Jumping Fox Software
Interesting Reads

Make business-saving decisions look easy

Consider that the world is increasingly moving towards the digitalisation of almost everything...

Putting your credit risk management process into action

If you’ve been following our previous articles on building...

Fundamentals of credit risk management software

It is commonly understood that for any team to deliver the best possible....

Managing employees through change

While often overlooked by business owners, being able to manage credit risks can mean the difference between success and failure

Employees’ perspectives on company morale

Company culture and morale are vital for a thriving business, but how do we really achieve it?

Starting a complete credit risk management process the easy way

While often overlooked by business owners, being able to manage credit...

Keeping employees happy and engaged is more important than ever before - and you should know how to do it.

Know your business inside and out

Being a jack-of-all-trades is still one of the most important qualities of a successful business owner.

The link between employee morale and account management solutions

How the right credit risk management and collection software can help you keep employees engaged, focused, and happy.

Who should you blame if your account management and collection team is not performing?

The team, the software, or the business owner?

A survival guide for new software developers

Your first year as a programmer is the most difficult, but there are ways to make the learning curve easier.

The numbers are in and we are pleased to announce the winners of the Jumping Fox Software Daily Routine Competition!

Six steps to getting credit risk management right in a small business

How small businesses providing services and goods on credit should be managing their biggest risk

Simplifying your most important decisions: moving to the cloud

You can start your company’s digital journey in a few easy steps.

Breaking free from a culture of fraud

Why hit & run sales are bad for business.

The beginner’s guide to decision-making

Sticking to your road map is key to making the right choices

Can opportunities be more valuable than perks?

Free food is fine but growth is better

A moment of introspection

Revisiting the values that build a business

Rebuilding requires advanced risk management tools

Rebuilding your profit margins does not mean having to expose your business to increased risk

The link between customer risk management and customer success

Taking a look at a forgotten key element of customer retention

Digitalisation protects your customer base

How a state-of-the-art collections department improves customer retention

Getting to know your collections data

Understanding the capabilities of data analytics and what this means for the rest of your business.

Addressing the fears around digital transformation

A closer look at the two most common misperceptions around the digitalisation of your collection department

Making the mind shift towards digitalization

Increasing the collection success of a business requires a business owner who embraces digital transformation

Customer data and collection success are partners

Building a strong collections department depends on your ability to collect and use the relevant data

Why collecting debt on age analysis only is outdated

Applying more metrics to collections data can make collections teams even more efficient

What business owners can bring to the table for their collection teams

Managing collections success doesn’t solely rest on the shoulders of the finance department

The role of experience in collections success

Prioritising the right kind of experience helps to upskill finance teams quicker.

Crafting a collection strategy to increase
collection success

Do you have a solid strategy for collections, or are you operating blind?

Getting more out of your dashboard

When it comes to your collection metrics, do you know how to use your collections software’s dashboard effectively?

Why hit & run sales are bad for business.

It’s International Fraud Awareness Week, and companies everywhere are taking some time to focus on spreading information around uncovering and combating financial crimes. Raising awareness about the issue of fraud and crime is an extremely valuable exercise, and I have no doubt that talking about it has saved many businesses and jobs over the years.

With that said, I believe business owners should not only be reflecting on the crimes that could kill their companies, but also on the place of honesty in their organisations. After all, one of the definitions of fraud is to be intentionally deceptive in order to deny a right to a victim.

Keeping that in mind, I would argue that one of the simplest forms of dishonesty – something we like to call hit & run sales – might be every bit as destructive to a business as a case of money laundering.

Hit & run sales occur when your sales department is so focused on racking up numbers, that they end up closing deals with customers who aren’t the right fit for your product or service. Whether it is through misrepresenting the product, or by selling to a customer when you know they will not get the intended value out of it, this is an extremely easy trap to fall into. Once this practice becomes ingrained in your company’s culture, the implications can be far-reaching.

Let’s take a look at some of the most obvious repercussions of not being a conscientious seller. Sure, your sales can increase dramatically, but so does your customer churn. If customers come to realise that your product is not contributing to their operation, they cut their losses and find a different provider. Real success comes from repeat customers, which you do not have in the hit & run scenario.

Your reputation also suffers a critical hit when you sell for the sake of racking up figures. Being known as the company with the slickest sales agents is not a compliment by any stretch of the imagination, and you will soon find that your bad reputation precedes you.

Morale and company culture are also quick to decline with a hit & run philosophy. Try as they might, even the best sales agents have a hard time continually finding new business. The rest of your company may also start to question the quality of your product (given the number of customers being lost), and become disengaged. Ultimately, all of the above factors will put a severe dent in your long-term growth prospects – which is the true cost of any fraud if you think about it.

So how do you avoid letting this simple but pernicious habit creep into your company? Simply put, your sales team must adopt a culture of placing customer success before all else. Numbers are important, but never as important as making sure that your customers receive the maximum amount of benefit from your product.

Before your sales agents close any deals, they have to ask themselves whether the customer falls within the right target market and whether they see this as the start of a long and healthy relationship.

Secondly, make sure that the rest of your organisation has the capability to provide ongoing product support to your customers. Be sure to share positive customer feedback and reward your employees whenever a happy customer lets you know about their good experiences. It encourages staff to go above-and-beyond more often. Happy customers generate referrals, which is an extremely valuable way of marketing your business.

In time, you will no doubt see that being a company with a conscience is good for business. Unwavering honesty, even when it isn’t convenient for your sales numbers, always pays off in the end.

For information on how to streamline credit risk management processes, contact us on 021 – 0014758 or visit the Jumping Fox Software website

Do you have a solid strategy for collections, or are you operating blind?
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‍We often talk about how important it is for finance teams to create a good payment culture among a company’s customers. Not only does it have a wonderfully positive effect on the team’s overall collections success, but it also helps to cut down on the number of hours that teams actually have to spend on collections.

However, the one thing that is central to building this culture, is consistency, which is near-impossible to achieve without a solid collection strategy. With that in mind, there are some points that you should keep in mind if you want to build a strategy that actually benefits workflow and collections success rates.

As a starting point, it is vital to take stock of the financial team’s performance to date. Now is the time to have open and honest discussions about where the team is encountering problems and which processes need to change if the finance department is to move forward.

For business owners, it is important to determine whether they are involved enough in the operation and management of the finance team. As a general rule, the less direct involvement there is from the business owner, the worse a finance team performs on collections.

Evaluate the current relationship between your finance team and your company’s customers. You need to know how strong the payment culture currently is among the customers, and which measures and actions have worked for the finance team to date.

Next, your team should weigh in on which collections data and metrics they should track to adjust and refine the processes and workflow. While one’s account management software is highly capable of tracking any metric that could possibly be of use to the finance team, it is vital that team members identify and focus on the data that is most relevant to them to be able to make meaningful changes and increase the collection success rate.

In truth, the above points are all of the fundamentals required to devise new strategies that improve collections success and build more effective finance teams. However, there is one final step that means the difference between success and failure – extensive testing.

One of the biggest hurdles that we come across when we advise finance teams, is the fact that many are still reluctant to spend the additional time on testing and refining their collections strategy. Unfortunately, an effective collections strategy simply isn’t a stagnant thing that a team can decide on once and follow for the rest of the year.

Workflow is dynamic, and it is something that your team will constantly have to analyse and adjust to find the best strategy to boost the success of their collections. While this may not be something that most professionals want to hear, the good news is that the more time one invests from the start of the process, the quicker it becomes to assess and tweak your strategy for optimal results.

As a rule of thumb, the first three months of any new collections strategy is spent experimenting and tweaking your existing plan. It will involve, for example, testing whether your reminders to customers have the desired effect, and looking at the reasons why your interventions succeeded or failed with each individual customer.

The same is true for the next steps that you intend to implement. Different classes and types of customers react differently to notification that they will be listed or handed over to debt collectors. Every single factor that you test plays a role in refining your strategy and ensuring that your team collects successfully in the shortest possible time.

Creating a new collections strategy is easy. However, investing a few months of your time into customising and adjusting your strategy to the real world, is the only way to save countless hours of work down the line.

When it comes to your collection metrics, do you know how to use your collections software’s dashboard effectively?
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‍More often than not, the collections software used by financial teams to manage accounts, present users with impressive dashboards that put reams of information and different metrics at one’s fingertips.

To be sure, the dashboards provided by collections software packages are incredibly useful tools, and they offer important overviews of the state of a company’s accounts. However, as these various brands of software continue to evolve, we often see that their dashboards become increasingly complex.

Where the dashboard’s initial intention has always been to simplify information in order to help finance teams to get a broad picture of their collection efforts, having too many metrics on one dashboard can be counterproductive. It undoubtedly looks imposing, but the information overload may in fact be adding to your team’s frustrations – regardless of their experience level.

With that said, it is imperative to cut through the distractions and focus on the handful of metrics on the dashboard that are actually important to the task of getting money to flow into the business.

To start, you have to remember that the core function of your company’s collections software package is to track and manage payments, as well as to guide the user through the steps of the collections process. Any metrics that do not work towards that end are not benefiting the finance team.

The two most important pieces of information that you should zero in on first when opening the dashboard, are the red flags that mark high-risk accounts, and the software’s suggested actions to mitigate wasted time and capital when dealing with these cases.

In addition to this, we also believe that it is crucial to see how your team’s collections success rate is influenced by changes in their workflow success. Ideally, your software should track your team’s workflow and display these patterns on the dashboard, alongside predicted patterns and suggestions to improve on this metric.

Next, it is vital to prioritise account actions, since this can have a very positive impact on the team’s workload. While we see that many finance teams still use age analysis when determining which actions they must prioritise, this has become a fairly antiquated way of doing things.

Many software packages have evolved well beyond this point and can actually present a user with a much more accurate list of priorities based on multiple factors. Looking for this information as soon as you open the dashboard can certainly help to increase your team’s efficiency.

Lastly, it is vital to motivate action. In essence, the software is there to make the difficult choices relating to one’s accounts, with the dashboard presenting the outcomes of these choices in the simplest possible form. Now it is up to the team leader to push the finance department to implement the suggested actions in the quickest possible time.

