In times of volatile markets and uncertain prospects, us credit managers are more than ever faced with the task of being familiar with our customers' financial situations down to the last detail in order to avert damage from the company. Our main responsibility here lies in gathering, managing, analyzing, and interpreting internal and external data. This is the only way for us to best assess our customers' payment habits and to take preventive action where necessary. The results are mapped as indicators (credit limit, credit index, etc.) which, in turn, control any follow-on processes such as blocking orders and customers, or organizing debt recovery processes. To this end, the customer-related information and key data must be integrated in the company's "order-to-cash" process.

Today there already are remarkable technical options for supporting the procedural requirements in credit management. In view of the increasing level of innovation and digitization, we can expect this trend to continue unabated.

Innovative technologies uncover significant optimization potentials, assist our work, and bring about time and cost savings. Smart software solutions provide up-to-date reports that are prepared based on different KPIs, in real time, and at the press of a button. SAP users, for example, have the option to automatically determine credit limits and customer scores using specialized credit management software. With SAP HANA, businesses now also have access to an efficient in-memory technology that is able to process huge amounts of data ("big data") in a matter of seconds. Typical credit management processes, such as onboarding or credit limit request submissions, can thus be organized more efficiently than ever before. Thanks to interactive web interfaces and "Fiori" apps, credit management is now also possible on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, creating an entirely new experience for users. Field-based sales staff, for instance, benefit immensely from this option, as they have all important customer and credit rating data available in real time so that they are well prepared for their customer meetings. As credit managers, we use the interactive dashboard to keep track of our customer portfolio and the associated risks at all times. This allows us to identify bad debt risks and payment delays on the part of the customer in due time. Instead of merely responding, we can therefore take preventive action and as a result safeguard and optimize the company's liquidity.

In summary, we can note that it is becoming increasingly necessary to implement professional credit management processes due to fiercer competition, rising insolvency rates, and deteriorating payment habits, both domestically and abroad. At the same time, modern technologies and the tremendous innovative strength of the IT industry give us software solutions and tools with features that cover all our needs and enable us to effortlessly master the challenges of our time—today and in the future.

Michael Köhler, Hanse Orga Group

www.hanseorga-group.com/creditmanagement