Powering Profitable, Fast-Paced Growth. CUSTOMER STORY ... Ireland, and a booming online and mail order business. With i
CUSTOMER STORY
British Clothing Retailer: Instant Credit Risk Analysis Increases Cash Flow — Powering Profitable, Fast-Paced Growth This iconic British retailer has come a long way since opening its first outlet just over a decade ago. Today it operates stores across the country, has hundreds of wholesale accounts in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, and a booming online and mail order business. With international expansion on the cards, the retailer expects to sign many more franchise partners and wholesale agents across the world.
THE CHALLENGE A dynamic and fast growing business with increased exposure in the international arena, the retailer needs to have its finger on the pulse when it comes to maximising trade payment performance and minimising credit risk. A rapidly growing base of commercial customers meant monitoring the mounting number of individual accounts was a challenge – especially when it came to identifying time-sensitive credit requests that require an instant response. Making the right credit decisions would mean streamlining risk analysis processes to gain daily insights into the changing financial conditions of domestic and international customers. To maintain its growth trajectory, credit controllers also needed the ability to undertake timely, accurate and reliable credit checks, ensuring the company could expand profitably at home and abroad.
THE SOLUTION
To automate credit risk management in its global customer portfolio and enable fast-track decision making on new trading partners, this iconic retailer turned to D&B and its DNBi web-based credit risk management solution. DNBi delivers the live information, insights and analysis the company’s team of credit controllers need, direct to their desktop. Featuring real-time updates and predictive analytics, the retailer can at last track the financial performance of thousands of customers in an instant. Gaining the intelligence it needs to inform its credit decision-making and risk management processes.
HOW IT WORKS Customisable dashboards make it easy to define the exact payment behaviours and financial risk points the company wants to proactively monitor, creating alerts on areas of potential risk and opportunity. And when it comes to evaluating the viability of companies it wants to do business with, the retailer now has instant access to financial history and predictive analytics on millions of companies in more than 220 countries.
R E S U LT S A N D R O I Payback has been immediate. The company now has an aggregated view of its entire portfolio at any one time and is able to instantly adjust its credit policies based on underlying trends and the financial strength of its customers. •
Using the online dashboard, the retailer is able to access an at-a-glance overview of the current financial standing of its top customers, utilising drill down options to obtain deeper analysis as required.
•
Automated access to real-time data on the entire portfolio has streamlined workflows and eliminated the need to constantly re-run queries and reports. Giving the retailer immediate access to the accurate live data it needs to make better decisions, faster.
The labour saving benefits have been significant. A small team is now able to proactively manage risk in real-time. Thousands of credit accounts across its international portfolio now rely on automated alerts that highlight where immediate action or input is required. Even better, reports are held in a single file, ensuring everyone has access to ‘one version of the truth’ for each account to enable more consistent decision-making. The retailer has been able to automate its global and UK credit check process, searching more than 237 million business records by D-U-N-S number, executive name, phone number – and more. Plus, predictive ratings and instant credit scoring has pushed new applicant processing time down and decision-making accuracy up. And as expansion continues with this retailer at home and overseas, credit controllers now have the ability to manage an increasing number of credit requests and a growing account portfolio with ease – thanks to Dun & Bradstreet and the web-based scalability of DNBi.
UK: www.dnb.co.uk T: +44 (0)800 001 234
BELGIUM: www.dnb-belgium.be T: 02 481 83 00
NETHERLANDS: www.dnb-nederland.nl T: 010 710 95 60
US: www.dnb.com T: +001 (800) 526-9018
ABOUT DUN & BRADSTREET
Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB) grows the most valuable relationships in business. By uncovering truth and meaning from data, we connect customers with the prospects, suppliers, clients and partners that matter most, and have since 1841. Nearly ninety percent of the Fortune 500, and companies of every size around the world, rely on our data, insights and analytics. For more about Dun & Bradstreet, visit DNB.com. © Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. 2015. All rights reserved.
www.dnb.com