In light of the above, we have been working on rebuilding Jumping Fox’ dashboard as well. The aim is to only display the most crucial and relevant information and eliminate any possible confusion. Not only will a simplified dashboard help finance teams to focus on the success of their collections, it will also assist in giving business owners a much clearer understanding of where their finance department is at.

Cutting through the noise and working to present the most relevant information in the simplest way possible, is the easiest way to boost your team’s efficiency and improve your collections rate.

Prioritising the right kind of experience helps to upskill finance teams quicker.

‍There is no doubt that experience matters when it comes to one’s finance department, and that your longest-serving members usually have the highest collections success rates. With that said, not many businesses have the benefit of a finance department composed entirely of tested veterans.

More often than not, finance teams have quite a few rookies that need to learn the ropes and get good at their job in the shortest possible time. It is also not uncommon for practiced team leaders to find themselves with finance teams that are wholly comprised of members with little to no real-world experience. In situations such as these, it is vital to know what to focus on in order to fast-track the team’s skill level.

To start, it should be noted that spending more time on upskilling new team members in admin and workflow management, does very little to build a junior’s ability to collect on overdue accounts. Tracking and analysing accounts, organising workflow, and compiling reports are repetitive tasks that should be automated – if you have not already done so.

While in the past, immaculate admin was almost exclusively the hallmark of seasoned professionals, modern software has largely taken over this function. Even in the hands of the most inexperienced teams, the account management software currently available to businesses is able to conduct these tasks with much greater accuracy and consistency than most skilled individuals.

However, by no means is this to say that seasoned team members’ experience is rendered obsolete by automation. In fact, the rise of software is a wholly positive development for these individuals since it allows them to dedicate more of their time and energy to the soft skills that can only be acquired through years of service. When it comes to upskilling a fresh team, most of your efforts should also be dedicated to training them in the aspects of the job that cannot be learned from a textbook or user manual.

Everything from initially approaching a customer when an account is in arrears, practicing scripts and negotiating payment terms, to fielding negative customer reactions and formulating different approaches, are critical to improving collections success. These are also the most daunting parts of working on a finance team, and rookies need adequate guidance to develop these skills if they are to improve their performance.

Also, instead of the old practice of throwing new employees in the deep end and allowing natural selection to determine who has the interpersonal skills to work with customers, experienced team members must take the time to phase every new rookie into it. There should be ample opportunity to do this if your team is relying on software to automate the repetitive work.

Start role-playing with new team members and simulating the different scenarios that your veterans have come across in the past. After that, it can also be helpful to assist them with writing their own scripts and sitting in on their first few interactions with clients. Take the time to listen to them speak to customers over the phone and approve all of the emails that they send to clients in their first few months.

By focusing most of your energy on instilling these soft skills in new team members, and allowing automation to take care of the rest, you will significantly shorten the time it takes to build an experienced team. Using this approach, you can realistically upskill new team members more in six months, than most professionals only learn on their own over a few years.

Managing collections success doesn’t solely rest on the shoulders of the finance department
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‍Time and again I have stressed the point that business owner involvement is a crucial part of the finance team’s collection strategy. From the standpoint of improving a team’s collections success, the business owner is one of the most important drivers of positive change.

Equally, without up-to-date data on the operation of the finance department and the state of collections, business owners can also find themselves at a severe disadvantage when making decisions that affect the company’s future.

Yet, the unfortunate truth is that an overwhelming number of business owners still focus the majority of their energy on bringing in new accounts. Managing existing accounts and going through the collections process with non-paying customers are often left to finance teams that seldom report on their day-to-day activities to the owner.

Especially in a constantly changing economic environment, this approach to collections can be severely detrimental to a company’s cash-flow position. Finance teams are already inundated with the daily tasks associated with managing the company’s accounts, and they are unlikely to change their collections strategies on their own – even if their old way of doing things have reached the point of diminishing return.

With that said, below are a few key contributions that business owners should make to ensure that they have dynamic finance teams that always operate at the top of their game:

‍Ensure that the team has (and uses) the right equipment

‍Collections software is probably one of the most important tools that any finance team can have at its disposal today. Automating the most repetitive parts of managing customer accounts frees up the team to spend more time on higher-order tasks such as negotiating with debtors. Unfortunately, change is difficult, and some finance teams are very resistant to adopting new systems.

It is imperative that you, the business owner, oversee the acquisition of the software that is right for your finance team, and ensure that it is integrated into their operations. Having the right software on your side will not only make the team more efficient but also puts high-quality data at your fingertips for more effective strategic planning.

‍Auditing and improving workflow

‍Having a structured daily routine is vital to improving a finance team’s efficiency, and making sure that the team follows the optimal workflow schedule is important. However, leaving this task over to the team itself usually meets with limited success. More often than not, finance teams are perfectly content to follow the daily routines that they have become accustomed to over the years.

Auditing the workflow schedule of your finance team and offering an outside perspective, is one of the most effective ways to identify inefficiencies and devise better daily routines. It is also crucial that the business owner ensures the finance team implements and sticks to the necessary workflow changes.

‍Keeping the finance team trained and informed

‍Collections success depends on the well-informed staff that is trained in new approaches and behaviors. Finance teams are tasked with building a culture of payment with customers, and ensuring that payment arrangements are met. This usually requires a fair amount of negotiation, and most finance professionals only gain this skill over a long time. As the business owner, you are undoubtedly in the best position to help your finance team become skilled at customer negotiations.

Check-in regularly with your finance team, find out more about their challenges and experiences with customers and advise team members on how to change their approach. The degree to which this builds skills within your team may surprise you.

The above are just three small ways in which business owners can help to improve the operations of their finance teams. However, the improvement that these can bring to the team’s efficiency and the company’s cash flow, is significant.

Applying more metrics to collections data can make collections teams even more efficient
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‍I am a firm believer in the notion that collections data can be one of the most powerful and versatile tools that a business can possess. If the available data is captured and analyzed effectively, it can be used to improve the success rate and efficiency of one’s collection team, as well as contribute massively to the overall picture of the company’s performance.

Unfortunately, the truth is that so few collection teams are using the information that they have at their fingertips, to its full potential. For collection, many teams rely solely on age analysis to inform the actions that they take on overdue accounts. While this is not to say that age analysis is obsolete, using only this metric to inform collection teams may lead them in the wrong direction and create unnecessary work for the team.

Consider how simple it is to perform an age analysis. Accounts are placed on a timeline with references to their payment due dates and how much time has passed since said date. This process excludes a massive amount of important information.

For instance, while some customers are habitual late payers, they have steady payment patterns and always settle their accounts. While the age analysis model would dictate that the collection team follows up with this particular customer, a more detailed look into the payment patterns linked to this particular account would show you that team members may be causing unnecessary disruption to themselves and the customer by calling every time that payment is overdue.

In other cases, certain patterns of customer behavior should raise red flags about their ability to settle future accounts. On many occasions, businesses have opted to extend additional credit to at-risk customers because they either did not track or heed the obvious warning signs. Both of the above trends are disregarded by age analysis.

In addition, more in-depth data analysis cuts down on the time that collection teams spend on each customer, and contribute to their success. If you have multiple ways of analyzing accounts and collections, it is much easier to follow up on each collection task with the best next step. From sending a follow-up email at the right time to listing defaulting payers, taking the right action at the right time cuts out many of the steps that the team would have to follow if they only have age analysis on their side.

Lastly, it is important to determine which data to collect, and how to do so effectively. Making use of a collections software solution can help the collection team capture the correct data for risk modeling and analytics purposes. Modern collections software solutions boast advanced analytical capabilities, as well as the ability to present relevant information in easy-to-understand dashboards.

The conclusion here is simple – if you want a more effective collection team, upgrade your technology, gather more information, and start introducing more metrics to your collections data.

Building a strong collections department depends on your ability to collect and use the relevant data
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‍Ensuring that your collection team has the tools that it needs to become great at its job, has been something of a recurring theme in our weekly articles. Automating repetitive tasks, determining the best next step, using the right metrics, and developing optimal daily routines have all been mentioned as some of the essential components of running an efficient collection department.

With that said, none of these components are even remotely attainable if you do not have the right customer data on hand. Aside from the basic personal information such as up-to-date contact information (and you may be surprised at how many credit-based businesses do not have that), an effective collection team also collects customer payment patterns, ongoing credit report information, and records of customer interaction religiously.

Having this type of information available enables one to perform in-depth data analysis that helps collection teams to lock down better collection strategies, advise business owners on account performance and even develop surprisingly accurate predictive models that identify major problems with account payments before they occur. Ultimately, this can lead to a marked reduction in the number of accounts in arrears on a company’s books.

However, despite the tremendous value that adequate data holds for increasing one’s collection success, the biggest challenge lies in actually collecting the necessary information. After all, one can hardly blame collection teams for not dedicating their time to capturing and categorising every bit of available information for later analysis. Collection departments tend to be overworked as it is, and pedantically keeping record of every aspect of the customer’s relationship with one’s company often takes a back seat to all of the other activities that collection teams are tasked with.

Still, improving your company’s collection success is inextricably linked to getting data collection right. Luckily, most modern software solutions geared at collections are excellent at gathering, extrapolating, and analysing data. We often tell our clients that the only thing they really need to do to start building an extensive customer database is to use the available software often and correctly.

Over a relatively short space of time, many software packages can amass an impressive amount of information, and present the relevant data in an easy-to-understand format that enables teams to adjust their collection strategies and improve their collection rates.

As a business owner, your priorities relating to providing your collection team with the data that they need for success, are clear. Firstly, finding a software solution that is right for your particular team is paramount. Each company and collection team is unique, which is why it is vital to find a solution that caters to one’s own specific needs.

Next, one needs to oversee the integration of one’s chosen software solution into the team’s daily routine personally. More often than not, business owners acquire new software solutions, only to see it being underused or employed incorrectly. This is why the business owner needs to ensure that team members receive the right level of training for the software provided and that they use the software daily.

