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The O2C cycle is often riddled with manual steps that can cause a lot of friction in between- and frustration for both the business and customers. This dramatically affects your receivables collection and, eventually, the health of your cash flow.
In our recently concluded webinar, “The 10 Gifts of Accelerated Cash Flow”, we invited Amanda Lee, Founder and Receivables Management Advisor at The Retriever, to speak with Arjun (AJ) Singh, Co-Founder and CEO ezyCollect, to discuss how you can take advantage of a streamlined and optimised O2C process through accounts receivable automation, creating a seamless cycle that not only ensures you get payments efficiently but also improve your relationship with customers. Here are the key takeaways from the session.
Extending trade credit is something that many businesses do manually, and this can cause a lot of issues that can lead to bad debts – affecting your cash flow in the long run. Adapting an automated and data-driven process delivers efficiencies that are beneficial for both you and your customers.
First of which is a more reliable credit check. Unlike manual application processes that primarily rely on trade references given by the customer, an online credit application system integrates credit risk scores from trade reporting agencies so you can get data-driven insights and make better decisions before onboarding customers and extending credit. Having this data at your fingertips gives you that professional knowledge without much effort, and you’ll be able to manage risk right from day one, making that goal of accelerated cash flow much easier.
Another benefit of online credit applications is a better onboarding experience. First impressions last, as the adage goes, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth in business relationships. Onboarding customers in a disorganised, time-consuming process that are prone to error reflects an unprofessional image on your part – inadvertently sending the message to your customers that they can cut corners as you do. By digitising a credit application, you create a streamlined and automated process that not only benefits your operational efficiency but also means you mean business, and customers need to be in that same level of credibility too.
Humanised automation seems contradictory, but part of reducing your overdue accounts hinges on this balancing act of human connection and automation. Automation creates communication efficiencies in accounts receivables, paving the way for a more personal approach to customers that need it the most.
With an automated communication workflow, you don’t have to physically communicate with everyone, but you’ll be able to focus on customers that need more. An AR automation platform tells you who those customers are through consolidated credit and risk data, providing you with that opportunity to connect and build relationships. To truly understand why your customers’ payment behaviour changed, there has to be human interaction involved. You can work with them to resolve blockers preventing them from paying you on time. It’s about continuing that cycle to sell, and having a receivables ledger that’s 100% collected each month and clear, persistent, and personalised communication with your customers is going to help you achieve that.
Getting your payment on time is the goal of an optimised O2C process. It is crucial then to make this part of the O2C cycle as pain-free as possible, allowing your customers to pay at a time convenient to them through various payment methods that they can choose from.
An online payment platform is designed to do just that, not only as a portal where customers can pay you but also includes their statements, so they no longer need to contact you, especially when making the payment after office hours – all the information they need is readily available to them. By creating convenient pathways for payment, you can get paid easily and quickly.
As we’ve learned thus far, an accelerated cash flow is very much possible thanks to accounts receivable automation. While an improved cash flow is the end goal of automation, optimising the O2C process also comes with its benefits.
AR automation gives you access to data and gives you the insights to make better decisions that can affect the health of your business.
AR automation resolves cash flow issues, as we now know. With an improved cash flow, you’ll be able to run and grow your business the way you want to.
Automation gets all the repetitive tasks done, so you can hone in on strategy-related tasks that further your business.
Automation ensures consistency in processes and clears communication pathways – both of which allow you to build trust with your customers and, in turn, foster customer loyalty and growth.
Digital, automated processes are now the norm and what your customers expect. Adapting automation in your business creates a professional image and aids in brand equity.
Automation streamlines your O2C cycle, removing any friction between processes so you can get paid promptly.
AR automation minimises the need for manual entries, reducing errors. Its capability to integrate with your ERP also means there’s no double-handling of data that can lead to more problems in your accounting.
Leveraging an account receivable platform removes the need for manual processes, saving your staff tons of time. The amount of time saved can then be used to focus on more high-value work that can grow the business.
With an AR automation platform, you can get a live view of credit risk scores to be confident in making decisions based on current and accurate data.
While AR automation improves the collections processes of your receivables, this also translates into improvements across business functions and teams.
Learn more about optimising your O2C process. Watch the entire webinar for insights from Amanda and AJ. Join our mailing list to receive invites for future webinars.
Offering credit to your customers is an effective way of encouraging them to spend more on buying your products or services. In some industries such as wholesale, trade, or distribution – credit might be a requirement for doing business. Extending credit to your B2B customers could also help your business gain a distinct competitive advantage in your market.
While providing credit is good for your business growth, it exposes you to the risks of late payment and at times, non-payment. While this significantly impacts your short-term cash flow, it can also hurt your bottom-line and business growth in the long run. While some business owners may think they are not offering credit, they may already be doing so by sending an invoice after the goods or services are provided to the customers.
Balancing the risks of cash flow reduction and increased sales is the key to robust credit management.
If you offer any other invoice terms not based on cash on delivery, it creates a risk that the customers may fail to pay on time or fail to pay altogether. For instance, if you offer 30-day terms, it translates to credit of 30 days. If that timeframe extends to 45 days or 90 days, the credit gets further extended and increases non-payment risk.
However, with some customers who have a strong and long history of making full payments on time, the credit risk may not be significant. Despite this, there is a risk, even if slight, that your next invoice may not get paid due to a change in the customer’s circumstances or other factors (You can track these in real-time with Credit Insights from ezyCollect). Although these external factors may not be under customer’s control, the outcome is that their inability to pay on time affects your cash flow and eventually, your bottom line.
The first step towards effective credit risk management is understanding your business’s overall credit risk. This helps businesses reduce losses and build up capital reserves. It is crucial to implement a smart, integrated, and informed credit risk management strategy.
