Credit has become an integral part of how most people and businesses operate in the modern world. Here in the UK, the average total debt per household is £61,435, with a combined nationwide total of £1,712.9 billion.
The total value of UK business loads in 2021 reached £437 billion, with 27% of UK SMEs being financed by business loans. Globally, the total debt of governments, companies, and consumers has hit $247 trillion.
Despite the ubiquity of credit, the process and platform being used for credit management are generally inefficient and outdated.
Businesses across the spectrum rely on manual processes and spreadsheets to implement effective credit control and finance professionals have to deal with collating data across siloed departments and from multiple sources.
Companies are still reliant on in-house legacy systems that often mesh poorly with more modern platforms and existing manual processes.
Given the huge importance of credit management to both borrowers and lenders alike, more and more companies are investing heavily in digitizing their credit management systems.
Effective digital credit management allows companies to take a holistic approach with visibility that extends across their company and its assets.
The unfortunate fact is that the current credit management process is riddled with inefficiencies, inaccuracies and mistakes.
The majority of these issues are caused by outdated manual processes or friction caused by trying to integrate legacy systems with more modern platforms.
The issues caused by this outdated model of credit management leads to pain points in the customer journey and eventual customer complaints or worse.
In order to solve these problems, financial institutions need to radically rethink the customer journey, creating an experience that is based on data-driven, digital interactions that promote trust, convenience and customer choice.
Siloing is another common problem associated with modern financial institutions that have not adopted effective digital transformation processes.
Independently operating lines of business and siloed departments are unable to interact with each other and may even be operating in competition with one another.
Many modern credit management systems are still unable to get full visibility across the entirety of the business, resulting in decisions being made that are based on incomplete, inconsistent, or just plain inaccurate information.
Additionally, different sections of the business may be operating under different rules regarding loan origin or collections, making them difficult to administer or update and leading to inconsistent business practices.
Implementing a digital transformation strategy allows companies to get full viability over their credit management processes, allowing for effective streamlining efforts and greater efficiency,
Continuing to rely on legacy systems and processes when it comes to credit management can have a negative impact on both the customer experience and business goals.
As we’ve already mentioned, data-driven credit management strategies are an important aspect of an improved customer journey. For financial institutions themselves, digital transformation holds the keys to creating effective business rules based on predictive analytics driven by accurate data.
Instead of bearing the burden of cumbersome and inefficient legacy systems that can extend time to market and reduce the chances of producing a competitive product, digitally transformed organizations are able to be more agile, predicting emerging trends and making better informed financial decisions.
Financial institutions that continue to rely on outdated legacy systems are increasingly under threat from competitors who have already implemented a digital transformation and ‘digitally native’ financial startups who are unencumbered with legacy systems and processes.
Customers are also becoming more digitally sophisticated and expect their credit institutions to move with them, becoming frustrated when confronted with communications or processes that don’t make use of their preferred digital channels.
In this new digital-first world, financial institutions need to evolve as a critical business imperative or risk being left behind.
Cloud computing
Unsurprisingly, the pandemic forced companies to move away from in-house legacy systems and embrace cloud computing as remote work became vital to continued operations.
Cloud computing-based credit management software allows companies to remove the barriers between themselves and their customers, allowing for instant transfer of data that is vital for making informed decisions when dealing with lines of credit.
For instance, Chaser’s cloud-based platform syncs with your accounting software and keeps all your accounts receivables data in one centralized hub.
Your customers can interact with the hub through their dedicated Payment Portal to see all the required payment information and invoice data they need to make prompt payment.
You can use the data stored there, including payment behaviour and aged receivables reports to gain insight in when and to whom you offer lines of credit.
Automation
Automation is critical to streamlining and creating money saving efficiencies in your credit management process. Chaser's fully automated system allows our customers an average of 15-hours per week, just on credit management tasks. It automatically sends out fully customizable unpaid invoice reminders that are designed to sound like they come directly from you. They even appear to come from your email address. Once payment has been made, it even sends your customer a thank you email.
Payment data is also automatically uploaded to our central hub and can be accessed as a range of insightful reports that help you make critical business decisions.
Because the system is fully automated, it does this without oversight, so you can concentrate on growing your business, while Chaser gets you paid 16-days sooner than average.
Moving into a digital future
With the digitisation of credit management becoming vital to how businesses operate in the future, GrowBe is here to help you make the change.
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