Lastly, the business owner also needs to take an interest in the data that the collection department produces. It is not only valuable for strategic business planning, but it also shows the finance department that accurate data collection is a high-level priority for the company.

If you follow these three simple steps, you should discover very quickly why customer data and collections success are two sides of the same coin.

Increasing the collection success of a business requires a business owner who embraces digital transformation
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‍It has been said before on numerous occasions that building an efficient and successful collection team within one’s organization, depends heavily on the direct involvement of the business owner.

It is vital for driving teams to change their daily routines and become more efficient, introducing new collection systems and software solutions, and even ensuring that important skills and experience are passed on to more junior members of the collection team. Yet, in spite of the importance of this, we still see business owner involvement lacking in many of the companies that we come into contact with.

While I do think that most business owners want to be involved in the process of building a strong team, I also believe that there is a lack of comprehension around what this entails.

New technology, particularly new software solutions and data analytics are probably the most important components for increasing collection success today. Unfortunately, this is also the one thing that many business owners still do not fully understand. This greatly influences the choices that business owners make regarding the acquisition of new solutions, the timelines, and KPIs that they set for their collections teams, and their understanding of how the different sets of data produced by the collections department can actually be used to build a leaner business overall.

To remedy this, business owners need to embrace the digital transformation of their business as more and more of their account management activities are moved to digital platforms and automated. However, the most common responses that we receive from business owners when bringing up this topic include, “I’m too old/busy/set in my ways to start learning about this digital stuff”, and “I employ people who understand the technology – explain it to them”.

This does present one with an impasse since the business’ potential to evolve and utilise better technologies will always be hampered by the level to which the owner embraces these solutions. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a complete techie to change this, and getting up to speed with digitalization is easier than it looks. All that is required, is to do two simple things.

Firstly, attend the software demos and presentations that are arranged for the business. It is not good enough to just send the head of your collection department to kick the tires on a new solution that is presented to your company. You need to accompany the relevant team leaders to these types of meetings to get a real sense of what is on offer. This also makes the discussion with your team leader much more productive afterward, when deciding whether to employ the solution in your business.

Secondly, come prepared with the questions that are relevant to what you do. As a rule, any company that presents you with new software or automation solution should be able to tell you what the technology does for you in real terms. Ask questions like, “how can this data/process be used to help other parts of the business?” and “what are the real-word results that I will see if we make use of this solution?”.

Just following these two easy steps will already make you a much more informed business leader, and improve your ability to drive technological change within your organisation by leaps and bounds.

A closer look at the two most common misperceptions around the digitalisation of your collection department
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‍Hopefully, after reading our previous article on making the mind-shift towards digitalisation, you have realised that going digital with your collection department is not nearly as daunting as it may have seemed at first.

Yet, before you pull the trigger and choose a service provider that can set your team up with software and workflow solutions to boost the success of their collections, you may still have a few nagging doubts.

Firstly, you may be concerned that the digitalisation and automation of your collection department will make your business impersonal.

This is not an irrational concern – after all, your collection team is just as much a client-facing part of your company as your sales force. Especially in light of the fact that overdue accounts are a sensitive topic to raise with customers, one could even argue that the collection department is where human connection is most necessary in an organisation.

With that said, the data analytics and automation capabilities offered by cutting-edge collection software are in fact vital to building collection departments that are capable of more successfully engaging with customers on a personal level. Advanced data analysis is much more adept at raising red flags and predicting account issues than run-of-the-mill age analysis of accounts. Using this data, one cannot only predict when the best time would be to follow up on an overdue account but also which step in the process would be the most prudent to jump to.

Automating repetitive tasks also allows the team more time to engage with customers personally and build a relationship with them. In doing so, you are likely to see notable increases in the number of settled accounts, as well as an improvement in your customer retention rates.

The second misconception that worries many business owners, is the disruption that digital transformation may cause to the collection team’s day-to-day operations. We have seen many situations where business owners fear the notion of seeing their collection department grind to a halt so much, that they never introduce any new interventions to improve their collection success.

In fairness, this requires a slightly more complex response. To start, it should be understood that using outdated methods to conduct your company’s collections, will only become less and less effective as the rest of the world becomes more focused on efficiency and digital transformation. Your team, therefore, has no choice but to adapt to change – be it now, or after it’s too late.

Regarding the question over whether digitalisation will disrupt the operations of your existing collection department, the short answer is yes. In many cases, teams should be prepared to drastically alter the way that they manage their workflow and how they capture data.

However, effectively managing this change, engaging with a service provider that offers the right training, and being involved in the upgrade of your department in your capacity as a business owner, are vital to ensuring that your team’s performance is not compromised during this time. If you do it correctly, you radically improve your team’s collection success rate without the risk of seeing a slump in productivity during the transitional phase.

It is only once these basic misconceptions are addressed, that you can begin to focus on the practical aspects of pushing your collection department into the digital age.

By Daleen Vorster, Founder of Jumping Fox Software

I have spoken quite a bit about employee morale to date, and it certainly is one of the aspects of running a business that lies close to my heart. Something else that I personally place high importance in, is helping the right people grow and achieve their goals at my company. However, I often find that an employee’s transition into their new role, is made all the more challenging by the emotional aspect of the change that they are undergoing.

The fact of the matter is that whether you are promoting a loyal employee, or hiring a new one, managing their morale and motivation levels throughout the first few months of their transition is crucial. With this in mind, I have compiled a few ground rules that the savvy business owner should always keep in mind.

1. Do not let promising employees slip into a comfort zone

‍One of my biggest frustrations is seeing my best and brightest employees crumble after a recent promotion. Especially in instances where you have been working with a particular individual for many years (and you understand exactly what they are capable of), it can come as a complete surprise when they express frustration – or even break down in tears – over their new responsibilities.

In my experience, this is often the result of having allowed these individuals to fall into their comfort zones. Thus, my first piece of advice is to keep your most promising employees on their toes with new tasks and changes to their most repetitive tasks from time to time. Ensuring that your employee can adapt to regular changes, will make their eventual promotion infinitely less bewildering.

2. Acknowledge the challenges Something that we often do with new recruits or people in new positions, is to assign new tasks without taking a moment to recognize the learning curve that they are experiencing. As author, Anne Kreamer says, “skip the superhuman act”.

As managers, being honest about our struggles earns extra employee loyalty and trust. When your team knows that you’re under pressure to accomplish something, they’re better able to help you in the way you need them to.

By that same token, we should also acknowledge when we have given an employee a difficult task, and encourage them openly talk about their pressures and challenges.

3. Open and honest progress reports are crucial

‍Having your employee regularly report back to you on their progress and workload, is absolutely crucial to managing their transition. I have often found that not doing this usually results in missed deadlines and disappointments very early on in the employee’s new role.

Even if you expect the employee in question to work autonomously in their position, you must manage them much more closely during the transition period. Schedule weekly or bi-weekly touch-base sessions with your employee for the first few months at least. Asking the right questions and drawing the right information out of them during these sessions can help you to correct or avoid major setbacks down the line.

4. Know when to give them space

An important point that is often forgotten by eager managers, is knowing when to take a step back. While you usually need to keep close control over a situation involving a new recruit, you should also understand that you are sometimes only adding to their problem.

Sometimes providing space and time for employees to deal with what’s going on at their own pace is the most effective way to manage an emotional employee. If you suspect that you have been pushing an employee too hard, ease up and sop checking in for a little while. It may even be helpful to rather send one of their peers to assist.

There are indeed many more aspects to managing emotional employees, or individuals undergoing a major transition, but these are the points that have added the most value to the way that I manage my team. In the end, making room for the emotional side of promotions and new appointments can really pay off in the long-run.

For information on how to streamline credit risk management processes, contact us on 021 – 0014758

Understanding the capabilities of data analytics and what this means for the rest of your business.
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‍We often tell new and prospective clients that each part of the collection process that is automated and digitalised wins the team more time to focus on higher-order tasks such as interacting with clients and improving their collections strategies.

Beyond that, digitalising your collections department helps your company gather data at an astonishing rate – and applying the right data analytics just to the information produced by this one small department in your company, can have far-reaching implications for your entire business.

To better understand what you can do with the data that your brand new automated, digitalised collections team produces, it is important to know that there are three levels of understanding where data analytics is concerned.

At the most basic level, correctly analysing your collections data can give you a fair amount of hindsight. You can use the knowledge that you gained from the data to create historical records of your collections and get a fairly good picture of what happened to your customer accounts over the previous months or years.

Unfortunately, we find that an overwhelming number of businesses believe that they can only gain hindsight from collected data. This not only affects their decisions to collect in-depth information on each account, but also the overall digitalisation of the business. After all, if data only has historical value, no business owner will make the additional investment in advanced automation or analytical software for their company beyond the most basic solutions. Thus, this is where the digitalisation journey ends for most companies.

This is, however, to their detriment because being able to gain insight from your collections data is substantially more valuable than just being able to provide a retelling of your company’s history as seen through the eyes of your collection team. Having insight means being able to determine why your collections team performed the way that it did.

This requires that your team collects a much wider set of information and slightly more advanced analytical capabilities. Your team may, for instance, benefit from collecting regular customer credit information, as well as include customer interactions, feedback, and payment arrangements in the data that is captured. Individual customer payment patterns are also valuable here since you can often see changes in the way that a customer has behaved in terms of repayment, long before they eventually fall in arrears.

Your data analytics software also has to be more sophisticated, because it now needs to be able to take many more variables into account. The value of gaining this level of understanding from your data is immense. It allows your collection team to draw up individual customer profiles, interact with them on a much more personal level, and help them to devise strategies and solutions that will yield the best results in the least number of steps for each customer. Again, this can make your team much more efficient.

The final level is by far the most important for any business, but it requires an intelligent software solution and a business owner who is prepared to commit fully to the digitalisation of the company. Foresight is the ability to predict red flags, customer behavior, and the efficacy of your collection strategy well in advance.

The good news is that the artificial intelligence required to predict the future for your collection department with spooky accuracy already exists and is accessible to any business. However, your team needs to be prepared to radically change the way that they operate and interact with the technology that they have at their disposal.

