Indaver

Frank Lambrechts has run Indaver’s Credit Management department for a year and a half. It’s his job to ensure that the company’s customers pay their invoices on time. Together with the CFO, he is responsible for all outstanding invoices managed in Onguard's CreditManager. Lambrechts explains how the software has made it possible for the company to streamline their credit management process to such an extent that it can be handled by a single FTE.

Lambrechts has over30 years experience in finance. “Prior to joining Indaver, I spent decades at a multinational organisation. There we worked with a more general software solution, a system I was very attached to. At Indaver, I had to switch to CreditManager, and initially I was sceptical. I didn’t see how Onguard’s software could be better than the system I had been working with for years.” Nevertheless, Lambrechts applied himself to the task. “My scepticism sure didn’t last long. Without any training or instructions, I got to grips with the system within a week. That was because I was, and still am, the only person in the finance department. One of the key benefits of CreditManager is its user-friendly interface. If you know anything about credit and receivables management, you can figure out how to use it in no time.”

Despite running the Credit Management department single-handedly, Lambrechts has a clear overview of the company’s receivables. “Thirty years ago I had to update the files manually. Now I have a whole system working for me. These days so many processes are automated. I think if a process can be automated, it should be. Reminders are a good example. In the past, reminders had to be sent out one by one. Working out when to send them involved a lot of administrative work. With CreditManager, those days are gone. It’s now possible to issue all reminders in one go. And if an error creeps in, you can change the reminder that contains the error yourself. The follow-up process is also well organised. A glance at the agenda tells me what actions I need to take to ensure that invoices are paid, and the order in which these actions need to be executed. It’s so much more efficient than working with Excel spreadsheets!” The overview isn’t the only thing that simplifies the process. It’s also easy to check the communication with the customer. “All correspondence is logged in CreditManager, so I can immediately see what action has been taken and what has been agreed with the customer. There’s rarely any misunderstandings.”

Besides the efficiency gains in the Finance Department, Lambrechts has also seen another benefit. “The percentage of invoices paid after the due date is significantly lower. At the moment this is the figure we use to measure our credit management performance. In the future we plan to measure our performance in terms of Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), which is a more accurate indicator of how long an invoice has been outstanding. Having said that, I’m very proud of the fact that, in working with CreditManager, we’ve been able to reduce our past-due percentage. Needless to say, this bodes well for the future.”

As far as Lambrechts is concerned, the future looks bright. “Our cooperation with Onguard runs very smoothly. I can always reach the Support Team if I need to, and they are always ready to help. Short lines of communication mean that we can quickly identify the issue and solve the problem. This ensures that I am never held up and can always get on with my work.”

• Actions that need to be taken can be seen at a glance
• CreditManager determines the agenda and ensures that the appropriate reminders are issued at the right time
• The software is intuitive and user-friendly
• The system integrates well with other systems