• FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • LOG IN
  • SIGN UP FOR FREE

Resourceful Finance Pro

  • FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Payroll
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Finance Technology
  • Sales & Use Tax
  • More
    • Employment Law
    • Strategy
    • Policy and Culture
    • Fraud
    • Budgeting and Forecasting
    • Banking
    • Staff Management
    • Cost Control
  • Credit and Collections
  • Finance Technology
2 minute read

Credit is very slow to adopt new technology in this one area

Scott Ball
by Scott Ball
March 7, 2023
  • SHARE ON

B2B credit departments are steadily embracing new technology and automation. But one area where companies are steadfastly sticking to the past is new credit applications.

More than half of credit professionals report 25% or less of their credit applications are online, according to a poll conducted by the National Association of Credit Management (NACM). Just 18% of creditors say their application processes are fully digitized and no longer accept paper applications.

Credit managers who’ve upgraded their application processes shared the benefits of ditching paper on the NACM podcast Extra Credit. Going with an all-online application process helps credit managers and their staff members:

  • keep track of all the related documents from a prospective customer so nothing gets lost
  • get a real-time look for multiple credit staffers of the application process, and
  • attract prospective customers who want to save time and not fill out paperwork.

The struggle is getting the system up and running. Like most tech upgrades, it takes time and money to change tried-and-true practices. Getting employees up to speed (and to buy in, in some cases) can also be a challenge.

Could sticking with paper applications lead to customers going elsewhere?

Extra Credit heard from credit managers who still rely primarily or entirely on paper applications but hope to move to the digital realm in the near future.

Among the advantages they look forward to are the ease of looking at an electronic application and not having to decipher sloppy or tiny handwriting on written forms. Also: If an applicant is concerned about privacy, it’s possible to redact info like Social Security numbers on an electronic document as opposed to paper.

One reason why some credit managers may be reluctant to go all-digital? Loss of the “human touch” – the opportunity to judge if an applicant is worth taking a risk on or might be fudging the numbers to appear less risky.

How Not to Wreck Your Reconciliations

Experienced credit managers learn to rely on their gut feelings after they’ve read hundreds to thousands of manually filled-out credit applications. An electronic process which typically includes automatic fill-in capability for some fields changes the game as it’s always been played, for both the creditor and applicant.

As with any tech change in finance, we’ll see a migration to all-digital credit applications once it makes too much sense not to!

Scott Ball
Scott Ball
Scott Ball is a Senior Staff Writer for Resourceful Finance Pro with more than 20 years of experience writing for business professionals. He wrote for the trade publications CFO & Controller Alert, Facility Manager's Alert and Environmental Compliance Alert.

Get the

Resourceful Finance Pro Logo

Newsletter

With Resourceful Finance Pro arriving in your inbox, you will never miss critical stories on accounting, benefits, payroll & employment law strategies.

  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Resourceful Finance Pro Logo
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • WRITE FOR US
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Payroll
  • Policy and Culture
  • Employment Law
  • Fraud
  • Finance Technology
  • Sales & Use Tax
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Strategy
  • Budgeting and Forecasting
  • Banking
  • Staff Management
  • Cost Control

Resourceful Finance Pro, part of the SuccessFuel Network, provides the latest Finance and employment law news for Finance professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day's headlines, Resourceful Finance Pro delivers actionable insights, helping Finance execs understand what Finance trends mean to their business.

Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
Copyright © 2023 SuccessFuel

WELCOME BACK!

Enter your username and password below to log in

Forget Your Username or Password?

Reset Password

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Log In

During your free trial, you can cancel at any time with a single click on your “Account” page.  It’s that easy.

preloader