What Manufacturing, Healthcare and Tech CFOs Have in Common

When one thinks of fast payments, manufacturing isn’t the first sector to come to mind. It’s the same for simple payments and healthcare; or not meeting their customers’ needs and tech firms.

Healthcare organizations face one of the most difficult cash environments of any sector; while manufacturing workflows were designed for batch processing, not real-time liquidity. Tech firms, while they may operate at digital speed, have discovered their financial operations may lag behind the always-on expectations of customers and partners.

But findings in the report, “Time to Cash: A New Measure of Business Resilience,” a PYMNTS Intelligence collaboration with Bottomline and FIS, reveal that the most strategic of these firms, across healthcare, manufacturing, and technology, have all converged on the same conclusion: The faster revenue becomes usable cash, the more resilient and competitive the business becomes.

But the path to faster Time to Cash looks very different in a factory, a hospital system, and a software company.

Escaping the Tractor Beam of Batch Finance in Manufacturing

Manufacturers have long accepted slow cash cycles as the cost of doing business. Complex supply chains, extended delivery timelines, and negotiated payment terms have historically locked cash into predictable but elongated loops. Financial workflows evolved accordingly, built for batch processing, periodic reconciliation, and end-of-cycle reporting.

The Time to Cash report shows that manufacturing firms lag faster-moving sectors not because of product complexity, but because financial operations often remain disconnected from real-time operational data.

Strategic Mover manufacturers are responding by rethinking finance as a flow system rather than a series of checkpoints.

Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a growing role, particularly in forecasting. Instead of relying on historical averages, manufacturers are using AI-enhanced models to simulate multiple cash scenarios tied to production delays, defective goods, or shifts in customer demand. The goal is not speed for its own sake, but visibility: knowing, at any moment, how much cash is available and how quickly it can be redeployed.

Managing Liquidity in Healthcare’s Fragmented Payments

If manufacturing struggles with legacy workflows, healthcare faces a different challenge altogether: fragmentation. Few sectors contend with a more complex path from service delivery to cash realization. The stakes are high. Slow cash cycles in healthcare don’t merely affect margins; they can disrupt staffing, delay supplier payments, and constrain investment in care delivery.

Leading healthcare organizations are addressing this by focusing first on the “first mile” of cash flow: receivables. Automation is being deployed to standardize invoicing, accelerate payment posting, and reconcile remittances across payers with minimal manual intervention. While payer adoption and system integration remain barriers, organizations that overcome them see immediate improvements in cash velocity.

In this context, Time to Cash  becomes a resilience metric. Faster, more predictable cash cycles give healthcare organizations the confidence to invest in staff, technology, and patient services—even as reimbursement models grow more complex.

Read the report: Time to Cash: A New Measure of Business Resilience

Helping Finances Keep Up With Digital Expectations

Technology firms might seem naturally suited to a 24/7 payments world. Many operate with subscription billing, usage-based pricing, and global customer bases accustomed to instant service. Still, the report reveals a paradox: While tech companies often move fast operationally, their financial back ends can lag behind the always-on expectations they set for customers and partners.

Technology leaders are addressing this gap by embracing high levels of automation across receivables and payables, coupled with advanced AI tools that generate real-time insights into cash positioning. In the study, technology firms were among the most likely to use AI-generated recommendations as a core input into cash management decisions.

Despite their differences, manufacturing, healthcare, and technology leaders are converging on a common framework for accelerating cash velocity.

Manufacturing firms are learning to synchronize finance with production. Healthcare organizations are transforming liquidity management into a safeguard against risk. Technology companies are aligning financial systems with digital speed. Different paths, same destination.

For other interested firms, the PYMNTS Intelligence Time to Cash Velocity Framework identifies 12 operational levers across receivables efficiency, payables control, internal workflows, and financial visibility that collectively determine how fast money moves through an enterprise.