Remember how it used to be? A stack of credit reports, printed overviews, and somewhere in a folder (or worse: in a drawer) a file with notes on a customerโs financial reliability. Financial screening was mainly a manual and time-consuming process back then, heavily reliant on scattered documents and employeesโ memory.
Fast forward to today, and the difference is huge. It's now all about speed, clarity, and smart integrations. With modern CRM and accounting systems, financial screening is embedded throughout the entire customer journey, from first contact to invoicing.
Back then, you'd be staring at a credit report, analyzing figures, payment behavior, and credit limits. Youโd extract the key information, jot it down somewhere in a customer file, and hope your colleagues did the same. But letโs be honest: it was error-prone, time-consuming, and rarely truly up to date.
From reports to real-time data
Today, integrated data is the new standard. Instead of digging through separate reports, credit information, payment behavior, and outstanding invoices are automatically brought together in one system. Everything in real time, all in one place. That not only makes it easier to assess risks, but also speeds up decision-making and improves cross-department collaboration.
Interesting read: To Credit Risk Automation in three steps
Where financial data used to be mainly the domain of the credit manager, today many more colleagues work with it. And that actually makes perfect sense. After all, why should only the team managing risk know how a customer is doing?
Sales now uses those same insights to identify promising customers or to avoid risks when closing new deals. Marketing looks at payment behavior to better target campaigns, because, letโs be honest: itโs more practical to approach customers who actually pay. And compliance officers? They can quickly check for red flags before a customer is even accepted.
Because everything comes together in one system, everyone has access to the same up-to-date information. No more separate lists, no more โIโll send it to you later.โ Just immediate insight for everyone who needs it. Much more efficient, and a lot smarter.
Always know your customersโ current risks
Where you used to rely on manual checks in credit reports to detect changes in customers, that process is now largely automated. Updates on, for example, the D&B Rating, credit limits, or the Paydex score no longer need to be looked up manually, they are now automatically delivered and processed in systems like CRM or accounting software.
Interesting read: Integrate credit risk automation into your existing systems
This means that changes are immediately visible where it matters. Whether itโs adjusting payment terms, assessing risks, or informing colleagues in sales or compliance, everyone works with the same up-to-date data. No more separate documents, no delays in information, just continuous insight and immediate action when needed.
How does it work?
With an API, you can easily pull data from an external system directly into your own system, such as your CRM or accounting software. This means you no longer have to search manually or re-enter data.
ChatGPT zei: The advantage of an API is that you can choose exactly which data points you want to retrieve. For example, only the credit limit or a customerโs payment behavior, exactly whatโs important for your processes.
More and more organizations are opting for this approach. For in-depth research, the full reports, of course, remain available at all times.
