LinkedIn·Tuesday, 18 August 2026·8d ago

Your invoice was late before you sent it. Late payment gets treated as a customer problem. Part of it is. Part of it isn't. The European…

Presetify

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Your invoice was late before you sent it. Late payment gets treated as a customer problem. Part of it is. Part of it isn't. The European Commission's Payment Observatory found that more than half of EU companies reported difficulties from late payments in 2024, with average payment periods above 60 days in both business-to-business and public-sector transactions. A 2026 report from the same observatory adds the uncomfortable half: many delays start with information gaps and weak follow-up, not bad faith. That is the half you can fix. The work finishes on the 3rd. The invoice leaves on the 11th, because someone had to hunt down a PO number. It lands with the wrong person and sits there. Nobody confirms it was accepted. The first reminder goes out when it is already overdue. Everyone watches days overdue. The number that costs you is days from work finished to invoice accepted, and that one is entirely inside your own house. The AI step here is unglamorous. Before the invoice goes out, it checks it against what that client needs in order to accept it: reference, PO, dates, the right contact. It flags what is missing. It tracks acceptance. It drafts each reminder on the day it comes due, ordered by amount and age. A human still sends it. Fair objection: AI will not make a bad payer pay. It won't. Point it at the part you control instead. Where does your invoice actually get stuck — sending, acceptance, or follow-up? #AI #SME #CashFlow

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