Extending back 10 years or more the term ‘Shared Service Center’ was really equated with cost savings. The notion was simple: create a Shared Service Center (SSC), put it in a low cost area, share resources across multiple business units and there you have it – cost savings. Right? Wrong. As companies migrated to this [...]
Posts Tagged: credit and collections management
Delivering More Value in a Shared Service Center
Joel Roques, Managing Director EMEA and Asia at The Hackett Group, recently spoke at a SunGard hosted breakfast in London on the evolution of the Shared Service Center. While Shared Service Centers originally were seen primarily as a way to reduce costs, companies are now looking toward delivering value through service level excellence. In finance and accounting Shared Service [...]
Cash Application – Why Is It Important to Speed Up This Process?
In many companies, credit and collection teams are pushed very hard to meet their cash targets so that the days sales outstanding (DSO)/Debtor targets are met. Often there is a focus on ‘just getting the money in’. Teams are typically focused on applying the cash in the last couple of days of the month, which [...]
The Dynamics of Internal Collection Agencies
Every now and then you come across a best practice in B2B credit and collections that just make so much sense you are surprised that not everyone is doing it. One such practice I have seen lately is setting up an internal collection agency. The concept is pretty simple; you dedicate experienced collection personnel to form [...]
Credit Limit Policy and Delegation of Authority:Part II
Connectivity is a basic assumption, are we ready for mobile in the credit and collections world? In part I of my Credit Limit Policy and Delegation of Authority blog series, I discussed the importance of distributing authority and responsibility. In part II, I will touch upon the importance of mobile in our daily lives and [...]
Credit Limit Policy and Delegation of Authority: Part I
Distributing Authority and Responsibility… In my previous automated dispute resolution workflow blog series, I discussed why dispute management remains a challenge, the importance of defined business process, and how technology can help drive efficiencies to in dispute resolution. Now I am going to discuss how a defined busines process can help with credit limit [...]
Harnessing Credit and Collections Productivity to Generate Financial Results
The traditional credit and collections department is often mired in manual tasks that sap the productivity of its personnel. It is really eye opening when you begin to measure the amount of time that is lost in a day to deal with non-value oriented administrative tasks. Let’s look at inefficiencies associated with prioritization, preparation, and [...]
To Write Off or Not Write Off
I have seen companies write off accounts before they are sent to third party collection agencies, and I have seen companies keep them in the A/R balances until the third party collection agency has exhausted their activities. I think the best approach is to keep them in the A/R balances until the agencies are done. Now this [...]
Automated Dispute Resolution Workflow: Part IV
Gaining Control Over Your Dispute Environment… In Part I of my Automated Dispute Resolution Workflow blog series, I discussed why dispute management still remains a challenge for many credit and collections departments. In Part II, I explored the benefits of automating dispute resolution workflow. In Part III, I described the eight critical components of rule-based [...]
Automated Dispute Resolution Workflow: Part III
The Eight Critical Components of Rule-Based Dispute Resolution Workflow… In Part I of my Automated Dispute Resolution Workflow blog series, I discussed why dispute management still remains a challenge for many credit and collections departments. In Part II, I explored the benefits of automating dispute resolution workflow. In part III, I will describe the eight [...]
