Belden Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets cable, connectivity, and networking products. With 6,900 employees in North America, Europe and Asia and market presence in nearly every region of the world. Belden delivers highly differentiated and high-performance products in markets including industrial automation, enterprise, transportation, infrastructure and consumer electronics. Belden is seeing growing demand for its signal transmission, connectivity and networking solutions in both developed and emerging markets.
Putting credit management firmly on the agenda
The credit management team in the Netherlands is serving a number of different business units, each with its own ERP system, the team manages more than 300 account teams serving more than 5,000 clients. Customers operate in a multitude of different industries, in the public and private sectors, and request workflows that respect their local payment cultures and business practices. Recognising the importance of handling its credit, collections and complaints functions efficiently and professionally to ensure steady cash flow, Belden implemented OnGuard and appointed seasoned Credit Manager EMEA Wilma Arends to take charge of its credit management team.
“When I first joined Belden, the majority of processes were still being handled manually, with more than 90 different payment terms, tracking everything manually was made all the more difficult and, as a result, our day sales outstanding (DSO) was extremely high.” “With a solution such as OnGuard at our disposal, I knew we could work much faster and more effectively,” she continues. “The first thing I did was identify a best fit with our workflows and establish how we could add the most value. Then I engaged with OnGuard to get my team fully trained, and set about a gradual process of implementation.
Results & Benefits
• We can work much faster and more effectively
• OnGuard functions as a centralised customer database
• Information is available to every area of our business
• Interface with Microsoft Office, AS400 & SAP ERP
• OnGuard provides input for assessment of credit limits
• DSO has more than halved
• Tailored collections management helps to focus and manage risk
• Involvement with sales and finance
• Quick and easy access to business intelligence
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