CCR2 Technology Futures


Do you feel different regions are developing at different paces in terms of acceptance of A/R technology? Yes, I think some regions might adopt technology quicker – particularly the US and Europe. This is mostly because a lot of companies have shared-services teams, and one of the biggest benefits they look for in using technology is standardisation. But in reality, each region has different policies and compliance issues. They need to have some flexibility in the


system to attain the requirements of the particular region. Finding one system that can provide


both the standardisation and flexibility to accommodate unique regional circumstances is very much the Holy Grail that everyone is working towards. The second cause of the varied adoption


pace is that there are a lot of companies that grow by acquisition, which brings in all the disparate systems and processes. The first thing that the business wants to do is implement a standard approach, but they cannot be too rigid. Equally, a lot of customisations do not


allow the standardisation, and the output can become a mash of data that can be hard to use as the comparisons are not applicable.


How has the role of credit managers changed compared to the pre-COVID- 19 period? I feel that the credit profession has certainly got more attention now, and this is the opportunity and time for credit managers to shine. Today if an executive wants to hire a


credit manager, they will want to know what did the managers do differently in their previous company to overcome the crisis – did they leverage any technology, were they able to maximise the effectiveness of their teams, did they help in increasing sales in its existing client base or did their work directly impact the bottom line. These will be the primary questions to


the credit managers as these are the areas where business leadership is more focused now. For example, my job in Customer Value is about customer retention, so I will be asked if I was able to retain any of the customers.


August 2021


What do you think will be the key challenges for the credit managers in the upcoming years? I think the key challenge for a credit manager will be to adopt new technologies and get their teams to embrace them. In this world, there are many people who


feel that they have been doing their job in the same way for the last 20 years and do not want to change. But embracing change and being agile enough to pivot and teach people to do things differently is where success will lie. For example, businesses now have


autonomous solutions where the collector’s work-list is already prepared and prioritised by the system. This way, it takes away all that administrative work they previously had to spend time on and can get through their client list much faster. But all this new technology needs the managers to get their teams to embrace it and decide how they will roll it out. Managers will have to be able to show what will be the outcomes that their teams can achieve. Since we are at the forefront of the


software in the O2C vertical, clients come to us to ask how they should approach a transformation project. Our response to them is that they do not have to transform


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Bringing a change takes people, process, and technology to work together – it is not 100% the technology. People can think that technology will solve all their problems, but the way your people, processes, and technology together operate is the key


everything at once. Taking on a huge amount of change can be highly disruptive for a company. Instead, they should prioritise the areas that will make the biggest impact in the shortest term and then build upon it. This way, they can get the best buy-in from their teams and business. Bringing a change takes people, process,


and technology to work together – it is not 100% the technology. People can think that technology will solve all their problems, but the way your people, processes, and technology together operate is the key. It will always be that way. CCR


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