Martec Case Study

Martec Case Study

MARTEC’S ceiling fans, LED lights and bathroom fixtures are stocked in major wholesalers, mum-and-dad lighting shops and “everything in between”, says Linda Attenborough, MARTEC’s Financial Controller for the past eleven years. The supply chain, built over fifty years in business, extends around Australia and internationally. With over 3000 customers on account at any time, managing receivables was a full-time job for two of Linda’s staff. But it’s not anymore, says Linda, who implemented automated debtor management 12 months ago and describes ezyCollect as a godsend.

“ezyCollect is a godsend,”  – Linda Attenborough

The debtor management challenge

MARTEC moved its accounting system to MYOB Exo three years ago, and was using a combination of daily and weekly receivables reports, numerous Excel spreadsheets and “emails galore” to keep track of thousands of open accounts. “Because we have a wide variety of trading terms for debtors, trying to find a way to maintain all of them was hard,” explains Linda. Without good visibility of overdue accounts or a concise history of debtor communications, Linda felt like she was flying blind.

“It felt like I was always flying blind.” – Linda Attenborough

When MARTEC’s MYOB consultant, Kilimanjaro, suggested ezyCollect could help with cash flow and debtor management, Linda was ready to consider a better way to recover cash.

What MARTEC looked for in its debtor management solution

• Eliminate manual processes: When reminder emails were sent, they were manually typed each time and the email trail was not easily shared amongst team members.
• Save staff time: As the business grew, Linda had two full-time staff chasing payments, and she personally handled any accounts at risk of becoming delinquent.
• One source of truth: It was hard to compile a complete debtor management picture as the process was managed from multiple sources of information.
• More visibility: Some accounts aged to 120+ days because the accounts team didn’t have high visibility on ageing invoice data, or the time to consistently remind customers to pay.
• Improved cash flow: With 27 percent of accounts overdue, cash flow forecasting was less predictable than Linda would have liked.
  

The results with ezyCollect

One year after implementing ezyCollect, MARTEC’s accounts receivables and debtor management picture looks remarkably different:

• 80% improvement: From a starting point of 27 percent of accounts overdue, only five percent of MARTEC’s accounts receivables are now overdue. By the end of the month it’s closer to three percent, says Linda, whose goal is to keep overdue accounts to under ten percent: “Each month we’re getting better and better.”

  “Each month we’re getting better and better.”

  
  

• Saves 8hrs/day: Linda estimates ezyCollect saves eight hours a day, the equivalent of a full-time staff member, allowing her to deploy her team to other processes within the business that require their time and talents.

• Act faster: Receivables no longer age as long, as ezyCollect identifies ageing debtors before they have the chance to become delinquent, allowing Linda’s team to follow up proactively. The team has an up-to-date log of all debtor communications in one place and can take decisive action with confidence.

• Automation with customisation: “We set what we want the reminders to say and when they are sent.” Linda likes that she can exclude single invoices, so an individual invoice doesn’t prevent the entire account from being kept to terms.

• Consistent communications: Now overdue debtors consistently receive payment reminders which include a copy of overdue invoices. “It helps debtors, too,” says Linda, who can now be sure her debtors have received the invoice and have all the payment information on hand.

“It helps debtors, too.”

Now Linda is looking forward to adding the Simplypaid function to invoices, allowing her debtors to click and pay online. “I’m hoping it will help us get the five percent overdue down to one or two percent!”

To see how ezyCollect can get your accounts receivables under control, take a tour today.