Building trust is the most critical factor when extending credit to another business or customer. While it is always a great idea to start with ‘cash sales’ with a new customer, you can navigate towards credit offerings when the customer has built a strong payment history and inspires the desired level of trust.
Businesses who extend credit to their customers face the risks of non-payment or delayed payment that impacts their cash flow and business growth.
To mitigate such risks, businesses need a robust credit risk management policy. The key elements that the credit policy needs to include are:
A strong credit application process is the key to minimising your risks
While these factors play a crucial role in minimising your risks, the key element in the credit risk management process relates to the credit application system. A recent survey indicates that a key source of information for a majority of credit managers across businesses is the credit application form. The credit application helps credit managers and businesses make an informed decision on extending credit to the right customers.
Creating a comprehensive credit application form that captures crucial information, such as:
While these details help you assess the ability of customers to meet their credit payment obligations, the credit terms and conditions set out in the application form help to
How smart is your current credit application process?
If your business is utilising paper/pdf/email-based credit applications, they could be impacting your business profit and growth in a significant way.
The impact on your business is three-fold:
Poor customer experience – Filling the paper-based or PDF-based credit application form each time the customer applies for credit is not only time-consuming but can be a frustrating experience. Apart from filling in contact details, debtors have to fill in many fields in the form including references, their contact details, and for businesses, ABN, ACN, and business structure details. Customers who are looking for a quick process to complete a purchase are faced with longer times for filling and submitting the form, which in turn means they need to wait longer for credit approval. Eventually, the delay reflects on your sales while the poor experience in filling manual forms can make your customers turn to your competitors who have a simplified system.
Prone to errors – Illegible handwriting or unintentional errors while writing on paper or PDF credit applications can lead to more errors in reading and transcribing the data into your systems. It is quite common for a debtor to write the business name or ACN / ABN incorrectly. Clearly, the impact of having the wrong address, company/business number and contact details will enhance the credit risk as there may be no means of contacting your customer in case of delayed payment.
Relies on data and references provided by the customer – Manual credit application forms are not just time-consuming but can be misleading, leading to your business extending credit to unsuitable customers. With the paper-based credit application system, you are essentially relying on the information and references that your customer provides. No customer would want to paint themselves in poor light when it comes to references, and negative information is likely to get hidden from your view.
Manual credit application processes increase the chances of errors and impact your decision-making significantly. They lead to longer processing times which means your sales might be impacted – and they rely on your customers providing trade references, which may not give you a completely unbiased view of your potential risk with the new customer.
The solution: Switch to a Digital Credit Application
When your current paper-based credit application process is hurting your business, it is time to switch over to a smart online credit application system from ezyCollect.
ezyCollect’s automated credit management system optimises efficiency and accuracy to ensure you make the right credit decisions every time. The process ticks the right boxes in terms of credit reporting apart from enhancing customer experience. Our online credit application leverages real-time data from the market, customers’ historical transactions, and payment track records to make smart and accurate predictions on late payment and non-payment.
The state-of-the-art online application process is quick, seamless and accurate. This helps minimise errors and eliminates the delays in turnaround time associated with manual processes.
With ezyCollect, you can empower more new customers to make their credit application online. By eliminating the laborious manual and administration data entry, the application turnaround time is reduced, which shortens your sales cycle.
Here are the key benefits of switching over to ezyCollect’s smart Credit Application system:
Easy to use – The online form for credit applications is easy to use, doing away with the time and effort needed to install and master complex software. The application form can be fully customized to match your company’s color scheme & branding. Your customer can access the online form with a simple click on the link provided on your website.
Get real-time updates on business credit scores – Get a clear view of your customers’ payment habits and the most accurate prediction about their ability to make timely payments. ezyCollect provides a Failure Risk Score and Late Payment Risk Score based on a partnership with illion, one of the world’s leading credit reporting brands – which gives us an extensive database of payment information and other variables such as payment history, court actions, financial statements, payment defaults, company age and business structure. This helps you get a complete picture of the credit risk associated with any potential customer – so you can negotiate the terms to suit. Eg: Credit Scores using ezyCollect’s ABN
These comprehensive credit scores help you identify the customers who may pose a risk to your business in terms of credit payment.
Option to request a comprehensive credit report – ezyCollect facilitates informed decision making whether it is for low, medium or high-risk credit decisions with insightful reports. Leverage the option to request a comprehensive credit report that offers everything you need right from payment predictors, risk scores, identification details to financial stability predictors. The comprehensive credit report includes the business’s credit history, long-term operations, stability and profitability, which removes guess-work from your credit decisions.
Perform credit checks on your existing as well as new customers with ezyCollect’s comprehensive credit report. Gain valuable insights on a company’s credit risk thanks to the access we have to exclusive and shared data sources.
Complete audit history showing all steps in the credit application process – Get access to real-time ASIC data that enables you to confirm the existence of a business entity and its operational status. Make the best decision with historical data on previous company names, addresses and directors that allows tracking of the entity’s previous structure and financial history. With automated assistance for completing the online application, the time for credit can be reduced drastically, that translates to seamless customer experience and more sales.
ezyCollect empowers businesses by maximising their competitive advantage with real-time and updated information on customers and accurate prediction on credit risk. By using our online automated credit application process, you can realise exceptional business benefits that include onboarding new customers in quick time, improving customer satisfaction and outperforming your competitors. With all the information you need available at your fingertips, you can optimise decision making, avoid bad debts while ensuring your cash flow is healthy.
Switch to ezyCollect credit applications to make the credit application process easy, engaging and hassle-free for your customers.