The right call at the right time; for Ronnie Mars from Cogas, Payt came just in time. Together with his colleagues, the Finance team leader had been looking for a smart solution for the organization’s debtor management for some time. There was even talk of having something built for it. Fortunately, that was not necessary, and since January 2016, Payt’s platform has met Cogas’s needs.
Regional Network Operator
Cogas is a regional network operator that provides electricity, gas, cable, and fiber optic connections in the east of the Netherlands. A utility company that delivers the transport network up to the meter box and operates both semi-publicly and commercially. Cogas had been looking for a system for some time that would allow the financial department to quickly and easily retrieve the status of (outstanding) invoices and communicate easily with debtors. Since January 2016, they have been working with full satisfaction with Payt’s platform. Ronnie Mars says: “Payt has built a nice piece of software, giving us a central overview of the current status of Cogas’s portfolio. Payt’s system shows exactly which customers we need to take action for. This way, my colleagues responsible for debtor management can always take targeted actions on a daily basis. This makes the work effective, clear, and structured.”
Debtor Management and Amicable Collection Process
Mars can confirm that Payt’s software not only structures and facilitates the work but also saves money. “We have automated both the debtor process and the amicable collection process with Payt. As a result, we no longer need to hire expensive collection agencies, saving us a lot of work in the department. Before we implemented Payt, we needed 2.5 FTEs for the debtor management of our organization. Since January, that has been reduced by half an FTE.”
Mars continues: “The convenience of Payt’s platform is that you can consult with customers at the invoice level and make payment arrangements with customers directly, which you then process in the system. Cogas provides one of the basic necessities of life, which means customers almost always want to pay our bills first. For us, the issue was not so much the speed of payment, but the communication with debtors and the overview. Payt has a handy dashboard that allows us to see at a glance what the outstanding invoices are.
Moreover, since January, we can much more easily contact our customers and assess whether someone cannot or does not want to pay. There is a fundamental difference in this, and it was more challenging to assess before. With the communication options that Payt’s platform offers, we can more easily determine whether a case should be forwarded to the bailiff or if we can make a payment arrangement with a customer. That customers also pay faster due to Payt’s structured process is a bonus.”
The Implementation
The implementation process was quite challenging. Yet Mars is more than satisfied with it: “Due to privacy legislation, as a network operator, we have to deal with fairly strict rules and requirements when it comes to linking with our systems. Moreover, our systems are quite complex, and linking them is quite a challenge in itself. Payt has been very flexible during the implementation process and has ensured that both the implementation and the debtor management and collection process of Cogas now run smoothly.”
Would you, like Cogas, also like more insight into your credit management process through automated debtor management and easily communicate with customers about outstanding invoices? Then contact us, and we will be happy to tell you more about the possibilities of the platform!
