Quadient AR case study: Service Rocket
ERP: NetSuite
CUSTOMER SINCE: 2018
INDUSTRY: Computer Hardware and Software
Cheetah Digital’s story begins in 1998 with the founding of CheetahMail, a pioneer in the digital marketing industry. Six years later, the company was acquired by Experian and became a key component of its Experian Marketing Services business. In June 2017, the business was spun off and launched Cheetah Digital as the largest independent enterprise marketing technology company in the world. Today, Cheetah Digital works with many of the world’s best brands, helping marketers drive revenue, build lasting customer relationships, and deliver a unique value exchange throughout the entire customer lifecycle.
“We were sending hundreds of invoices each month. Following up with customers manually was tedious. Collections have improved after implementing YayPay.”
CHALLENGE
An entirely manual dunning process meant that Cheetah Digital’s customers were receiving invoices and then often never being followed up with. Or, they were followed up with, but at a much later date when the invoice was severely delinquent. The collectors on the team, all of whom were new, were managing their portfolios in a number of different ways. This meant their spreadsheets, system reports etc. were inconsistent with one another and this made it very difficult to ascertain the specific state of a customer account.
Compounding this issue was the fact that departments had no simple method to communicate and collaborate. The sales team struggled to get visibility into customer accounts and were completely reliant on sourcing the information manually from the AR team, as they did not have access to the organization’s ERP system. This affected how frequently they could retrieve updates and often meant that they were left in the dark, resulting in important customer information not being shared and acted on.
SOLUTION
YayPay by Quadient’s smart AR automation platform has helped Cheetah Digital ensure consistency. Customers receive a clear message globally with the same look and feel and at the same cadence. This consistency is mirrored internally, with AR and sales benefiting from a centralized platform that drives increased transparency and provides an ability to collaborate effectively through joint workflows. Both teams now have access to the same essential customer data stored within the platform, which eliminates ambiguity and the inefficiency of transferring information back and forth. There is no delay when the sales team needs visibility into customer accounts and this has improved their customer interactions as they can identify and resolve issues much faster.
Cheetah Digital’s finance team are also able to provide more accurate reports to their C Level. The YayPay platform provides clear, informative dashboards which give immediate visibility into the state of a customer account. This has not only helped them respond to challenges, but also work more effectively with senior management on a robust collections strategy to ensure continued success.
RESULTS
The impact has been tremendous:
- DSO has reduced globally by at least 25 days. The Global DSO is now between 45-50 days meaning that on average Cheetah Digital’s clients are paying within 10 to 15 days of their due date.
- Global overdue AR has reduced more than 40% from $17M to $10M.
- The spread of debt now sitting in over 60 days is less than 5%.
- These stats amount to a critical outcome - strengthened cash flow.
This has proved particularly significant during the COVID-19 pandemic as Cheetah Digital has been able to closely navigate and identify the credit risks that some of its customers experienced. This has enabled them to work together to reduce overdue debt exposure.
With cash flow strengthened and a well organized, collaborative AR process, teams are working more effectively, customer experience has improved, and the organization is able to focus on strategy and future growth, rather than problem resolution.
“We have seen payments come in faster, and a better customer experience because we are able to address things quickly.”
