Over the course of 2020, businesses had to make adjustments to survive. For some, it was a matter of moving employees to remote work or pivoting to a new business strategy. For others, the effect of COVID-19 meant halting plans, shutting down, or laying off employees.  Manufacturers were unable to move products due to global supply chain challenges and small-to-medium businesses faced delayed payments. With states lifting mandates and vaccines in arms, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. 

Are your client payments still affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

From HR Tech to other models, businesses are expanding their capabilities by offering their services as a subscription.  For the same reason that your customer would hire an employee or purchase a product to take on the responsibility of a certain task, as-a-service models allow them to pay a recurring fee for the same product or service instead.  Have you thought about how to capitalize on the subscription model for your business?

Here's why businesses are offering as-a-service subscription models.

The Collections Effectiveness Index is measured as a percentage of accounts receivable collected within a given time period. 

Whether you're managing a growing accounts receivable department or you're an A/R department of one, it's important to measure the effectiveness of your efforts. Is your A/R team doing all of the right things to get paid consistently and on time?  Read further to evaluate your department's effectiveness and considerations to get even better. 

How effective is your business' accounts receivable department?

In every business, employees are the most powerful and often, most expensive, resources. Human resources managers are tasked with hiring the best people in the most efficient manner, onboarding them quickly and supporting the overall employment experience within the company.  It's quite the challenge to manage all of the paperwork, changing job specifics and the actual human resources. Thankfully, there are a number of software-as-a-service companies getting into the mix. 

Here's how HR Tech SaaS companies are transforming the HR industry.

Commercial debt recovery, also called corporate collections or B2B debt collections, is used specifically to recover delinquent business customer accounts.  Not to be confused with consumer debt collections where the delinquent account holder is an individual, commercial debts refer only to businesses. To clear up any confusion, we'll cover what's different and why. 

What types of businesses use commercial debt recovery?

Setting up any sort of retainer or regular payments seems to be a great business model. Subscribers to software-as-a-service are auto-billed or auto-renewed regularly, funding any updates to the product and keeping cash flowing. The challenges arise with missed payments or non-paying customers.

Is there a good way to collect from non-paying SaaS customers?

If your business has sent bad debt accounts off to a collections agency, you likely have questions about recovering that debt.  Typically, commercial collections agencies only charge a fee if they're able to collect.  The agency should also be transparent about the collections process and the documentation along the way.  But you may also be wondering how long they'll work on your behalf before you take the case to court.

How Long Can a Collection Agency Attempt to Collect Business Debts?

Defining 'startup' isn't as simple as it would seem. To some, your business is no longer a startup when you begin turning a profit. To others, 'startup' is a state of mind, like always chasing or hustling to push out new ideas. If your company has been calling itself a 'startup', what have you determined pushes you past that startup idea?

When is a startup considered a real business?

Chasing down an unpaid invoice can take away time and resources that could be better served elsewhere in your business. It's important to understand when and how to follow-up on invoices. Obviously you don't want to appear too needy but you don't want your clients getting away with paying late or not at all, either.  And when should you get help from a professional collections service?

When exactly is the best time to send an invoice to third party collections?