Understand, Simplify, Automate: Saving $2 Million with Continuous Improvement

• Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
• Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

• Food & Beverage

• Business Operation
• Quality Assurance

• Predictive Maintenance
• Process Control & Optimization
• Remote Asset Management

• Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
• System Integration

The financial services team at DPSG relied on 3rd party vendors, outsourcing their Collections, Cash Application, and other A/R functions to control costs. This led to limitations such as restricted access and control. Moreover, outsourced contracts prevented shifting to other platforms or discontinuation of services prior to the contract period. A lack of metrics and statistics also made it difficult to track outsourced resource productivity causing inconsistencies across processes and creating complications for the A/R team. Only after insourcing receivables processes and leveraging technology was the team able to streamline A/R operations and achieve end-to-end process visibility. Continuous training and retraining were required for analysts to stay up-to-date with the high level of non-standardization in the process. There was a lot of hesitation from the team in adopting new processes. The majority of A/R correspondence was either mailed, or printed/scanned/emailed manually. There was no centralized system for analysts to record notes on receivables transactions, and no worklists were incorporated to help analysts prioritize work across collections and deductions.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. is an American soft drink company, based in Plano, Texas, and the #1 flavored carbonated soft drink manufacturer in the US. Formerly called Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages, on May 5, 2008, it was spun off from Britain's Cadbury Schweppes, with trading in its shares starting on May 7, 2008. DPSG operates 22 manufacturing and bottling facilities and more than 100 warehouses and distribution centers across North America. With over 19,000 employees, Rapid Continuous Improvement became part of DPSG culture, but made it difficult to impact outsourced processes. Stagnation was rampant in the A/R processes and variation was the enemy.

By leveraging technology to automate their processes, DPSG found the following functionality in using the HighRadius cloud solution: Implementation of Collection Strategies: By deploying standard collection strategies across all collectors, the teams were able to connect with the right accounts in a timely manner. Automated Correspondence: Automation of email and fax correspondences to less critical accounts significantly reduced the number of manual actions required by collectors, while reducing the size of their worklist. Data-based Customer Prioritization: Rich data-based scoring of accounts helped collectors prioritize which accounts were important or at risk and which customers needed to be focused on. Visual Metrics: Easily accessible reports and dashboards enabled team leads and managers to spot trends and take corrective actions faster. Process Discipline: Applying a standardized protocol for different collection teams helped establish process discipline across operations. They were able to save on time and resources lost in manual remittance aggregation, payment remittance linking, and cash reconciliation by incorporating a global solution. Implementing a cloud-based Artificial Intelligence solution helped automate cash application across geographies and business units. With maximum functionality built out of the box, teams were able to avoid time-consuming interactions with internal IT teams. The ability to handle virtually all remittance and payment formats helped avoid any costs for future upgrades and software updates.

• Collections Management: Implementation of standard collection strategies across all collectors, automated email and fax correspondences, data-based customer prioritization, visual metrics, and process discipline.
• Cash Application: Saved time and resources lost in manual remittance aggregation, payment remittance linking, and cash reconciliation by incorporating a global solution.
• Deductions Management: Auto retrieval and attachment of backup documents, allowing analysts to focus on faster research and resolution.

• $2.5 million reduction in annual finance service costs through automation.
• 40% improvement in collector productivity.
• 50% reallocation of FTEs to other processes.