Using the data that the team captures, cutting-edge data analytics is not only able to predict the payment behavior of long-standing clients but also immediately identify red flags with new customers, provide highly accurate projections and devise daily work routines that help teams operate at peak efficiency.

With this in mind, you should be asking yourself whether you are stuck at the hindsight portion of your company’s digital journey.

How a state-of-the-art collections department improves customer retention
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‍Experienced consultants often remind business owners that they shouldn’t only be focusing on new business, but also ensure that existing customer relationships are maintained for the business to flourish.

Customer retention is every bit as important as (if not more important than) polishing that elevator pitch and getting more clients on board. In fact, the argument can be made that in our current economic landscape, keeping your existing customer base intact should be a top priority.

In our experience, defaults and payment arrears are among the most common reasons that clients drop off – which is why this latest article in our series on digitalization, will be looking at how a state-of-the-art collection department vastly improves customer retention.

First and foremost, having the right software solutions on hand to provide in-depth data analysis, enables a team to anticipate and accurately assess the risks tied to each of your customers.

Especially in a situation where customers are extended a significant amount of credit, reacting, and going through the motions of the collections process only after the customer has missed a payment by a set number of days.

If your collection team is still only using age analysis to look at outstanding accounts, this is the only way that they are likely to operate. If your customer falls too far behind on their accounts as a result of this approach, they are likely to cut ties with your company. Conversely, this approach also causes collection teams to harass those customers who are habitually late with their payments, yet who always reliably settle their accounts. These customers are likely to dump you for a business that is more understanding of their payment habits.

On the other hand, a fully digitalised collection department uses its advanced data analysis capabilities to recognise customers’ patterns of behavior and raise red flags long before accounts fall too far in arrears. It allows the business to be proactive and pull back on the credit extended to high-risk customers (allowing them the opportunity to catch up on arrears), as well as make adjustments to accommodate those reliable late-payers.

Next, a digitalised, data-driven collection department can potentially give you even more in-depth customer insights than your sales department. Analysing customer payment behavior, as well as real-time data from other sources such as credit bureaus, provide a good indication of the customer’s financial situation and even their business peak times throughout the year.

Armed with this information, a business is much more capable of accommodating customers with better payment arrangements and more innovative service or product solutions to suit their needs.

Lastly, it should be noted that a fully digitalised collection department can automate both of the above-mentioned tasks - meaning that the ground-work for greater customer retention is laid quickly and without the need to spend additional employee hours. The human element in your company can then be much more effectively directed towards customer-facing tasks such as negotiating account repayments and upselling where the opportunities present.

Taking a look at a forgotten key element of customer retention
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‍Customer success is a term that features prominently in the vocabularies of driven business owners. With the market having become much smaller and more competitive for many companies, it is a concept that is certainly gaining even greater importance for businesses intending on growing their operations.

Customer success is when your customers achieve their desired outcomes through their interactions with your company. In short, how are your customers using your products to become more profitable or improve their lives?

The argument here is that by understanding your customer’s needs and proactively structuring your business around how to unlock the biggest benefit for them, you can successfully build a more loyal customer base, improve your ability to upsell, and grow your company in the right direction.

This is not a new philosophy, and scores of companies already spend a lot of time surveying their customers to better understand what they are looking for and improving products and sales strategies. Training, upselling, cross-selling, and customer support all feature prominently in customer success strategies.

To its credit, this approach does yield positive results for most businesses, but we still find that one of the key elements of customer success is usually left by the wayside – customer risk management.

Yet, risk management is a logical addition to a customer success strategy when considering that with the right analytic and risk management tools, you can identify and assist customers experiencing financial difficulties long before their accounts fall too far into arrears.

Time and again we see that identifying account issues early on, and being able to appropriately remedy the problem, not only improves your customer retention but is also much more cost-effective than acquiring new customers to replace your defaulters. In addition, having a customer-facing team that always knows how to address issues arising with customer accounts, and that always has the right solution on hand to help customers pay arrear accounts, adds to the overall customer experience.

At the same time, being able to step up your due diligence and accurately assessing the creditworthiness of prospective customers, also helps you to identify the right fit for your company from the very start.

With that said, to achieve this, you need the right tools to manage your customer accounts. Cutting-edge data analytics and AI software solutions that analyze customer payment behaviors, identify risks, and raise red flags with much greater accuracy than even the most experienced individuals working in your accounts department, while automation software can produce daily tasks and next best steps that greatly improve their ability to successfully interact with arrear and at-risk accounts.

The good news is that these solutions are now available to businesses of every size, and the right software solution can provide your business with all of the relevant risk management tools for your business. This includes payment tracking, up-to-date credit score tracking, predictive modeling, and a direct line to your company’s legal representative in the event that the customer’s records need to be handed over.

Keeping this in mind, it becomes ever clearer that taking the leap and digitalizing your business really is the logical next step in your company’s evolution.

Rebuilding your profit margins does not mean having to expose your business to increased risk
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One thing that we can be certain of right now, is that the economic landscape for SMEs is the harshest that it has ever been. Over the last eight months, businesses were confronted with massive setbacks in their ability to generate cash flow as a result of the pandemic. For many, the market has shrunk significantly.

It is often in times like these that we see companies being exposed to higher business risks as they work to cut down on their operational costs and try to rebuild their profit margins. More often than not, businesses in this situation attempt to get more work done with a smaller workforce and put almost all of their effort into acquiring as many new customers as possible.

Not only does this increase the likelihood that your business could lose existing customers due to account management errors, but there is also a much bigger chance that you will take on high-risk customers and end up losing money.

While it is important to be able to increase a company’s output and grow its customer base, it is also vital to understand that the above-mentioned risks have to be mitigated effectively if the business is to survive. Having the right tools on hand to manage these risks is therefore paramount.

To start, it is crucial to automate your credit risk management processes and introduce advanced data analysis tools. One of the leading causes of customer churn is accounts that fall into arrears as a result of red flags being missed or ignored for too long. This usually happens when your customer accounts are managed manually and their performance is only measured via age analysis.

Digitalisation is an incredibly effective way of freeing up employee capacity. There are software solutions available that can analyse customer payment data in depth, raise red flags before problems escalate, and automatically generate the next best step for each account. These allow your team to pre-empt and address issues that would otherwise damage your relationships with long-standing customers.

Next, you have to take a much more rigorous approach to vetting new customers. While it is tempting during tough times to jump at every new business opportunity, extending credit to the wrong customer can cost your business dearly.

This is why the importance of conducting credit checks and doing due diligence on every new customer account cannot be understated. Having a service provider that can vet your new clients and identify concerns is the best way to manage this risk effectively.

With this in mind, partnering with a software solutions provider that can deliver all of these functions under one roof, is vital to rebuilding your profit margins with minimal risk.

Revisiting the values that build a business
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From time to time, I find that it is important to be reminded of the values that form the foundations of one’s business. Having recently done a number of strategy sessions with my team to work out the next steps in our company’s journey, I realised that this was one of those times for us.

The Jumping Fox Software that you see today, has evolved significantly from the company that we started some years ago. We adapted our service offering to a changing landscape, identified new and diverse markets for our product, and changed the way that we engaged with our clients based on the knowledge that we gained along the way.

However, throughout it all, we have done our best to remain grounded in the core tenets that form our identity. Today’s article doesn’t follow our usual format of business advice, but I do believe that other businesses may indeed find this useful as they look for their own way forward.

Building a team with the right energy

Especially for a business that interacts closely with its customers, company culture plays a massive part in success. One of the most important personality traits that we look for in prospective employees, is whether they are team players who are willing to support their colleagues.

Fostering better cooperation with occasional team-building sessions and morale-boosting rewards is also important to maintain the positive energy within the business. Lastly, it is vital that all of our team members support the company’s goals and share our values.

We regularly take the time to talk about the company’s goals and direction with every individual in our business. At the same time, we encourage debate and have sessions dedicated to learning about the experiences and insights gained by our team.

It is only by having a team that shares our vision and energy, that we can achieve our other core values.

‍Sharing the responsibility for customers’ goals

‍In addition to being focused on our own goals, I think that our customers’ goals are incredibly important to recognise and take to heart.

In essence, we want to ensure that our customer achieves greater success with the tools that we provide. We aim to understand what our customers envision for themselves, and what their own objectives look like. It takes time and a lot of client interaction but it gives invaluable insight into what they really require. It allows us to offer solutions and value-adds that speak to specific needs.

By holding ourselves responsible for helping the customer reach their performance and growth goals, we stay focused on providing the right solution at the right time. In practice, I can attest to the fact that this attitude fosters healthy customer relationships, and drives referrals – which is by far the best way to win new business.

‍Adding the right kind of value

‍Just because the customer is always right, it doesn’t mean that they should be left to their own devices. The industry knowledge that a business accumulates over time is incredibly valuable and can help its customers immensely.

We decided very early on, that we wouldn’t be satisfied with only giving our customers the solution that they wanted. We would add value by doing research and offering our own insights as much as possible. While we believe that customers are entitled to receive exactly what they ask for, we also feel that sharing our experience, suggesting changes and add-ons, or simply proposing new ways of using our service, adds value and sets us apart.

Again this ties back to the notion of ensuring customer success. To us, this is what the extra mile looks like, and while it is a lot of work, it is worth the reward when you manage to help your customers grow their operations.

To this end, we spend a lot of time on customer education, client research, and sharing information through various channels.

‍Giving back

‍Lastly, I have always believed that a prosperous business needs to be able to look outside of itself and give without the expectation of receiving.

Whether it is to a chosen charity or helping to incubate other businesses, building a company that likes to give, has more benefits than just good PR.

From experience, I can say that it has a massive influence on your internal culture and the type of people that you attract to your businesses. Having people on your team that also believe in the importance of giving instead of receiving, changes the way that your company values its community and its customers. It also does not hurt to accrue some good karma for your business.

While we pride ourselves on being a company that can adapt quickly to changing times and environments, some things within the business have to remain constant. For us, the core values outlined above have undoubtedly contributed to our success. I truly believe that regularly reminding ourselves of these principles, will enable us to make the best decisions for our future.

