As an independent Dutch software company, OnGuard provides credit management solutions, and has become a leader in the global credit management market with over 850 customers in more than 25 countries.
"Our core business is software, not software development." David W. Taylor CEO, OnGuard
"Credit management is the complete process from invoicing to collecting or referring the debt for collection," says David W. Taylor, founder and CEO of OnGuard. "Credit control used to be a process of demanding letters and ultimatums. Nowadays it is far more a process of customer contact, and that runs throughout the whole organization. The most important question is: how can we maintain good relationships with our customers while ensuring that our invoices are paid on time? A lot of commercial feeling come into this."
Disputes are one of the main reasons for late payment of invoices. When a central credit management department puts pressure on the customer in such a case, the invoice is not paid any sooner but the relationship with the customer can be damaged.
Credit management as a function of the whole organization David Taylor continues: "If you want to expedite the payment, you need to go into the organization to tackle the underlying problem. In our experience, credit management is no longer the exclusive domain of credit controllers. It is increasingly becoming a responsibility of the whole organization: logistics, sales, services and the financial department. In order to then implement this process company-wide, you need good tools, like those provided by OnGuard."
The first solution developed by OnGuard was based on a client-server model. However, applying credit management throughout the organization requires both a centralized and a decentralized approach. In addition, OnGuard works for many organizations that use Shared Service Centers for centralized credit management. Disputes are resolved remotely by definition: in another region, or even abroad.
From client-server to Internet
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