Building and sustaining a successful enterprise demands a keen understanding of when and how to address potential issues – turning what could be a critical weakness into a value-added strength.
As a Pepsi-Cola franchisee with 25 years in the distribution business, LinPepCo had the intuition to make a change in their accounts receivable (AR) collections process by using Esker software.
Before Esker, LinPepCo relied on a largely manual process to manage its collections. Paper was prevalent, as the team was tasked with printing statements and sending reminders by hand.
“A lot of cost and manual labour went into that,” said Jen Pfeifer, director of IT at LinPepCo. “We knew there had to be a faster, more cost-effective way to help our staff collect and our customers make payments. Esker’s TermSync product offered that solution.”
The solution
One of the biggest goals LinPepCo wanted to achieve in implementing a new solution was to utilise as few different systems and technologies as possible. Ultimately, it was Esker’s automated Collections Management solution that stood out for its robust capabilities and integration with VIP, LinPepCo’s existing software system. Esker’s business partnership with VIP meant a faster and seamless solution delivery process for LinPepCo with few resources needed to get up and running.
“Esker checked off so many boxes for us that we really had no reason to test other solutions,” said Pfeifer. “It was perfectly compatible with what we had in place and the implementation process couldn’t have been more painless. After just a few weeks of going live, we had customers and team members telling us how slick the solution was.”
Approximately 67 per cent of LinPepCo’s customer base (3,800 customers) is currently using Esker’s cloud-based solution. Nearly one in four customers are using the auto-pay feature, which has proven to be a time-saver for both the company and its customers.
“All our goals have been accomplished with Esker’s Collections Management solution. Payment reminders are being sent out electronically, our staff is more productive and proactive, and our customers are happy. Everything we were hoping for was delivered.” said LinPepCo CFO Kara Deist.
LinPepCo went live with Esker’s Collections Management solution in early 2015. Since then, the company has achieved a number of business benefits. Among these include:
Reduced day sales outstanding (DSO) – with electronic reminders being sent out and reduced manual duties, LinPepCo has significantly reduced its DSO, virtually eliminating customers in the 90- day past-due category.
Improved customer experience – due to Esker’s online portal, LinPepCo can offer its customers a number of self-service options for managing invoices; since go-live LinPepCo has seen a 69 per cent increase in auto-pay customers.
Freed up staff time – fewer administrative duties has freed up LinPepCo team members to spend more time on strategic things like managing reports, contacting customers, reconciliation and more.