Press Releases (Archived)
Rising to the challenge
By David Thomson, CEO, Close Invoice Finance
The last year or so has been particularly exiting as the invoice finance sector has become even more competitive and challenging. This has driven further innovation as all the players strive to steal a march in pursuit of improved existing client service and more new business.
Towards the end of last year Close Invoice Finance launched IDeal, a web based software system that integrates seamlessly with all available accounting packages making a paperless invoice discounting product a reality. It completely eliminates the mountain of paperwork traditionally associated with Invoice Discounting meaning that the production of invoice listings, copy credit notes and monthly reconciliations are all a thing of the past.
IDeal sits on a secure web based platform and because it is fully automated it lifts all the required ledger information direct from any of the available accounting software packages. All invoicing and customer payment transactions are conducted through IDeal which automatically self reconciles on a daily basis.
IDeal is available to any business using an electronic software package and having UK sales of at least £200,000 per year. It is particularly suitable to businesses that have previously only been able to access Factoring type solutions from other providers or who have not been able to gain an Invoice Discounting facility because of stringent qualification criteria. Up to 95% of the value of the client’s invoices and are made available to the client through the mere click of the mouse.
However, IDeal loses none of the benefits of traditional facilities as it can be run on a completely confidential basis meaning that customers of firms using IDeal are unaware of the funding arrangements in place.
The term unique is often used inappropriately in business, but on this occasion I think it’s justified. I really can’t recall another solution that takes the hassle out of cash flow management like IDeal. To remove all of the paper and the manual monthly reconciliation process is a real breakthrough.
Ideal already boasts 100 new clients – with up to 30 more signing on each month - since its introduction in September 2006.
What’s staggering is 30per cent of new clients are being poached from CIF competitors. They, in common with other new clients, are from a diverse range of businesses. They recognise the sense of realising the cash tied up in their sales ledger without recourse to the traditional administration burden.
The benefits are best summed up by those that have used the service. Clare Howells, Director, of Kline Davis Recruitment commented, “We were with a high street banks invoice finance arm for about six years and it just got too onerous dealing with them. We had to do our own credit checks, for example, and this was just taking far too long. The online system offered by Close Invoice Finance makes life so much simpler and the entire process is much more technologically advanced than it was. Because everything goes through our SAGE system, anything that we do CIF can access and that makes processing invoices much quicker and life more straight forward.”
In addition to all the operating features we are offering Ideal for a fixed monthly administration charge set according to the turnover of the business. This means that any business knows in advance exactly how much IDeal will cost in any given year.
The launch of Ideal followed a major overhaul of the Close Invoice Finance website in terms of both content and look. The new site has been remodelled to reflect our corporate culture and approach to business – Clear Simple and Effortless. Its use of strong, modern colours on a striking black background was designed to make it stand out from the crowd. The content too has been refined and updated to reflect CIFs comprehensive range of cash flow solutions. We wanted a web site which reflected our new corporate image and the way we like to do business. We are about delivering hassle free cash flow solutions to companies and this more progressive site helps us to communicate our personality.
Despite the highly competitive market, customer satisfaction levels have plummeted as the high street banks have decided to offshore services to other countries, research has confirmed. Poor customer service provided by overseas call centre staff was cited as a primary reason by bosses in the small and medium-sized business sector for their dissatisfaction with their provider, according to a second annual independent survey commissioned by Close Invoice Finance. Overall, the survey showed that the customer satisfaction rating with the big high street banks plummeted from an average score (out of 10) of 7.35 to 5.65 compared with the previous year. At the same time, the satisfaction rating of Close Invoice Finance leads the industry, scoring 7.90 in anonymous interviews.
Looking ahead, the challenge for us is to build on the success we have already achieved given that standing still is not an option in this highly competitive environment. We look forward to the challenges ahead and to competing for a third successive Business Moneyfacts award next year.
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