Alexander Symonds is a surveying consultancy company delivering solutions for over 85 years to homeowners, private companies and government organisations across Southern Australia. They have a deep understanding of their customers and a drive to adapt and innovate to keep up with the world’s changing needs – which is the main contributor to their longevity and success.
“ezyCollect just makes things so much easier. Our cashflow has improved and it has saved me so much time. I can work on other areas of the business becasue I no longer have to do all the manual follow-ups. ” – Barbara Chenoweth, Finance and Administration Officer
The challenge of inefficient payment collections
Alexander Symonds works with a wide variety of clients – from small mum-and-dad projects to larger firms. Because of this, they need to keep track of varying payment terms, and due date ranges with their outstanding invoices.
Barbara Chenoweth, Finance and Administration Officer, explains, “Collections are easier for most larger clients, but it can take quite some time for the smaller client to pay their invoices. We need an AR collection process that could work for clients of different sizes, and needed to keep up with the growth of the business and the volume of invoices to improve our cash flow.”
Alexander Symonds looked for an AR automation solution that would align with their values of innovation and customer focus. Barbara and her team decided to implement ezyCollect in their company after considering features that will improve their AR process and after a comprehensive product demo.
The results with ezyCollect
Upon adopting ezyCollect, Barbara noticed improvements in her daily tasks and the business’ overall performance.
“Our cashflow has improved. And ezyCollect has saved me so much time that I can work on other areas of the business because I no longer have to do all the manual follow-ups,” said Barabara, “ezyCollect just makes things so much easier.”
- 45.44% improvement on average days overdue: “Over the last financial year, we went from an average of 13 days down to 7 days of outstanding overdue invoices,” said Barbara. That’s an improvement of more than 45% over 12 months.
- Saved 212.83 hours in 12 months from sending email reminders: Based on the volume of invoice reminders sent by the company, ezyCollect has saved about 26 full-time days in chasing customers over 12 months. That’s the equivalent of saving one whole month’s pay for someone hired full-time to chase overdue invoices.
“Our cashflow has improved. And ezyCollect has saved me so much time that I can work on other areas of the business because I no longer have to do all the manual follow-ups.”
Features that make life easy for the Alexander Symonds team and their customers
Automated communications
One of the features where Barbara has seen tremendous value is the automation of communications in ezyCollect. In the platform, she can set up a sequence of escalating sets of reminders that will automatically get sent according to schedule – saving her and her team lots of time. The team can also personalise templates for email, SMS, and post reminders. “I like the triggered correspondence,” said Barbara. “It’s giving me back all the time I spend sending emails and making phone calls.”
Automated statements
Aside from overdue payment reminders, ezyCollect also automates sending monthly statements to Alexander Symond’s customers. “The statements are automated, so I don’t have to send them manually anymore,” said Barbara. The ezyCollect system draws the company’s customer’s invoice data and automatically prepares the monthly account statements. The clients can also download their invoices straight from the statement.
Online payments
Another feature the Alexander Symonds team finds helpful is the online payment platform their customers can access. “The fact that the clients can self-serve (in payments) when they choose to and when it suits them is beneficial for us,” said Barbara.When their customers click on the digital ‘Pay Now’ button on their invoices, they are led to the payment portal, Simplypaid, where they can inquire about outstanding invoices or pay or part-pay via debit or credit cards. This B2B payment solution provides a checkout experience that customers now expect in today’s digital world.
Streamlined collections with AR automation by ezyCollect
Implementing ezyCollect’s AR automation has improved collections and impacted other business areas for Barbara and the AR team at Alexander Symonds.
“I think it had a great impact on our business. It has given me much more time to focus on other areas and not manually follow up our debtors.”
With visible results and benefits that make an impact to their cashflow, ezyCollect is the AR automation Barbara can recommend to other AR professionals looking to streamline their collections. “This is a lifesaver for any business dealing with credit customers. It has transformed our business processes and made my life easy. I would say that every AR team needs to have ezyCollect as the starting point of their AR process.”
0 Comments