Time savings, the biggest gain of all
- Marion Ziel | Credit Manager | Euromaster
Euromaster is one of the most important European players in the tyre and maintenance industry. The Euromaster brand, which was created in 1991 from the acquisition of various tyre specialists in Europe, has grown into a company with more than 2,300 branches in 17 countries. In the Netherlands, the network consists of more than 100 branches, serving both business and private customers. The future of Euromaster lies in tyres, tyre-related services and small car maintenance.
On the statement that everybody in the Netherlands probably knows the Euromaster brand, Marion Ziel, Credit Manager at Euromaster, reacts that among the general public this is definitely not always the case. “Because we mainly focus on the business market, such as transport companies and lease companies, the company is especially recognized within this market. We notice that Euromaster is less known among private car owners, nevertheless we have a loyal group of customers in this market as well. With more than 100 branches in the Netherlands, Euromaster is a large and beautiful brand with a lot of knowledge and expertise,” says Marion. In her daily work, the continuous dynamics of the organization particularly appeals to Marion. “At Euromaster, there is never a dull moment, and you always have to help out somewhere. Especially in the position of Credit Manager you are often the link between different departments, and they cannot really ignore you. This all makes it an amazing company to work for even after 11.5 years”.
From credit management software back to Excel
A lot has changed within the Euromaster credit management team over the past 2.5 years. Where the team initially consisted of 7 FTEs in the Netherlands, in 2018 with the transition to SAP and the arrival of a Shared Service Center in Bucharest, the entire team in the Netherlands disappeared. In the same period, the decision was made that Marion had to say goodbye to the credit management package she was working with at that time. “This was quite a shock. Where I initially had a well-running software package and a team that was fully attuned to our customers, we went back to Excel files and had to decide from these files who to call without being able to monitor the follow-up”.
Choice of CreditDevice
Marion could have predicted beforehand that SAP, for the execution of credit management, would not meet the needs of a company with more than 3,000 active debtors. It was therefore not long before she started looking for a good credit management software package again. “In this search, our previous supplier was initially on top of our list, because we were already familiar with the software. But after a conversation with Joke Roelofs, account manager at CreditDevice, I instantly got a good picture of the software. Eventually you have to make a decision and we came to the conclusion that CreditDevice has a very good system with a better price tag than the competition. Especially the fact that you do not have to pay extra for user licenses, simply saves a lot of money,” says Marion.
Time savings, the biggest gain of all
Marion’s team finally went live in June 2020. “Since we went live, we have been able to make great strides. Everything is structured, actions are carried out on time and both the overdue and bad debt have gone down a lot. We just have everything under control now,” Marion explains. After the restructuring in 2018, the team in Romania was reduced from 5 to 3 FTEs and Marion’s team, together with her Dutch colleague John, consists of 5 FTEs. Marion says that with CreditDevice they have saved so much time in the past few months, that they can reduce the number of FTEs in Romania by one FTE. “You can just handle the work much easier with fewer people. If you have set up the workflows correctly, the software does the job for you. It is very handy that the software shows exactly in how many days a customer generally pays his invoices. This gives you much better insight. For example, we now see that some customers always pay with 60 days while a payment term of 30 days has been agreed. Now that we have everything back in order, we can manage this much better”. In credit management, it is unfortunately often the case that when customers are approached little or not at all, they often take advantage of the situation and pay their invoices later. In addition, customer contact in general is very important, Marion says. “As a credit manager you do not only call to ask when an invoice will be paid, especially now in times of Corona it is important to ask how things are going. By asking the right questions, you quickly find out whether a customer needs your attention, and you can look for a solution together if there are any problems”.
The effect corona has on payment terms
When it comes to corona, Marion says that at this point not much has changed. “Of course, it took some getting used to that we suddenly all had to work from home since March 2020 and also the moment to change to summer tyres started later”, Marion says. The Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), on the other hand, has reduced enormously in the past few months. Currently, the company has a DSO of about 32 days. This is mainly due to the fact that the team has all processes back in order. Marion does indicate, that a good credit management software package is really indispensable especially in times of crisis. “After the last crisis, the economy was doing well, and customers generally paid on time. But especially now, during the corona, you realize again how important good software is in order to monitor your customers and to keep up with their payments.
International rollout of credit management software
The first meetings with Euromaster already showed that there is a lot of international interest in the software of CreditDevice. Marion notices that this interest is still present among her fellow Credit Managers. During the monthly meetings with her European colleagues, she recently gave a presentation on how the software works. It is expected that Euromaster France and Switzerland will be the first countries to make the switch and that the other countries will follow after that. Marion says that it is an advantage for her if other countries also use the same credit management software. “It is very convenient if you can ask each other questions and learn from each other. I also notice that it is good that on a European Level we are more and more in contact with each other. When a foreign customer comes in, we can easily check who this customer is and what the status is. This is very pleasant”.
