Headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois, Arlington Industries has been in business over 30 years and distributes over 9,000 brand name imaging supplies to resellers worldwide. Prior to the eCredit implementation, Arlington managed credit and collections using several disparate tools. No standard processes existed and all activity was based off of a weekly aging balances report. The approach was reactive, collectors started from the top of the list and worked downwards and there was no follow-up tool for phone calls. If all the weekly aging balances were not handled that week, oftentimes they were not carried to the next week and accounts began falling through the cracks. Account contact information was kept in a separate system and collectors set up follow-up reminders through their email program. As a result of this decentralized processing, bad debt and DSO were creeping up and deductions were getting unmanageable.

After gaining budget approval for a credit and collections software solution, Arlington investigated a number of vendors before settling on eCredit. They chose eCredit as the solution that had the required set of functionality as well as the best fit for a company of their size. In addition, Arlington was looking for a web-based solution that would take the burden of maintenance and upgrades away from their internal IT department. "eCredit was by far the most appropriate solution for a mid-market company like us," said Traci Florio, Credit Manager, Arlington Industries. "In addition, we selected eCredit because the subscription-based model offered significant cost savings benefits."

eCredit provides one tool set that allows the collector to view prioritized tasks and contact information in one place. Whereas the old system had all collector activities dictated by the order release screen, eCredit allows the collector to be more proactive by handling the high-value activities that are most likely to generate cash first. All contact information is accessible within the eCredit application, and the collector can easily add notes that become part of the centralized electronic customer file. eCredit also ensures that every customer with an aging balance is touched. "We have seen great improvements in daily collection activity in terms such as number of action items completed and number of faxes sent," continued Florio.

Through the use of eCredit's credit module, Arlington has been able to coordinate the credit approval process from start to finish. The department administrative assistant initiates the creation of an account and can automatically gain approval through a link to a major credit bureau. If the account meets the commercial credit score threshold established by Arlington then it automatically creates an item in the collector's work queue. If the account does not meet the criteria then it is routed to the collector for manual review.

When Arlington Industries signed with eCredit, there were certain expectations with respect to ROI (Return on Investment). So far, the eCredit implementation has yielded impressive results. Bad debt and DSO have been reduced and the improved credit and collections processes mean that the same number of people are able to accomplish much more. Financial executives at Arlington have been particularly impressed with eCredit's ability to help the credit and collections department reduce past-due percentages. In fact, after two months of using the system, in March 2006 Arlington was able to exceed its goal of 8% past due percentage compared to total A/R when it reduced that balance to 4%. "It is very gratifying when your VP of Finance comes out of his office to congratulate your team on their improved metrics," added Florio. "Our partnership with eCredit has really helped us to achieve these results."