“When it comes to accounting applications, I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly,” says Bruce Carr. After selling leading accounting software program Exonet to MYOB in 2007 (now MYOB Exo), Bruce turned his attention to helping small and medium businesses integrate their ecommerce solutions.

Web Ninja integrates popular accounting solutions (including MYOB AccountRight, MYOB Exo, Jiwa, Attache, Quickbooks and SAP) with ecommerce web stores, helping their clients to sell more products online, manage their inventory and reduce administration.

The debtor management challenge

“We have almost 600 clients and operate on a project based billing cycle. As Project Managers, we’re good at looking after our customers but we aren’t great at collecting money,”explained Bruce.

We always got paid but we didn’t realise how long it was taking us.”

Following up unpaid invoices fell on one person’s shoulders and it was a heavy burden for them to carry – asking clients for money is never pleasant, says Bruce.

What Web Ninja looked for in its debtor management solution

> Automation:

Chasing overdue invoices was often challenging and inefficient. It took one person half their week to manage collections. Bruce wanted payment reminders to go out automatically so that they could focus on doing other tasks.

> Improved client relationships:

Following up unpaid invoices can be difficult to balance with managing client relationships. Bruce wanted to find a way to improve how Web Ninja communicated with its clients.

> Reduced administration:

were not efficient and occasionally got lost or misplaced. Web Ninja wanted to keep all  its invoices in one place so they were easy to issue and track.

> Improved cash flow:

Web Ninja have always offered their clients the option to pay by credit card, but it took up to two days to receive the cash and be notified that the invoice had been paid.

> Regular reporting:

Bruce wanted to elevate the importance and visibility of collections to the management team. He looked for daily reports that the team could review as part of their regular meetings.

The results with ezyCollect

Web Ninja started seeing positive results almost immediately after implementing ezyCollect.

• ezyCollect halved Web Ninja’s overdue debtors in 12 months. It has helped Web Ninja keep our customers within our agreed trading terms,” explains Bruce.

• Web Ninja hasn’t needed to issue any demand letters since starting ezyCollect “because it has done such a good job at collecting.”
• Implementing ezyCollect’s online payments solution, Simplypaid, has improved Web Ninja’s cash flow significantly. With online collections made through Simplypaid, the cash is in their bank account almost instantly.
• Automated reminders and invoice follow ups have made Web Ninja’s collections more efficient and even kept their customers happy. We expected people to be upset that we were collecting, but they weren’t. They were embarrassed for not paying on time and we received some lovely responses from our customers. It’s fantastic!, said Bruce.

“We expected people to be upset that we were collecting, but they weren’t…we received some lovely responses from our customers. It’s fantastic!

• Customer relationships have improved, with regular reminders giving Web Ninja the opportunity to communicate with their customers more often.
• With better visibility of prompt and late payers, Web Ninja now rewards good payers with longer trading terms.
• Web Ninja has noticed a significant reduction in its administration time since implementing ezyCollect. Our admin person had to make fewer calls to customers and there was much less aggravation in her day.” Even when she’s not there, Bruce is confident that the “collections now happen by themselves.

“Our admin person had to make fewer calls to customers and there was much less aggravation in her day.”

Web Ninja now recommends ezyCollect to its clients

“We have about 200 customers with ecommerce stores that use MYOB EXO in Australia and many using Xero in New Zealand. We proactively promote ezyCollect to them because it’s been awesome for our business,”comments Bruce. “ It works seamlessly with MYOB EXO and Xero, enforces their trading terms and we know it will improve their cash flow.”

Bruce’s top tip for using ezyCollect

Before implementing ezyCollect, Web Ninja took the opportunity to review their trading terms. They changed their payment terms from 30 days to 14 days and notifed their customers that technology would be helping them to implement the new terms. “It’s a good opportunity to have those discussions and determine what trading terms you think are fair for your business,” advises Bruce.

Who can benefit from ezyCollect

ezyCollect can work for so many businesses, says Bruce. Most of Web Ninja’s clients are wholesale distributors with turnover between $5m and $100m. They have plenty of stock, established relationships and trading arrangements that have been in place for a long time but perhaps haven’t been enforced. “Implementing ezyCollect gives them the opportunity to enforce their trading terms and improve their business.”

Bruce also believes that the technology is useful to smaller businesses and sole traders. “Sole traders are usually creative and the last thing they want to do is follow up invoices personally,” comments Bruce. By using ezyCollect, sole traders can automate their collections and focus on looking after their customers.

To see how ezyCollect can improve your cash flow, take a closer look experiencing our free demo.