

If your automation ends at the invoice, your transformation isn’t done.

The future of manufacturing and wholesale isn’t just about faster production lines — it’s about faster payments, faster onboarding, and faster cash flow.

You’ve already automated how things move.
Now it’s time to automate how money moves.

PencilPay connects your credit apps, payments and receivables into one automated workflow — so your ERP isn’t the end of the process, it’s the start of it.

See how PencilPay helps manufacturers and wholesalers finish their digital transformation.