If you’ve been following our previous articles on building an effective credit risk management process, you will already be familiar with the first two steps that will get you started on the road to success. Firstly, you had to analyse your company’s risks and place them in order of importance. After that, you had to act by finding the right software solutions that would equip your accounts management and collections department to adequately deal with your existing and future credit risks.

Once these are done, your work is not over yet. Your next point of priority is ongoing risk control. Luckily, the foundations for this are already firmly in place, and you just have to build two more foundations into your credit risk management plan to make it complete:

‍Risk response planning

‍The groundwork that you have done thus far, should have helped you to understand the credit risks that exist in your business – from your largest customers becoming insolvent to simple missed payments. Logically, you now need to put the protocols in place to deal with these events as they arise. You create risk mitigation strategies, preventive plans, and contingency plans in this step.

You start by putting your risk management strategy into words. For example, if customers miss payments, your official response may be to follow up via SMS initially and then to escalate to phone calls before going to the next step in the collections process.

You also need contingency plans in place for when your highest priority risks actually take place – for instance when one of your biggest debtors files for liquidation. You need to know well in advance of such issues whether you will be writing off certain debts, or whether you will be taking on the difficult task of recovering funds.

During this step, you also have to assess your highest ranked risks and set out a plan to treat or modify these risks to achieve acceptable risk levels. Ask yourself how you can minimize the probability of your biggest risks manifesting, while possibly enhancing your opportunities.

Lastly, you need to keep track of the actual risks that manifested throughout the year in a dedicated risk register.

‍Monitor and review risk

‍You need to understand that risks are dynamic and evolve over time. Your most reliable customers may become your biggest concerns, while new economic challenges could change your accounts department’s risk profile completely. In light of this, your risk management plan needs to be dynamic as well.

This is the step where you take your risk register and use it to monitor, track and review your most likely risk. You may indeed find that your risk register also helps you to identify opportunities for new business or cost-saving measures. At the same time, you also need to review the tools that you have provided to your team, to ensure that they always have cutting-edge solutions on their side.

Clear communication among your team and stakeholders is essential when it comes to ongoing monitoring of potential threats. While it may feel like hard work at times, your risk management process and its corresponding risk register are your best chance at keeping track of the issues that pose threats to your business.

And with that, your risk management process is finally in place. While it is something that needs continuous revisiting and tweaking, you’ll soon discover that a good process frees you and your team up to better focus on growing your business. For information on how to streamline credit risk management processes, contact us on 021 – 0014758

Free food is fine but growth is better
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The competition to attract and retain skills is very real in the software industry. Businesses in this field go out of their way to get the attention of prospective employees and create an environment where employees will want to stay. For many, this means getting creative with the employee perks that they offer.

To its credit, being known as the company that gives its employees awesome perks like free haircuts, doggy daycare, ping-pong tables, and free food, does grab attention. After all - it works for Google. As many companies also discovered, the right perks do in fact improve office culture and increase productivity, since employees are willing to put in longer working hours. So it’s settled then – install a basketball hoop (or whatever the kids are into nowadays), hire a barista, make flexible working hours official, and start painting the daycare centre.

However, before you do that you should take note of one LinkedIn survey that found many professionals are already starting to look past in-office perks. In fact, the majority noted that perks were not enough to keep professionals at their companies for more than five years.

With that in mind, I would like to make the case for an alternative that may in fact develop a healthier office culture and be much better for your employees and your company in the long run. Offering your team opportunities to upskill and elevate themselves through free courses and seminars may in fact play a massive role in transforming your business into a completely different place to work.

Another incredible opportunity to advance your employees’ skills and industry exposure is by offering them chances to attend events and competitions. An example of this in our field is the annual DEVSOC Hackathon.

Consider that perks primarily attract potential employees that are happy with short-term rewards. On the other hand, companies that offer the best career and development opportunities are also the places where you find your highest concentration of high-achieving Type-A personalities.

In some instances, advancement opportunities are part of the deal when you sign on ambitious individuals. However, getting them to a level where you can confidently promote them requires training and investment from the employer’s side. From our own experience, we have also seen that these are good opportunities to develop some of the other desirable soft skills that you need to make your company a great place to work.

Taking the time to put your team through training in time management, teamwork and creative decision-making may not be the most popular “perks”, but we have seen that it is a much better way of fostering cooperation, problem-solving, and conflict resolution than installing a foosball table.

Being a company that prides itself on its culture of giving, we have also found that providing your team with opportunities to give back to the community is also beneficial to your office culture. We have personally seen that individuals who are encouraged by the business to give and engage in charity, are also more likely to donate their time to co-workers.

Spending two hours to help a young developer learn something new, or giving the new intern some on-the-job training, is arguably better for the whole team than getting free haircuts.

It is with the above in mind that I would advise every business to stop using short-term perks to win over employees’ hearts and to start providing opportunities. You will attract and retain a higher calibre of employee, and might end up evolving your company in the process.

Sticking to your road map is key to making the right choices
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In my journey with Jumping Fox Software, I have discovered that starting a business has one glaring similarity to raising a child – almost anyone you meet wants to give you advice. Invariably, everyone sees your business growing in a different direction, and most of the time, their advice just leaves you more uncertain about what to do next.

With that said, I should be clear that finding a mentor is vital for any new business owner. However, regardless of the knowledge and experience of your mentor, they can still steer you in the wrong direction. The final choice over which steps to take to grow your business rests with you. This is why even the greenest entrepreneur needs one basic skill in their arsenal: knowing when to take advice and when to ignore it.

This is probably best explained with an example from Jumping Fox Software’s own history - I can attest to the fact that not using this skill can spell disaster for a company. In our case, one of our mentors advised us to implement a self-service function on our website instead of directing customers to our customer success agents. In essence, the customer would be expected to do their own onboarding, setup, and workflow.

His argument made sense – customers in need of software solutions usually know exactly what they are after, and they often prefer to go through the sign-on process on their own. The customer can get what they need with just a few clicks, and we would require fewer people to handle sales. It works for all the big tech companies, after all. Yet, within a few months of Jumping Fox Software introducing this functionality, our business was on the edge of collapse.

So where did we go wrong, and why didn’t this industry veteran’s advice work for us? The answer is that we didn’t follow the roadmap that we had set out for ourselves back when we first started our company. From the beginning, we knew that Jumping Fox Software would be a blue ocean business. The fact of the matter is that we cannot pretend to be a product-led company.

Our product is complex and we have to educate our target market to create a demand. Our intended customer isn’t always clear on what our system can do for them, or why they need all of the functionalities that we have built into the system.

That’s why we made a major mistake the moment we assumed that potential customers knew enough about our product to manage their own onboarding, setup, and workflow without proper guidance. To recover we had to go back to our own roadmap, ask ourselves why we hired sales and customer success agents in the first place, and be reminded of our identity again.

Ultimately, the lesson from the case study above, is that the secret to taking the right advice and making the right choices lies in following your roadmap and understanding your identity. In the early days of any new venture, ask yourself how your clients would prefer to be treated, how well you know your niche market, where your product really fits in, and what kind of company culture you want.

Use this as your guideline and you can be certain that any decision you make for the future of your business, is likely to be the right one.

While often overlooked by business owners, being able to manage credit risks can mean the difference between success and failure

It is commonly understood that for any team to deliver the best possible results, it needs to be equipped with the right tools for the job. The same is true for your accounts management and collections department. Once you’ve come up with a strategy to transform this department into a highly-advanced division of your business, the next step is to identify and acquire the equipment that they need to deliver quality work.

In this particular instance, the tool that your team needs the most in their corner is a comprehensive software solution that can assist in managing customer accounts and produce useful reports. With that said, there are many software solutions on the market that have account management functions. And, as you would no doubt agree, not all of these solutions can be equally useful to your team. If you do not choose wisely, you run the very real risk of spending a lot of money on a tool that never gets used – something that features very high up on the list of most business owners’ biggest frustrations.

Luckily, assessing how appropriate a given software solution is for the work that your finance department needs to do, can be broken down into three pillars. How well your chosen software solution incorporates the below functions into its system, ultimately determines its suitability for your team.

‍1. Automation

‍Automation is becoming increasingly important in running a modern business. It has been estimated that around 45% of the average company’s processes can be automated. This is because almost half of most business operations consist of repetitive tasks that require little decision-making ability or creative thought.

The same principle applies to your accounts management department. Most of your team’s time is likely spent capturing data, compiling reports, and other tasks that do not require higher-order thinking. Unfortunately, these tasks also sap a lot of your team’s energy, making it much more difficult to deliver quality results when they need to perform higher-order functions such as negotiate payments with customers or make strategic decisions. Of course, automating repetitive tasks also ensures much higher accuracy.

Make sure that the software that you choose offers automated reporting, bulk email or SMS capabilities, and automated data capture abilities as a minimum.

‍2. Analytics

‍I am still surprised at the fact that so many accounts management and collections departments do so little to study their own data in depth. For the most part, the vast majority of financial departments at medium and small businesses only use age analysis to assess the risk in their accounts.

An accounts management department is a data collecting machine by its very nature, and there is so much more information that can be gained from advanced data analytics - from more accurately predicting individual clients’ credit and payment risks to identifying red flags and even providing strategic information about growth opportunities for your business.

This is why a software solution with cutting-edge data analysis tools is an absolute must for finance departments as well as a business competing in today’s market.

‍3. Management

‍If you want your accounts management department to succeed, you must be involved in their daily operation. While most business owners would argue that they are too busy, you simply cannot expect good results from this very vital business arm if you are not there to assist and lead the team.

To this end, you need a software solution that makes it simple for you to oversee and control the finance department. Easy-to-use dashboards and reports (particularly system activity reports and financial summary reports) are absolute essentials to help you keep your finger on the pulse of your company.

As an aside, I would add that your software solution needs one more critical component – support. The fact is that even when you work to simplify your chosen software tools for yourself and your team, account management is a complex task. Therefore you need a software provider that backs up their product with training, technical support, and regular check-ins.

