The Best B2B Dispute Management Tools of 2024

Whether due to error, financial trouble or the non-delivery of goods or services, disputes are unavoidable in the world of accounts receivable. Traditionally, they are managed through a lengthy, tedious manual process that lacks visibility into the process in real time. As companies scaled and these disputes increased, however, businesses started to turn to dispute automation for a more efficient dispute management process for collections and dispute management.

What Is B2B Dispute Management?

Dispute management is the process of understanding the root cause of a discrepancy or disagreement between a customer and your business and providing a way to resolve it quickly and efficiently so you can keep a good relationship with your customer.

Typically there are two main types of disputes:

• Earned. These are claims a customer makes according to agreed upon terms. For example, early payment terms, discounts, etc. They are generally quick to resolve.
• Claimed.  These are claims a customer makes that have not been agreed upon in advance, yet claimed by the customer. These disputes could include billing errors, quality issues, non-delivery of goods, etc. They can be time-consuming to resolve as they need to be researched, often the resolution is not clear, and the business needs to do this while at the same time maintaining good relations with the customer. Sometimes several different team members need to be involved which further complicates the process.

Key Features to Look for in B2B Dispute Management Tools

Regardless of the exact type of B2B dispute management tool a company ultimately selects, it should include specific features.

These include:

• Automated and customizable workflows. Dispute workflows should be automated to reduce delays and customizable for different types of customers and enable routing to the appropriate stakeholders. It should also include prioritization and escalation of disputes according to predetermined criteria.
• Data and analytics. It should collect data about disputes over time to deliver insights about customer trends, behavior, and track dispute times. This data should be used to identify trends and reduce time to resolution in the future.
• Self-Service Portal. Customers should have access to a secure portal where they can view the status of disputes in accounts receivables in real time. In addition, after disputes are settled, customers should have the option of making payments directly through an integrated customer payment portal.
• Centralized hub of information. Gather information in one place to enable customers to view the status of all current payments, disputes, track customer communication, and add supporting documents.
• Real-time updates. Customers can view the status of disputes in real-time, in addition to viewing the status of all current payments, tracking customer communication, and adding supporting documents. This facilitates better communication between the customer and A/R teams for faster resolution of disputes while at the same time improving the customer experience.

In addition to these features listed, there is an essential benefit that all B2B disputes management tools should provide for your business, full visibility for employees.

Full Visibility for Employees Across the Board

The most effective B2B dispute management tool also gathers all information that might be relevant  in one place for employees.  Both A/R teams and other relevant stakeholders can gain full visibility of dispute data and the ability to easily communicate between different team members for their quick resolution. Based on the data, they can more easily review the various factors involved with each dispute and decide how flexible the business can be regarding the dispute and more quickly resolve them. Faster resolution also helps improve customer satisfaction and optimizes your cash flow.

Best B2B Dispute Management Tools

Many B2B dispute management tools exist in the marketplace, from general dispute management software that streamlines and typically automates dispute tracking to more advanced automated dispute management software that often includes elements of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, prioritization and categorization of disputes.

Here’s a list of the leading dispute management tools on the market that span the different options:

1 – Gaviti

Gaviti’s dispute management tool is easy to use and integrated into its autonomous A/R management platform to streamline the entire accounts receivable process. For example, not only can you view the status of customer disputes at any time, you can also check under any customer record to see if that customer has disputes. In addition,

workflows are routed to the relevant stakeholders and information is visible and easily shareable so that disputes can be resolved in just one click (e.g. under an hour during normal business hours). All information such as payment history, payment status, disputes, email communication, and more is readily accessible.

2 – pinqDR

PingDR is an online dispute resolution service for global businesses. Based on the principles of arbitration and built by leaders in international disputes, it is enforceable in courts in over 175 states and solves commercial disputes within 6-8 weeks of submission.

3 – Quadient

Quadient’s dispute management tool is also part of its full accounts receivable management platform designed to automate the order-to-cash cycle and accelerate cash flow. The A/R platform automates credit management, cash application, collection workflows, and invoice delivery while its advanced analytics deliver AI-powered insights to forecast cash flow and prioritize collection delivery.

4 – Payference

Payference’s cash flow management solution includes a dispute management tool that streamlines the dispute system that includes automated dispute resolution, a centralized dashboard and analytics, and the ability to integrate with various financial and payment systems. Its dispute management tool, along with its AI-driven collection solution, focuses on cash flow forecasting for SMBs.

5 – Kolleno

Kolleno offers dispute management automation that is collections-focused, automating payment reminders, follow-ups and escalation when necessary. It customizes all collection tasks with the goal of reducing the time and energy spent on the complex A/R process.

6 – HighRadius

HighRadius offers an automated dispute resolution software that includes AI capabilities to increase productivity by identifying and prioritizing high-impact deductions, streamlining the claims resolution process, and automatically assigning reason codes to claims. It is part of its full A/R automation solution for enterprise-level organizations with complex accounts receivable needs.

How Gaviti Delivers an Autonomous Invoice-to-Cash A/R Platform

Gaviti’s dispute management tool allows for quick and easy management of disputes as a part of streamlining and standardizing the entire A/R process. Together with the additional modules in the autonomous accounts receivable management platform and ability to integrate with your current financial systems (e.g. CRM, ERP, accounting platforms ), it delivers A/R teams the control, scalability, and predictability they need to run a successful operation.

Its modules include:

• Collections Management.  Easy to set-up and manage dunning workflows that are personalized and sent to the right person at the right time. Automated reminders and escalations that streamline the collections process, prioritizing accounts according to customer risk and payment history. It also delivers full visibility into customer payments, empowering your A/R team to build relationships with customers and resolve disputes.
• A/R Analytics. Its reporting capabilities not only record data related to A/R team and individual performance such as DSO, collection rate and customer risk but also actionable data in real time to identify patterns, address recurring issues, and implement process improvements over time.
• Customer Self-Service Portal. Enable clients to easily engage with your A/R team and solve common requests independently, including requests for dispute resolution. After resolution of disputes, you can manage payments with multiple payment options for your customers that go directly to the bank account you choose.
• Credit Management and Monitoring. Avoid disputes by setting appropriate credit terms, with credit applications that collect relevant information from relevant sources and an AI-powered suggested credit limit for the reviewer to do a sanity check.
• Dispute Management. Get customizable workflows for tracking and routing and resolutions that are communicated in real-time while at the same time enabling routing to the appropriate stakeholders to reduce the time to resolution. Easily filter and view invoices according to each customer, number of disputes, or as an aggregated view of all invoices.

Want to get started with Gaviti’s autonomous invoice to cash A/R management platforms for a more efficient dispute management process for your accounts receivables? Get a demo today!

See why Gaviti is ranked as the #1 Credit & Collections Software on G2: