Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena An Evolutionary Tale Michael Schillo – Vice President, Finance, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Jeff Haller – Managing Partner & CEO, DataServ 1
Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena Michael Schillo Sony Pictures ($2 billion division of Sony) since 2006 Credit and collections for U.S. operations Customers 2
Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena Sony’s AR process evolution: Paper to electronic Automation driven Timely resolution of open items Results focused 3
Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena Business need - Reduce $250 million of outstanding customer deduction balances Business situation Paper everywhere Incomplete automation Lack of operational metrics 4
Order To Cash Cycle Supply Chain Supplier Shipment Requests Customer Shipping and Receiving Facility Shipment Requests Purchase Order 850 Remittance Advice 820 Invoices 810 Shipments & Returns Deduction Detail 812
Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena Annually- 5 million orders 2 million invoiced with price 3 million invoiced on consignment 350,000 issues to resolve 120,000 operational issues to resolve Low dollar transactions (average cost of DVD is $7) The process was: 5 minutes with customer 15 minutes requesting info days to receive info days to reconnect with customer 6
Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena Three issues needed to be addressed quickly: Promotional rebates Speeding and reconciling returns Deduction workflow Speed!!! Creates value! 7
Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena The Big Idea – Quickly build SaaS workflow solution: All “sales cycle” documentation Instantly available Exportable to clients INVOICE PACKING SLIP PROOF OF DELIVERY 8
Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena Performance (2006 to 2012) Collections up $200 million “Paybacks” up 350% Collection time down 44% Labor costs down 45% 9
Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena Tips for Success Speed is the most important lever for success Focus on things you can solve Establish clear goals and accountability Tell your story Help management understand how valuable you and your function are to their bottom line – money talks! Have a continuous improvement mindset - Rome wasn’t built in a day 10
Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena Future Goals Expand automation focus outside of my direct areas Bring efficiencies and approach to the Sony global organization 11
Survive and Thrive in the Billing and Collections Arena Questions?