And just like that, you’re all set to find the best software for your team. Just remember the three fundamentals and don’t settle for anything less. Happy hunting.

For information on how to streamline credit risk management processes, contact us on 021 – 0014758

While often overlooked by business owners, being able to manage credit risks can mean the difference between success and failure

You can start your company’s digital journey in a few easy steps.
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I would argue that moving your company to the cloud is one of the most effective ways of helping any small business grow. Not only does digitalisation and automation improve a company’s operational efficiency by orders of magnitude in the majority of cases, but it also increases a company’s capacity to take on new work and customers.

In the case of credit risk management, digitalisation can greatly improve the quality and accuracy of the data that you capture, and better protects your company’s data from breaches. In fact, a report by Deloitte earlier this year identified the above points as the three most common factors that are driving organisations of all sizes to the cloud.

However, small businesses face many challenges that can often discourage them from going digital. The issue, at least as we see it, is that small business owners often do not have the skill or knowledge within their companies to see the digitalisation process through. Most also do not have the available capital to invest in an IT specialist that can conduct the relevant research and drive the process.

The good news is that even if a small business only has a limited amount of capital available to fund their digitalization strategies, there are software as a service (SaaS) providers available who can help them to make the move affordably. With that said, finding a capable software company that can take your business through the process with the least amount of drama or capital expenditure, requires that you do your homework.

With this in mind, I have compiled a definitive list of tips for business owners who are about to start their digital migration:

‍1. Find the right software solution for your business size

‍It goes without saying that not all software products are equally suited to your company’s needs. More often than not, the solutions that are developed for larger businesses are likely to be a poor fit for SMEs. Select a SaaS provider that is experienced in providing solutions to smaller operations.

‍2. Find the right fit for your niche market

‍Understanding the market in which your business operates is equally important. Whether you are in retail, manufacturing, or any other industry, your SaaS provider must have an in-depth understanding of the dynamics and the rules of your market.

‍3. Take a hard look at the setup fee

When you partner with a SaaS provider, it is hopefully the start of a long relationship. As such, you should ensure that your setup fee includes the services that help you to start your digital journey in the right way. Services that must be included in your sign-up are assistance with the preparation and transfer of data to the new system, training users, and providing a roadmap to help integrate the system into the daily routine of the business. As a rule of thumb, a “first 100-day hand-holding period” is a good option to have, especially when the chosen software solution is more complex.

‍4. Understand the terms of your monthly subscription fee

‍Software as a Service is the most viable way for a small business to have access to advanced digital tools. However, it is only cost-effective if your monthly subscription fee also includes support, training, system manuals, training videos, and data storage. In addition to this, you see if your service contract includes a money-back guarantee – it tells you exactly what you need to know about the service provider’s confidence in their solution.

‍5. Ask the right questions

‍When you first engage with a SaaS provider, you should start by asking them about system integration. You have to know whether the service provider is able to seamlessly switch your company over to their system from your current software solution. In addition, find out about issues like third-party costs, costs for extra training sessions, development costs for customization, backups, system updates, and upcoming features from the start. It eliminates many possible surprises down the line.

And there you have it - the challenging process of digitalizing a small business, distilled down into five easy-to-follow steps. Taking these tips to heart can make moving to the cloud the least intimidating project that

How small businesses providing services and goods on credit should be managing their biggest risk
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Doing work or selling products to customers on credit has become a staple for most companies operating in South Africa. Whether the business is large or small, the provision of credit is undoubtedly one of the most important ways of ensuring ongoing sales.

However, one of the biggest misconceptions that we come across on a daily basis, is that small businesses do not have to (or can’t) manage their credit risks on the same level as the large corporates. Without a doubt, this idea is one of the biggest reasons why so many smaller companies unnecessarily sustain financial losses when customers default.

The truth is that if your business follows even the most elementary principles of credit risk management – such as credit checks and following up on references – you are completely capable of setting up a complete credit risk management and collection process to adequately protect the company’s cash flow.

While this can be achieved within a short time, and at a relatively low cost, it does require that business owners and their teams commit to getting a handful of steps right.

‍Start with the basics

‍To begin developing your new credit risk management policy, it is vital that you set the groundwork with a thorough risk assessment. It should be mandatory within your company to check the credit scores and credit reports of each new customer. These reports come at a cost but it is essential to have an overview of the customer’s payment patterns and trends. This helps to not only identify high-risk accounts but also opportunities for upselling.

‍Get the right tool for the job

‍Data analysis tools have never been more accessible to small businesses, and they are perfect for cost-effective risk management. A software solution that specialises in monitoring and analysing risk and payments, will give you a much better understanding of the reasons behind your customer’s payment behavior. This will help you to devise better payment solutions for struggling clients and assist in identifying risky account behavior long before you encounter any real problems.

‍Use all of the data at your disposal

‍To form the most complete picture of your company’s credit accounts and their associated risks, you have to combine all of the internal and external data at your disposal. This includes information such as the transactional and workflow data within your business, as well as customer credit scores, risk levels, and industry shifts.

Even more importantly, understand that compiling and analysing this data has to be automated. Doing this manually uses up too many employee hours, produces too many errors, and is not cost-effective. A capable software service provider is essential for this step.

These software solutions use both internal and external data to evaluate and rank your company’s accounts and aid in decision making. Even more importantly, these solutions automate this process, which reduces the chances of errors and frees up your accounts department.

‍Have a strategy for high-risk accounts

‍An important part of a complete credit risk management policy is to have a plan for helping struggling customer accounts. After all, being able to keep existing customers should be one of your business priorities. Speak to your team and devise a number of possible solutions to implement if you discover that one of your customers is at risk of defaulting. Then, nurture your high-risk accounts back to health with the use of debt restructuring tools that upload and monitor payment plans.

‍Automate almost everything

‍The right software solution can automate just about every part of your account management team’s duties – from monitoring accounts to sending SMS or email notifications to customers. This ensures that no accounts fall through the cracks and that your team can focus on other important tasks. In addition, even your team’s workflow can be automated, ensuring that everything from customer reminders to the handing over of high-risk accounts takes place systematically and on time.

‍Review financial and other reports

‍The final crucial step in your new credit risk management policy is to regularly review financial data, system usage, payment patterns, and customer trends. All of these variables influence how well your credit risk and collection strategies perform. Therefore, you have to be able to adjust your policy as these things change over time.

As you may have noticed, these steps gradually become more complex, as you progress along your journey towards a complete credit risk and collections system. However, I guarantee that you will undoubtedly find the process becoming easier as you master each stage.

The last year has been trying for all business owners, and the nationwide lockdown, the new risks that came with the COVID-19 pandemic and the struggling economy have all devastated companies. I often see that business owners blame challenges such as these for their companies’ failures. However, if there is one thing that I have learned so far, it is that focusing on the challenges over which you do not have control, rarely helps a business.

Rather, it is much more constructive to put all of one’s energy into the one thing that can be controlled – one’s decisions. It seems simple but recognising this fact does indeed make a difference. It informs how we react to the uncontrollable events and how we ultimately get our business past their problems in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds.

With that said, the hardest decisions often seem like things that we cannot control. One example that comes to mind is the decision that many entrepreneurs have to make regarding digitalisation.

Consider that the world is increasingly moving towards the digitalisation of almost everything. We see more and more that companies who don’t adapt to this truth, simply run aground. Yet, following through on the decision to digitalise one’s business often seems to be an insurmountable task that is fraught with risk.

After all, it entails retraining staff, managing data import risks, possible disruptions in operations, and a slew of other moving parts that you usually cannot afford to get wrong. Unfortunately, indecision is ultimately much more destructive to a company.

With many possible outcomes to consider, the age-old question really is how does one take control, make the right decisions, and follow-through in the best way possible. I for one, believe that taking control of your business decisions depends on three very important principles.

‍Seek perspective

‍Todd Mckinnon, CEO, and Co-Founder of tech company, Okta, writes that he gathers many opinions from different people before making a decision. A vital first step is to gain as much understanding of one’s choice from those with experience in the issue at hand. Consultants, mentors, and service providers are invaluable sources of information. In addition, I can say from experience that regardless of the size of your company you’ll always be able to find a consultant or a mentor that suits your needs (and pocket).The most important caveat that I can offer here is that you still need to look carefully before finding the person who can give you that perspective. Looking at reviews, getting references from previous clients, and ensuring that you resonate with your chosen expert, pays off in the end.

‍Stay up to date

‍Research is, unfortunately, a weakness for many business owners, but is one duty that all entrepreneurs need to embrace. To start, I can almost guarantee that your idea or decision has been tried in some form or another. Looking at companies that had to undergo the same changes that you are currently considering, gives you an idea of what to plan for.

At the same time, staying up to date with one’s own industry and the direction that it is going, also shows you a lot about whether you are thinking along the right lines.

‍Plan the steps from day one

‍When it comes to executing your decision, you have to think about how you will ensure success and manage risks. Dividing your ultimate decision into steps is the best road map forward. However, this principle needs to be present throughout your decision-making process. Once again, this is where mentorship is essential.

A good mentor will challenge your decisions from the start by asking you how you will practically execute them, and offer guidance on how to break your business choice up into smaller parts.

Keeping these three main principles firmly in one’s sight gives you the best chance at making those choices that help your company to weather the storm. Just remember - you cannot control external factors, but how you react will determine whether you overcome them.

For information on how to streamline credit risk management processes, contact us on 021 – 0014758

Your first year as a programmer is the most difficult, but there are ways to make the learning curve easier.
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From personal experience, I can attest to the fact that being a new recruit in the software development industry is tough – and every year I see a new generation of fresh-faced graduates learn the same hard lesson. The fact is that the day-to-day of working at any software company is vastly different from anything that can be learned from a textbook.

With that in mind, perhaps the most important thing that any young developer needs to know before they start their career is this: regardless of how well you did in your courses, your real training is only just starting. Be prepared for your fair share of unplanned late nights, tight deadlines, redoing work, and oh so many rookie mistakes.

Take comfort in the fact that most of you will be working with seniors who have all been through this same adjustment period - nobody expects you to be an expert just yet. However, the pressure on development teams is real, so you are expected to get your act together as quickly as you possibly can.

