201503 CM March

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION
GR8 EXPECTATIONS
Andrew Senior believes that Txting is the gr8 new
way to help credit managers accelerate payments and
improve department efficiency.
THE reverberations caused as a result
of the recent crisis in the global
economy continue to be felt by many
businesses.
Few companies can expect multi-million
pound bailouts, which makes it necessary to
make tough decisions. Individual businesses
must take what steps are necessary to
survive and this comes down to effective
cash flow by credit managers.
As bank lending to businesses stalled,
credit managers have taken centre stage
as those with the means to control, collect
and deliver the company’s principal
revenue streams. Having an effective
credit management policy in place is
essential, as only this can deliver efficiency
throughout the revenue cycle. While many
managers have systems in place, perhaps
not everyone has considered how SMS
business texting can be a powerful credit
management tool. With the advent of the
smartphone, the power of the text message
has been largely underestimated, and yet
if its power is harnessed correctly it can
be highly effective. As a practical way to
communicate effectively with customers,
texting has in many ways flown under
the radar.
So what advantages can SMS texting
bring? Effective SMS applications can help
credit managers to speed up payments and
remove barriers to payments. It can help
to identify and address at risk customers,
boost customer approval ratings, reduce
customer complaints and much more
besides. Smart SMS is the secret to giving
many in credit management the edge they
have been searching for. When pointing
out the advantages of the humble SMS, it
is important to debunk a few myths. While
there is a perhaps natural tendency to
think that email is now king, the reality is
somewhat different.
Email comparisons
Email campaigns remain justly popular and
(in the right context) can be successful, but
email cannot survive a direct comparison
with SMS. The reality is that only 22 percent
of all emails are read, when compared to
98 percent of text messages. The average
person can also be somewhat swamped
by email. On average we receive up to
1,216 emails per month, against only 178
text messages, and of these 1,216 emails,
perhaps 90 percent are spam. Compare that
to only one percent of spam text messages
and you can see how text can be a much
more trusted medium.
Most of us have our phones with us at
all times and while today’s smartphones
permit access to email on the move, only
34 percent of us use our phones to email,
compared to 72 percent who regularly
use text messaging. So, while not new,
SMS messaging is the ‘new’ and preferred
method of communication, with analysis
showing that 90 percent of SMS messages
are read within 60 seconds of being
received.
Integrated systems
While anyone can send a text, the key
to integrating an SMS system into credit
management processes is intelligent
software. If all someone is doing is just
sending messages, any activity will be
inherently flawed. Next generation software
can control SMS texting programs which
proactively engage with customers by
seeking their feedback and involvement
to such an extent that behaviours can be
changed, benchmarked, results evaluated
analytically, and messages refined for
the future. The process of controlling and
collecting payment from customers can be
streamlined and placed at your fingertips.
Effective use of SMS builds a process
for efficient automation for credit managers
coupled with trigger points for actions. With
immediate responses, time taken to collect
payments is reduced, while the ability to
identify service and quality issues early on
means less time chasing customers. As
lines of credit dry up, customers can look
to see credit terms as a source of working
capital, while others may request liberal
terms or look to stretch out payment. SMS
allows you to take back control by engaging
the customer and putting them at the heart
of the process.
The big issue is maintaining strong
cash flow via efficient collection and
SMS can help credit managers deliver by
20 March 2015 www.cicm.com
The recognised standard in credit management