Every month, Alleanza Assicurazioni collects payments from each of its two million customers. Up to 2006, rather than paying by direct debit, many of these customers preferred to receive a visit from a salesperson to settle their dues. Of the 25m annual collection operations, only 20% were managed through automated processes, the remaining 80% being fulfilled manually by the sales team, which essentially stopped selling and offering consultancy in the last days of each month in order to collect cash premiums.
As a result of these processes, collections were not completed in a timely and efficient manner and could not be processed automatically. In addition, the reconciliation process took place manually, leading to a significant risk of errors.
The company therefore decided to introduce a radical change to the collection process, abolishing all cash payments (this was subsequently also required by law) and moving customers to automated processes, thereby reducing paperwork and expenses, and freeing up the sales force’s time.
This new strategy required a massive organisational effort to educate the sales force and customers in the new processes. From an IT point of view, Alleanza chose to adopt a solution provided by UniCredit Corporate Banking: InvoiceComm Bills Collection. “This end-to-end web-based product allows Alleanza to manage the whole active invoicing cycle directly linked to collections, from the issuing of documents to the management and automatic reconciliation of collections’ flows,” explains Amadio Lazzarini, Senior Consultant on Organisation, Processes and Procedures.
Using the solution, Alleanza sends UniCredit a file with the relevant data and information. At the end of the cycle, Alleanza receives the collected payments and a daily file reporting which bills have been paid. This file is used to feed the ERP and obtain an automatic reconciliation. Meanwhile, UniCredit manages the printing and sending of documents and bills, the management of payment instruments (issuing and collection) and reporting. The entire process can be tracked by Alleanza with the InvoiceComm web front-end tool.
“It is the perfect business solution for B2C companies which need to issue collections for a variety of retail clients, and which need to reconcile takings quickly and precisely while tracking and managing unpaid bills.”
In addition, this solution also enables Alleanza to simplify its processes while still offering customers a variety of payment methods: whether the customer opts for direct payment through the bank or through the post office, UniCredit takes care of the whole operation and delivers final payment and documentation to Alleanza.
The solution has brought a number of benefits. The collection workflow has been simplified and now involves a single counterparty, leading to a reduction in the overall resources needed. Direct debit now represents 80% of collection operations, with the remaining 20% settled by cheques. On top of this, the user-friendly solution is integrated with Alleanza’s ERP system, enabling the automatic reconciliation of outcomes. Finally, the web-based solution supports multiple user profiles, meaning that it can be used at branch level as well as at the company’s headquarters.
“InvoiceComm Bills Collection is a really innovative solution,” concludes Lazzarini. “It goes beyond a usual banking service and offers only one counterparty for the whole collection process. It is the perfect business solution for B2C companies which need to issue collections for a variety of retail clients, and which need to reconcile takings quickly and precisely while tracking and managing unpaid bills. Moreover, the solution ensures a low implementation cost, a unique point of collection for the takings, and an end-to-end process.”