The good news is that there are a few tricks that can make your transition into your new career infinitely easier, and set the tone for your future in this industry.

‍1. Ask for exposure

‍Earning trust is probably the most important thing that new recruits need to do in their new companies. One of the first ways to do this is to show that you are eager to learn and upskill yourself further. Ask your seniors to recommend textbooks, courses, and events or meetups that will help you gain better experience. Follow their advice and give feedback from time to time.

‍2. Take responsibility for mistakes

‍Make peace with the fact that you are probably going to make one or two major mistakes with your work fairly early on already. In situations like these, you must remember that excuses just won’t cut it. If you make a mistake at work, you are expected to take responsibility - and this entails more than just saying sorry. Admit your mistake, do your best to understand where you went wrong, and offer possible solutions to fix your mess. Again, nobody expects you to be an expert just yet, so also ask your seniors for a suggested course of action.

‍3. Understand the scope of work before committing to a deadline

‍Nothing breaks trust more quickly than never being able to meet deadlines. A reality of this industry is that you will be faced with unreasonable deadlines all the time. Before committing to a deadline, you have to understand how much work will be involved and have a good sense of how long it takes you to complete a task. If a deadline seems too tight, communicate with the rest of your team. Ask your seniors whether a particular deadline is achievable and ask for advice on how to speed up your output.

‍4. Don’t skimp on quality

‍Every now and then – when a person is pressed for time – even the best developers fall into the trap of writing spaghetti code. It may save time but you will invariably regret it when the time comes to find and fix bugs. Spend more time tightening up your code in the first run, even if that means putting in extra hours. It saves time later on in the development process and does wonders for your reputation.

‍5. Review your work

‍Reviewing and testing your own code is a vital part of becoming a good developer. Work time into your daily schedule to revisit the work that you have done. You can also take your code to a senior from time to time, to ask their opinions and advice.

It may not surprise you to see that all of the points on this list involve asking for advice. Remember that it is in your team’s best interest to help you gain experience as quickly as possible.

If you follow the tips above and back it up with an eagerness to grow, you will go far in your new career.

How the right credit risk management and collection software can help you keep employees engaged, focused, and happy.

If there is one thing that 2020 has taught us, it is the value of making the right people a part of your business. Over the course of this year, many businesses needed their employees to work longer hours, take on new tasks, and (in some cases) give up their leave to help their companies get back on track.

This level of dedication has a direct effect on productivity in one’s company, which is why it is vital for business owners to find ways of making the most demanding jobs more manageable. In most businesses, the accounts management department may in fact be the most stressful part of the company – especially in an economically harsh time such as these.

Managing high-priority accounts and following up on arrears is a difficult task. It involves vast amounts of admin, strategising, confrontation with clients, and negotiating payment plans. Keeping morale high in these departments is a challenge, to say the least.

Having said that, solving this problem is not as simple as arranging staff lunches or handing out incentives. It requires that you implement the right tools to complete the tough tasks, thereby ensuring their success. An example of this is software solutions that can collect external data such as credit information, to assist in negotiating payments on arrear accounts.

With this in mind, here are the ways in which having the right software on hand can help to boost the morale in your accounts management and collections department.

1. Having a strategy builds confidence
One of the first things that boost the morale of any team, is certainty. When a business owner chooses and implements a strategy and process for the accounts department, the team understands what to do next. As soon as the process and workflow steps are in place, the team will be a lot less stressed already.

2. Providing templates reduces the workload
‍A complete account management and collection software solution should have templates available for all the types of SMS’s or emails that the team regularly sends out to clients. This reduces the amount of time that team members spend on checking and revising their communications to clients. It also ensures that all communications are clear and in line with legislation. This helps to improve your team’s confidence when they interact with clients.

3. An informed team is more confident
‍Software solutions that give users access to external data such as credit scores, credit reports, and risk assessments, can also boost confidence. It gives team members a clearer idea of the client's financial position, which helps them to better negotiate payment plans.

4. A sequenced workflow reduces fatigue
‍For each step in any given account’s life cycle, your software solution should give clear workflow instructions to the team. This would include sending SMS reminders as soon as payments are missed, recommending email follow-ups, or give instructions to suspend and review delinquent accounts. Removing the task of managing and deciding on which actions to take not only saves time but also takes away a lot of second-guessing. This makes a marked difference to the team’s energy levels.

5. System reports highlight good performance
‍Your software solution should be able to provide summaries of the team’s system usage. If the team does indeed utilise all the features and functionalities of the software, these reports will highlight their efforts. Based on this information, you will be abler to reward performance and address problems before they grow.

Ensuring that a team can function optimally, is one of the most important tasks of a business owner. Making sure that team morale remains high is ultimately one of the best ways to achieve this and take care of your most valued employees.

So far, 2021 is turning out to be no less trying than last year. The lockdown is still putting strain on profit margins, and the pressure on employers to manage the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on their employees is only increasing. Now – more than ever – business owners need to find ways of getting their employees’ cooperation to get their companies out of the red.

As a business owner, I have first-hand experience of the difference that engaged and enthusiastic employees can make to a company’s bottom line. Not only are these the individuals who deliver quality work and are willing to put in extra hours, but they also build the strongest relationships between your company and its customers.

Conversely, an unengaged workforce can be much more destructive to a company than you might think. For one, it has been noted that absenteeism (commonly in the form of sick leave) is one of the first things to increase as soon as employee morale drops. In fact, Occupational Care South Africa (OCSA) estimates that employee absenteeism costs the South African economy between R12 -16 billion per annum on average.

With that in mind, understanding how to get a happy workforce is paramount to weathering the ongoing economic storm.

While there are probably many ways to achieve this, I can share a few points that have worked best in my own company.

‍1. Implement online systems

‍Going online is truly an important step for every business. Enabling employees to work from home and stay up to date with their tasks absolutely improves morale and engagement. It means that work does not have to stop because you have staff members that have to stay at home. The staff members in question feel that they still add value, and the rest of your team will thank you for not having to pick up the slack for their colleagues.

‍2. Automate

‍Automation does not mean replacing employees, and your workforce should be made aware of the benefits of this solution. Cutting out repetitive manual tasks saves costs and employee-hours. This lightens the workload on employees and assures them that management has a firm hand on the company’s budget. Online work solutions and automation also assist teams to never miss deadlines and better manage their daily routines – both of which help staff to stay positive.

‍3. Promote ongoing skills development

‍Becoming stagnant is possibly one of the biggest morale-killers in a business. Especially given the setbacks of a post-COVID-19 reality, employees are likely to feel that they are stuck in a bubble where they are unfulfilled in their work. You should make it clear that management still expects each employee to take the time to develop their skills. At the same time, you need to make resources such as training initiatives and online courses available to them.

‍4. Promote team interaction according to the rules

‍Employees should understand that everyone in the organization works for the team – not for themselves. Achievements also need to be acknowledged so that teams are aware of their value. Understanding that you are part of a bigger picture and that people do depend on you is an important incentive for employees.

With that said, there are many other ways to improve morale. While the points listed above have certainly added the most value to my own company, there are indeed businesses that achieve the same results with different methods. However, one thing is certain – business owners cannot afford to ignore the importance of morale and engagement anymore.

While often overlooked by business owners, being able to manage credit risks can mean the difference between success and failure
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The notion of risk and risk management is well-understood among business owners and entrepreneurs, and there is an element of risk in just about every endeavor that we attempt. Successful business owners are usually also those who find the most effective ways of managing their risks – be it through insurance against business interruption, or by having a network of alternative suppliers.

With that said, I am surprised that credit risk (one of the biggest threats to any company’s cash flow) is often not managed effectively by business owners. Of course, most business owners have an element of credit risk management in different parts of their day-to-day operations. Credit vetting of new customers, tracking payments and sending out payment notices, and conducting age analysis on overdue accounts are all part of the process.

However, having these very simple measures cannot even remotely achieve the same outcomes as a dedicated credit risk management plan. Being able to effectively manage this risk means being able to analyze and predict problems and threats long before they manifest – and for that you’ll need a complete strategy.

So, with the above in mind, I have put together a few first steps to get small and medium businesses started on building the comprehensive credit risk management process that they need:

1. Assess your actual risks
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‍Looking at your customer accounts, you may think that your only concern should be to discern between paying and non-paying customers. However, a host of possible problems could turn even your most loyal customers into problem accounts. With this in mind, you should begin by making a list of possible factors that can affect each of your accounts. One of the most effective ways of finding out which risks you face, is to divide them into the categories of known knowns, known unknowns, and the unknown unknowns. While this may seem nonsensical at first, I would really encourage anyone to give it a try.

2. Evaluate
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‍From here, you need to start prioritizing the risks that you have identified. When it comes to account management, this step involves finding out more about your specific customers and their current situations. While you could do this with customer and account surveys, you may also consider conducting ongoing credit checks to understand whether your customers are still doing well financially.

3. Act

‍The next step is to get a strategy in place to actively manage all of your risks on a day-to-day basis. The first part of this naturally involves getting your finance team involved. The only real way to ensure that your risks are being managed effectively is to get buy-in from your team. However, this is not enough. You also need to furnish your team with the tools to do their jobs in this regard. Putting the right software solution in place to monitor and predict credit risks is paramount here.

Ultimately, these three steps are only the beginning. The real work starts when you begin training your team and perfecting your strategy. With this in mind, our next article will be taking a look at how to get your team trained and ready for peak efficiency.

Company culture and morale are vital for a thriving business, but how do we really achieve it?
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An article that recently popped up on my radar, outlines some of the best company perks for 2021. I found this interesting because while I think businesses should consider giving their employees a couple of perks, I also believe that many business owners are under the impression that perks automatically translate into good company morale and productivity.

One of my own experiments in this regard (which was to set up a dedicated games area for employees to relax) did not produce any of the desired results, and I have since come to realise that perks may not be the best way to actually increase morale and productivity.

