Reclaiming £800,000 in old debt: The Community Energy Scheme's journey from spreadsheets to streamlined receivables with Chaser

CHALLENGE

Tackling a £2 million balance of old debt and inefficient credit management processes

The Community Energy Scheme (CES) recognized the need for a comprehensive credit management solution to address its significant balance of old debt, which stood at £2 million. The company's previous reliance on outdated spreadsheet-based systems had led to a lack of accountability, complicated handovers, inconsistent record-keeping, and inefficient communication with customers.

"If we didn't have Chaser, there wouldn't be a credit control department here. It's made us see just how much more effective our credit control can be."

GRAHAM RUNDALL

Credit Control Manager at Community Energy Scheme

With a growing customer base, CES knew it needed to streamline its credit management processes and recover the outstanding debt to support the company's continued growth and financial stability.

SOLUTION

Implementing a comprehensive credit management platform with Chaser

After evaluating various options, CES decided to implement Chaser's credit management software, which offered a suite of advanced features tailored to the company's unique requirements. A feature that was fundamental to CES’ decision to go with Chaser was the Receivables CRM. This served as a centralized hub for all of CES's debtor information and communications. The Receivables CRM automatically tracked and stored all interactions with debtors, providing CES with greater visibility and efficiency in its credit management processes.

Automated, yet personalized email payment reminders could be sent on a scheduled cadence, ensuring that no debtor was ever overlooked again at CES. This helped CES maintain consistent communication with its customers, while giving the impression that each reminder was hand-typed and tailored to the individual. In addition to the automated email reminders, CES also SMS payment reminders, which allowed the company to reach customers through multiple communication channels automatically.

Further enhancing the Chaser solution was the integrated Payment Portal, which CES seamlessly incorporated into its customer communications. This dedicated portal allowed clients to conveniently make invoice payments, offering a range of payment options to suit their preferences and visibility over all paid and due invoices.

The use of the payment portal proved to be a game-changer, as it enabled CES to secure £18,000 per month in direct debit payments from its customers.

The comprehensive nature of the Chaser solution allowed CES to take a more proactive and data-driven approach to credit management. The software's reporting and analytics capabilities, powered by the Receivables CRM, provided the company with valuable insights into its debtors' payment behavior, enabling CES to prioritize its recovery efforts and target the most critical accounts.

By leveraging Chaser's CSV import functionality, CES was able to seamlessly transfer customer and invoice data between Sage 200 and Chaser. Following the initial setup, the daily data transfer now takes just 5 minutes. This automated process ensures that all of CES's account information is consistently synced with Chaser, eliminating the need for manual data entry and providing the credit management team with up-to-date debtor information at all times.

RESULTS

Reclaiming £800,000 in old debt and securing £18,000 per month in direct debit payments

As a result of implementing the Chaser solution, CES was able to reduce its £2 million balance of old debt, with the outstanding amount now standing at just under £1.2 million. By using Chaser, CES has automatically freed up £800,000 of income that may have otherwise been written-off.

"Chaser is an absolute game-changer, it's made us see just how much more effective our credit control can be."

GRAHAM RUNDALL

Credit Control Manager at Community Energy Scheme

Offering the Payment Portal to customers and including links to make instant payments within their invoice follow ups also proved to be a game-changer. This has enabled CES to secure £18,000 per month in direct debit payments from its customers - this is reliable income that doesn’t require any chasing from Graham’s team, and which he says would not have been possible to facilitate without Chaser’s automation and tracking.

"Chaser is an absolute necessity for any credit control team," Graham remarked. "The fact that we don't have to worry about manual processes, and the system takes care of so much for us, has been a game-changer."

GRAHAM RUNDALL

Credit Control Manager at Community Energy Scheme

The flexibility and scalability of the Chaser platform have also allowed CES to adapt its credit management processes as the business continues to grow, ensuring that its finance operations remain efficient and effective.