Next-day delivery and responsive customer service have set Tech Data apart from its competitors. Last-minute orders had always been problematic, however. The company had to wait for the Finance Department to confirm receipt of payment before the orders could be released. That took an average of four hours, which frequently resulted in a day’s delay before the end user received the goods. Tech Data turned to AcceptEasy for a billing solution to speed up the handling of those last-minute orders and to match its way of doing business: immediate, fast, and accurate, with meticulous attention to detail.

Objectives

• Receive immediate status updates in order to release and ship orders upon payment confirmation, without having to rely on the Finance Department.
• Perfectly match up billing system with all incoming payments.
• Improve customer service to resellers by simplifying payments and removing hurdles like retyping bill data.
• Speed up payments and reduce volume and tenor of accounts receivable 

Results of implementing AcceptEasy

• Fulfillment time for last-minute orders slashed by 92%, from an average of 4 hours to 20 minutes, from receipt of order to approval for shipment.
• Bill reference kept intact up to the bank or card statement, ensuring 100% matching of outstanding bills with incoming payments.
• Payments made to 50% quicker, resulting in lower risk and more working capital.
• Finance staff freed up to do its own work rather than researching and confirming each payment prior to shipment.
• Better customer service through faster shipping of orders. 

Wesley Heil, Tech Data Netherlands: “AcceptEasy is great for our Contact Center. Now we can process last-minute orders immediately after a payment is made. Even if an order is made at 5 p.m. on a Friday afternoon by phone, we can instantly send a bill to the customer. He then can settle the payment immediately from his desktop, tablet or mobile, so we can make the order ready for delivery before 10 a.m. the next day. Our agents can track the payment status in real-time. They always know exactly which bills are paid and which ones are not. With this real-time insight we can take quick and appropriate actions."