With this in mind, I set out this week to get some other perspectives on boosting morale from individuals at various stages of their careers. Their perspectives were quite interesting. Here are some of their key takeaways:

‍Sharing knowledge is vital

Luna, Senior Litigation Secretary : 24 years’ experience

In a working environment employees (especially juniors) often find themselves in situations where they may not have the skill or experience to deal with certain tasks. I believe that if this truth is not acknowledged and handled correctly, it has one of the biggest impacts on employee morale.

I think it is incredibly important that management and senior staff members provide the best possible training to their more junior colleagues. In addition, ongoing guidance and open communication are both incredibly important. For this reason, I think that the best morale boosting exercise is simply to touch base with employees at the start of each day. If everyone knows what to do and where to get assistance, the morale levels will already be greatly improved. To me, this makes a much bigger difference than things like staff lunches or employee sport days.

‍A view of the bigger picture

‍Riaan, Freelance Senior Web Developer : 17 years’ experience

As a freelancer, I don’t really find myself in a situation where I am part of a “company culture”. With that said, software and web developers are usually independent workers by nature, so I do not believe that morale is improved too much by group activities. In our case, I believe that one of the things that is most detrimental to morale, is a lack of clear leadership and goal setting.

When you have a team leader or manager that can give everyone a clear view of the bigger picture and what each team member has to do, you can perform your tasks with purpose and confidence.

One of the most common reasons that especially junior developers leave their jobs, is because they believe that they cannot solve certain problems. I think that strong leadership should include being able to lay out a path for team members, to show them how to address certain challenges.

We are in a task-driven field, so flexible working hours is a perk that could actually contribute to better morale.

‍In-person team meetings are still crucial

‍Jurgens, Audit Clerk : 2 years’ experience

I agree that certainty and leadership are quite important to maintaining morale. To this I would add that a good relationship between team members is crucial. I have seen this especially since we started working from home as a result of the pandemic. Being able to get quick responses and positive feedback from one another, even though we are not in a face-to-face situation, definitely makes work easier and maintains morale.

However, I believe that for this to work, a team has to meet in-person at least once a week. It gets increasingly difficult to relate to co-workers when one is removed from the office environment for long periods, which is why physical meetings are still vital in my opinion. We have company events from time-to-time, which I also think adds a little to morale , but spending one hour a week with your whole team definitely has a bigger impact.

‍Respecting employees’ time

‍Rainer, Business School Student : new entrant to the job market

Communication is definitely one of the most important things. Team members need clarity on what is expected, how they are contributing to the company’s end goal and who they can go to with their challenges. With that said, I also think a company that respects their employees’ time and comfort levels can more easily maintain high levels of morale.

Flexible working hours, when managed correctly, can take advantage of employees’ most productive hours while also allowing them to utilise their days as they see fit. Added to this, while “hot desking” is still growing as a trend, I believe there is value in giving each employee a space of their own.

Looking at these contributions, I cannot help but notice that there are two points that all the interviewees seemed to agree on. The first was the importance of clear communication in both directions. I would perhaps add one of my own observations to this - I believe it is incredibly important for employers to understand and show an interest in their employees’ goals as well.

I have regular meetings with my own team where I ask them to name a few of their work-related goals. I have found that helping them to achieve these, often contributes to their levels of motivation.

The second point that stood out for me was the issue of time. I think that as employers, we shouldn’t lose track of the fact that our employees have their own lives that they also want to get back to at the end of the day. Furnishing them with the tools to complete their tasks on time, and rewarding them with flexible hours or time off when possible, may just be some of the most effective perks yet.

Being a jack-of-all-trades is still one of the most important qualities of a successful business owner
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As entrepreneurs, we often hear that the key to an effective company is to surround yourself with the right experts. Unfortunately, this can also lead business owners to believe that they can focus solely on management tasks and remain agnostic about exactly how their skilled employees perform their tasks. After all, results are all that really matter.

As the owner of a software company, I can somewhat relate to this mindset. By the time that I started Jumping Fox Software, I had been an attorney for 20 years, and my understanding of software development (or software sales for that matter) was extremely limited. Nevertheless, I had the legal aspect of the business covered, and I knew where to find the skilled individuals to build the company that I envisioned.

However, I soon encountered problems with this approach. For one, I wasn’t able to be objective when it came to my software development department. Fully understanding the department’s challenges, how to solve them, and what to expect in terms of output, was difficult. The same was true for the sales department. And yes, issues like employees not pulling their weight couldn’t be nipped in the bud.

It didn’t take long to realise that I had to step out of my comfort zone and gain a basic proficiency at programming and sales if I wanted to manage the company effectively.

I’m definitely not the first person to encounter this. Some years ago, Mark Slaga, Dimension Data CEO of the Americas commented that growing a company requires leaders that are constantly learning. This means becoming involved in aspects of the business that are outside of one’s area of expertise – from the IT department to the accounting team’s daily work. A Stanford University study backs this up, claiming that so-called generalists are in fact more likely to build successful businesses.

With that said, becoming a jack-of-all-trades within one’s own company might not be easy. In addition to the extra hours that all business owners put into the running of their company, it may require taking additional courses, consulting experts outside of one’s business, and a lot of extra reading on the weekends. With that said, it ultimately does pay off.

From personal experience, I can say that taking the time to gain an in-depth understanding of the skills in my company has improved the way that I can manage the business. Not only does it help me to set the bar for each employee’s individual performance, but has also helped me to make much better hiring choices. In addition, it also helps me to better manage the interaction between each department – which improves company culture and morale significantly.

In conclusion - from entrepreneur to entrepreneur – my advice is this:

I know you’re already very busy, but make the time to become a jack-of-all-trades. Your future-self will thank you.

‍As entrepreneurs, we often hear that the key to an effective company is to surround yourself with the right experts. Unfortunately, this can also lead business owners to believe that they can focus solely on management tasks and remain agnostic about exactly how their skilled employees perform their tasks. After all, results are all that really matter.

As the owner of a software company, I can somewhat relate to this mindset. By the time that I started Jumping Fox Software, I had been an attorney for 20 years, and my understanding of software development (or software sales for that matter) was extremely limited. Nevertheless, I had the legal aspect of the business covered, and I knew where to find the skilled individuals to build the company that I envisioned.

However, I soon encountered problems with this approach. For one, I wasn’t able to be objective when it came to my software development department. Fully understanding the department’s challenges, how to solve them, and what to expect in terms of output, was difficult. The same was true for the sales department. And yes, issues like employees not pulling their weight couldn’t be nipped in the bud.

It didn’t take long to realise that I had to step out of my comfort zone and gain a basic proficiency at programming and sales if I wanted to manage the company effectively.

I’m definitely not the first person to encounter this. Some years ago, Mark Slaga, Dimension Data CEO of the Americas commented that growing a company requires leaders that are constantly learning. This means becoming involved in aspects of the business that are outside of one’s area of expertise – from the IT department to the accounting team’s daily work. A Stanford University study backs this up, claiming that so-called generalists are in fact more likely to build successful businesses.

With that said, becoming a jack-of-all-trades within one’s own company might not be easy. In addition to the extra hours that all business owners put into the running of their company, it may require taking additional courses, consulting experts outside of one’s business, and a lot of extra reading on the weekends. With that said, it ultimately does pay off.

From personal experience, I can say that taking the time to gain an in-depth understanding of the skills in my company has improved the way that I can manage the business. Not only does it help me to set the bar for each employee’s individual performance, but has also helped me to make much better hiring choices. In addition, it also helps me to better manage the interaction between each department – which improves company culture and morale significantly.

In conclusion - from entrepreneur to entrepreneur – my advice is this:

I know you’re already very busy, but make the time to become a jack-of-all-trades. Your future-self will thank you.

Online software solution for small businesses

Jumping Fox SoftwareInteresting Reads

Make business-saving decisions look easy

Putting your credit risk management process into action

Fundamentals of credit risk management software

Managing employees through change

Employees’ perspectives on company morale

Starting a complete credit risk management process the easy way

Keeping employees happy and engaged is more important than ever before - and you should know how to do it.

Know your business inside and out

The link between employee morale and account management solutions

Who should you blame if your account management and collection team is not performing?

A survival guide for new software developers

The numbers are in and we are pleased to announce the winners of the Jumping Fox Software Daily Routine Competition!

Six steps to getting credit risk management right in a small business

Simplifying your most important decisions: moving to the cloud

Breaking free from a culture of fraud

The beginner’s guide to decision-making

Can opportunities be more valuable than perks?

A moment of introspection

Rebuilding requires advanced risk management tools

The link between customer risk management and customer success

Digitalisation protects your customer base

Getting to know your collections data

Addressing the fears around digital transformation

Making the mind shift towards digitalization

Customer data and collection success are partners

Why collecting debt on age analysis only is outdated

What business owners can bring to the table for their collection teams

The role of experience in collections success

Crafting a collection strategy to increase collection success

Getting more out of your dashboard

Breaking free from a culture of fraud

The numbers are in and we are pleased to announce the winners of the Jumping Fox Software Daily Routine Competition!

Crafting a collection strategy to increase collection success

Getting more out of your dashboard

The role of experience in collections success

What business owners can bring to the table for their collection teams

Why collecting debt on age analysis only is outdated

Customer data and collection success are partners

Making the mind shift towards digitalization

Addressing the fears around digital transformation

Managing employees through change

Getting to know your collections data

Digitalisation protects your customer base

The link between customer risk management and customer success

Rebuilding requires advanced risk management tools

A moment of introspection

Putting your credit risk management process into action

Can opportunities be more valuable than perks?

The beginner’s guide to decision-making

The fundamentals of credit risk management software

Simplifying your most important decisions: moving to the cloud

Six steps to getting credit risk management right in a small business

Who should you blame if your account management and collection team is not performing?

Make business-saving decisions look easy

A survival guide for new software developers

How the right credit risk management and collection software can help you keep employees engaged, focused, and happy.

Keeping employees happy and engaged is more important than ever before - and you should know how to do it.

Starting a complete credit risk management process the easy way

Employees’ perspectives on company morale

Know your business inside and out

Know your business inside and out

Jumping Fox Software
Interesting Reads

Crafting a collection strategy to increase
collection success