How Adikteev crushed late payments: 33% fewer invoices 61+ days overdue in under a year
Adikteev, an adtech company specialized in user retention and growing in-app revenue for their customers, faced challenges maintaining consistent focus on cash collection. Their DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) sat at an unhealthy 54 days, hindering their ability to invest and grow.
Guillaume Schwoob
Finance Manager
87%
Collection Effectiveness Index (CEI), indicating a strong ability to collect cash from customers.
24%
reduction in DSO, in the first 2 months of using Upflow (54 days to 41 days).
33%
reduction in invoices overdue by 61 days or more, in under 12 months.
Mission statement
Adikteev inspires app users to engage with the apps they know and love. Specializing in user retention, they grow in-app revenue and build user loyalty with custom retargeting and churn prediction campaigns.
FTEs
100
Industry
Advertising
Offices
Paris, San Francisco
Stack integrated with Upflow:
Sellsy
Adikteev: a returning Upflow customer
Adikteev initially ran their accounts receivable process through Upflow from 2019 to 2022 and saw positive results. After switching to a new billing tool (Sellsy), which featured integrated reminders, they decided to stop using Upflow thinking they could use the functionality in their new billing tool instead.
Soon, however, they encountered limitations in data insights and workflow customization. Realizing the shortcomings, Adikteev re-partnered with Upflow in June 2023.
At that time Adikteev was facing the following challenges:
Manual workflows and lack of automation: Adikteev's reliance on manual processes for collection efforts made it difficult to ensure consistent follow-up and prioritize tasks effectively. As Guillaume Schwoob, Finance Manager at Adikteev, states, "without any automated process on cash collection, it was pretty tough to stay focused on the things that matter for Adikteev."
Limited insights and inconsistent follow-up: Guillaume notes that Sellsy lacked the invoicing collections-focused analytics and customizable workflows offered by Upflow. This made it difficult to identify trends, prioritize collection efforts, and ensure consistent follow-up with clients.
Inefficient cash flow management: Adikteev's business model, with their own net 30 payment terms coupled with the same for the majority of their suppliers, meant a focus on efficient cash flow management was needed. Delays in client payments directly impacted their ability to invest and grow. Guillaume highlights this point, saying "longer payment delays for Adikteev means an inefficient cash collection. And that leads to not being able to invest as we'd like to. So reducing our DSO is a key priority."
DSO actually represents big sums of money: Guillaume notes that the DSO figure is not just about the number of days: “For us, even one day of DSO means large amount of cash. So reducing it by five days could lead to several million dollars of cash available. So that's a really huge impact that you don't really grasp when you only look at the DSO level.”
In essence, the lack of automation, limited data insights, and inconsistent follow-up hampered Adikteev's ability to optimize their cash collection process.
For us, even one day of DSO means a large amount of cash. So reducing it by five days could lead to several million dollars of cash available.
Upflow drives major improvement in cash flow
The impact of Upflow's re-implementation was swift and significant:
Old Debt Minimized
Upflow's automated collection efforts significantly decreased the amount of outstanding old debt. For the three months from May to July 2023, Adikteev’s aging balance indicated that an average of 71% of late invoices were overdue by 61 days or more.
In under a year, this situation had improved drastically, with this figure dropping to 38% for the three months from March to May 2024.
That’s a 33% reduction in invoices overdue by 61 days or more in under a year. This was crucial for Adikteev, as it ensured they had more cash in the bank to fund daily operations and future growth.
Time Saved
With all collection actions automated, Adikteev saves a significant amount of time previously spent on manual follow-ups. With an average of 200 monthly automated actions (e.g. automated emails sent) conducted in the past year, we estimate that Aditkteev has saved around 17 finance team hours per month.
That’s around a half day every week that has been freed up to spend on more strategic and value-adding work, instead of spending days on end chasing unpaid invoices.
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) Reduced
Adikteev quickly got back up to speed in their cash collection efforts, slashing their DSO by 13 days in just 2 months. In real terms, that represented going from a 54-day DSO to just 41 days. They are now within reach of their target DSO and even achieved a low of 37 days in May 2024.
Collection Efficiency Index (CEI) Improved
CEI measures the ability of collections staff to collect funds from customers. This measurement shows how much was collected from the pool of all available accounts receivables.
80% is generally considered a benchmark indicating a high performing collections team, and Adikteev saw their CEI jump from 60% to an impressive 87% in their first few months with Upflow. This improved metric indicates a substantial improvement in Adikteev’s ability to convert sales into actual cash flow.
The Upflow difference
Guillaume and the team at Adikteev particularly appreciate the following about Upflow:
Analytics & Customization
The ability to tailor collection workflows based on client type (direct clients vs. agencies) allows for a more targeted approach. Guillaume notes, “We noticed that with agencies, payment delays are at least twice as high. So with them we have now adapted our messaging to be a little pushier before sending the invoice or, even better, before signing the deal.” This ability to tailor and customize follow-up workflows based on types of customer and historical payment practices has been a game changer for Aditkteev.
Client Portal
The client portal offers a professional and user-friendly experience for Adikteev's clients to access invoices and make payments. Guillaume says, “It gives a very positive image. It's pretty simple use. I would say this is my favorite Upflow feature.” The Upflow Client Portal offer Adikteev’s customers a real-time overview of their invoices, all in one simple browser-based experience. It has also allowed Adikteev to seamlessly offer modern payment options to accelerate payments and, coupled with our new Payments by Upflow offering, it’s making getting paid even simpler.
Legal Process Automation
Upflow simplifies the handling of legal processes for very overdue invoices. “When the invoice was due six or nine months ago, also being able to handle all the legal processes within the Upflow platform was a nice feature”, notes Guillaume.
We have two types of clients: direct and agencies. We noticed that with agencies, payment delays are at least twice as high. So with them we have now adapted our messaging to be a little pushier before sending the invoice.
Integration with Sellsy (billing tool)
Adikteev enjoys a perfect integration between Upflow and their invoicing software, Sellsy. Guillaume is happy to say "it works perfectly well – no issues since we began using Upflow”.
This translates to real-time data flow between the two platforms, eliminating data duplication. Upflow leverages Sellsy's latest information for automated tasks and communication, while feeding payment data back for a holistic financial view in Sellsy.
The benefits are clear: improved efficiency through automation, reduced errors with real-time data, and a clearer financial picture. Upflow's seamless integration empowers Adikteev with a more streamlined AR process.
And not only that - the fact that integration works so seamlessly has meant Adikteev have peace of mind to choose a best of breed tool like Upflow. They no longer need to make the best of the limited cash collection functionality in Sellsy, but are able to use a market-leading AR tool like Upflow in conjunction with their billing tool. Each tool is used to do what it does best.
The integration with Sellsy works perfectly well – no issues since we began using Upflow.
In summary: Upflow’s impact on Adicteev’s business
Upflow's re-implementation significantly boosted Adikteev's cash collection:
Faster payments: DSO slashed by 13 days in just 2 months, reaching a low of just 37 days.
Reduced old debt: Invoices overdue by 61+ days dropped 33% within a year, freeing up crucial cash flow.
Time saved: Upflow automates 200 monthly actions, saving an estimated 17 finance team hours per month.
Improved efficiency: Collection Effectiveness Index (CEI) jumped from 60% to 87%, indicating a substantial improvement in collecting from outstanding accounts.
Finance Teams
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