Luke Sculthorp, Commercial Director for the UK and Ireland at My DSO Manager, about the changing dynamics of B2B receivables, arrears management and commercial credit.
He explores cash pressure, overdue debt complexity, dispute management, geopolitical risk, automation, customer segmentation, credit judgement, data integration and the future role of technology in empowering credit teams.
The discussion positions receivables management as an increasingly strategic function requiring stronger data, better process design and careful use of automation.
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Key Take Aways
- Commercial credit teams are operating in a tighter, more complex cash environment, but the market signal is pressure rather than panic.
- Overdue debt is becoming more layered, with issues driven by stretched terms, approval delays, deductions, proof-of-delivery issues, claims, disputes and pricing challenges.
- Traditional ageing reports no longer provide a sufficient view of collectability, risk or operational friction.
- Businesses increasingly need to distinguish between collectible debt, disputed debt, strategically slow payments and early warning indicators of wider risk.
- Customers are protecting liquidity more tightly, creating greater pressure on working capital and receivables management.
- Geopolitical risk, transport costs and supply chain disruption are becoming material factors in B2B credit decisioning.
- Credit teams need stronger data, forecasting and business intelligence to support proactive decisions under uncertainty.
- Automation should reduce manual workload and improve precision, but should not replace credit judgement or relationship management.
- Technology should empower credit professionals by identifying gaps, automating low-value tasks and enabling better segmentation.
- Customer segmentation should link risk appetite, payment behaviour, propensity to pay and collection strategy.
- Dispute management is a critical working capital issue and should be treated alongside risk and collections.
- End-to-end visibility across credit, arrears, disputes, CRM, orders, unbilled work and sales pipelines is increasingly important.
Innovation
- Moving from a single overdue number to a more granular view of collectability, disputes, strategic slow payment and early risk.
- Linking the risk agenda directly to collections strategy.
- Automating manual tasks such as sending copy invoices and routine customer communications.
- Using semi-automated communication pathways with human oversight and quality checks.
- Creating self-service functions for customers to resolve routine invoice and document queries.
- Assigning invoices and customers dynamically when resources are unavailable or redeployed.
- Integrating CRM, sales pipeline, unbilled work and credit exposure into a consolidated risk view.
- Feeding payment behaviour and portfolio information back to trade credit insurers and internal stakeholders.
- Using technology to bridge skills gaps through optimised workflows, tutorials and embedded support.
- Applying bespoke collection strategies by customer segment rather than blanket linear collections.
- Using reporting and analytics to test the effectiveness of collection strategies over time.
- Sharing intelligence through credit circles to identify fraud, personnel changes and common customer risks.
Key Statistics
- My DSO Manager was described as having been in existence for 10 years.
- The discussion referenced customer behaviour and risk appetite compared with 12 months ago.
- The discussion referenced a three-to-five-year outlook for commercial credit.
- The speaker referenced a five-to-six-year shift towards virtual working since the pandemic.
- Disputes were described as a global issue measured in trillions of US dollars.
- The discussion referenced significant transport cost impacts linked to exporters and geopolitical disruption.
- The discussion referenced Italy, Belgium and France as countries that have adopted invoice mandating.
- The UK was described as not yet having to adopt invoice mandating.
Key Discussion Points
- The difference between cash pressure and market panic in B2B receivables.
- Why overdue debt is increasingly linked to process friction rather than simple late payment.
- The limitations of ageing reports as a decision-making tool.
- How credit teams should distinguish collectability, disputes, slow payment and early risk.
- The impact of stretched payment terms and tighter customer liquidity.
- The role of geopolitical risk and transport costs in commercial credit.
- Whether firms are in “wait and see” mode or developing proactive playbooks.
- How automation can free credit teams to focus on strategic and relationship-led work.
- Why technology should empower rather than replace credit professionals.
- The continued importance of credit judgement, client visits and sector intelligence.
- The skills gap in credit management and the role technology may play in supporting less experienced teams.
- The need to connect risk, collections, disputes, CRM, orders and unbilled exposure across the full customer lifecycle.
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