How Walnut built a highly-effective and automated cash collection process and reduced their DSO by 50%

The lack of a modern process for Accounts Receivable was becoming evident in the time it was taking for Walnut to get paid. Ron Wolff Kochavi, Walnut's Director of Finance, knew that something had to be done.

24X

increase in receipts via autopay, meaning Walnut receives more payment automatically on invoice due date

50%

reduction in DSO, meaning Walnut halved the time it takes them to get paid in just 9 months

75%

reduction in the value of invoices reaching 90+ days overdue, from June 2023 to August 2024

Mission statement

Walnut helps software companies easily create interactive demos. Their tool is used to customize product demonstrations, save time, collect powerful insights, and master the buyers' experience.

FTEs

150

Industry

Marketing Software

Offices

Tel Aviv, New York

Stack integrated with Upflow:

NetSuite

Challenges before Upflow

Despite attempts to build their own cash collection tool and utilize dunning features within their ERP systems, Walnut encountered significant limitations and inefficiencies.

The team at Walnut knew that to be truly effective, cash collection needed to be a collaborative process between the finance and customer success teams. But CSMs had limited visibility into customer payment statuses, making it difficult to provide timely support and address customer concerns.

“We didn’t necessarily know that there was a good solution out there to the problems we were facing”, notes Ron. So when she received an outreach message one day from a sales person at Upflow, she jumped at the opportunity to see the solution in action.

“It was just great timing. Everything they were describing was exactly what we needed”.

Why Walnut Chose Upflow

Following a demo and a short sales cycle, Ron and the team were happy to say yes to giving Upflow a try.

Ron puts her decision down to three main factors:

A comprehensive AR solution: Upflow offered a holistic approach to accounts receivable management, encompassing dunning, a customer portal, and team collaboration features.
Ease of use: The intuitive interface and automation capabilities made Upflow easy to implement and use.
Customer-centric focus: Upflow's emphasis on improving customer experience aligned with Walnut's goals, and Ron had the feeling the Upflow team would be there to support her through the process.

“It made so much sense to go Upflow”, summarizes Ron.

It made so much sense to go Upflow.

Treating cash collection like the "business" issue it is, with team collaboration

Ron and the finance team at Walnut set about overhauling their cash collection process.

Previously, they had two separate conversations happening with customers at any one time: the finance team would handle payment collection, while the customer success team focused on customer retention and experience.

“Between the Finance and Customer Success teams, we weren’t on the same page in our interactions with customers. The customer was getting two different experiences of interacting with Walnut”, notes Ron.

To address this issue, Walnut adopted a more integrated approach, involving both teams in the cash collection process. By leveraging Upflow's collaborative features, they were able to create a unified workflow that ensured consistent communication and information sharing.

The Customer Success team were granted access to customer accounts within Upflow, allowing them to track payment statuses, view correspondence, and participate in the collection process. This has enabled a more coordinated approach, where the finance team could escalate matters to CS if necessary, leveraging their expertise in customer relationship management.

The timeline view in Upflow proved invaluable for this collaborative effort. By tagging each other directly on tasks and comments, the finance and customer success teams were able to start working together in a centralized view of the customer's history. This facilitated seamless communication and ensured a consistent approach to collections.

“Now, with Upflow, we can approach cash collection conversations in a way that’s consistent with the experience customers have come to know from Walnut and their Customer Success rep. While we’re having specific conversations about payment, integrating it within the wider customer experience that Customer Success is working to create has been a game-changer”, notes Ron.

Now, with Upflow, we can approach cash collection conversations in a way that’s consistent with the experience customers have come to know from Walnut and their Customer Success rep.

Upflow: Blending Finance with Customer Experience

For Walnut, Upflow is now as much a Customer Experience tool as it is a Finance one.

One specific feature that has allowed Walnut to make the payment experience easy and seamless for their customers is Upflow's customer portal.

The portal has not only empowered Walnut's customers with self-service capabilities, allowing them to view invoices and download W9 forms - it has also helped Walnut shift more payments to online methods and autopay.

Comparing 2022 to 2024 (January to October), Walnut has seen a 209% increase in payment volume coming through Stripe, via their integration with Upflow. Added to that, they’ve increased their receipts coming in via autopay by 24X, since August 2023.

The combination of increased online payments and autopay means Walnut both receives a greater proportion of invoice payments on the exact invoice due date and has gained greater control with this shift to ‘pull’ payments (rather than relying simply on ‘push’ payments which require a customer to take action each time payment is due).

As Ron notes, "Upflow's customer portal has enabled us to present our payment process in a more professional way towards our customers. It empowers our customers to take control of their accounts, reducing friction and improving their overall experience."

One major result of this shift is the reduction in payments overdue by 90+ days. In just over a year (June 2023 to August 2024), Ron and the team have seen the value of invoices reaching this significantly overdue stage reduce by 75%.

By providing customers with the necessary tools and access to their financial information, Walnut was able to reduce hurdles and minimize potential conflicts that often arise when cash collection processes are poorly managed. This ultimately contributed to increased customer satisfaction and improved relationships.

Upflow's customer portal has enabled us to present our payment process in a more professional way towards our customers. It empowers our customers to take control of their accounts, reducing friction and improving their overall experience.

Integrations: NetSuite and Stripe

Walnut's decision to adopt Upflow was further strengthened by its seamless integration with their existing finance technology stack.

Using NetSuite as their primary ERP and billing tool, Walnut appreciates the ability to seamlessly pull data from NetSuite into Upflow. This real-time integration ensures that the information in Upflow is always accurate and up-to-date.

While Ron is a very happy NetSuite user, she acknowledges that it can be cumbersome and time-consuming to navigate.

In contrast, Upflow provides a more streamlined and efficient experience for specific tasks like analyzing aging balances. As Ron puts it, "When it comes to quick reporting or analysis, I find myself going straight to Upflow instead of NetSuite. It's just much easier to get the information I need."

For Ron, one of the most significant advantages of Upflow is its integration with Stripe. This integration has allowed Walnut to offer a wider range of payment options to their customers. While this wasn't the primary reason for choosing Upflow, being able to better leverage Stripe in conjunction with their ERP and cash collection tools has proved to be a valuable addition that has accelerated cash flow and improved customer convenience.

When it comes to quick reporting or analysis, I find myself going straight to Upflow.

Results with Upflow

The implementation of Upflow has brought significant measurable benefits for Walnut, including:

Reduced DSO: A remarkable 50% reduction in DSO was achieved in just nine months.
Decreased overdue balances: The outstanding amount 90+ days overdue decreased by 75% from June 2023 to August 2024. Additionally, the overall outstanding amount decreased by 29% during the same period. These reductions demonstrated the effectiveness of Upflow's collection strategies in reducing delinquency and bad debt.
More online payments: Walnut has seen a 24X increase in the value of receipts coming in via autopay. They’ve gained greater control of the timing of payments and provided more modern and convenient payment options for their customers.
Time savings: Based on the number of automated emails sent per month, we can confidently estimate that Walnut saves 12 hours per month. That's 1.5 days per month freed up for the finance team to focus on strategic tasks.
Improved customer engagement thanks to excellent email open rates: The 89% average email open rate from August 2023 to August 2024 demonstrates the effectiveness of Upflow's personalized reminders, which were sent from individual team members' email addresses (synced with Upflow) rather than generic 'finance@' or 'accounts@' email addresses.

These results highlight the significant impact of Upflow on Walnut's accounts receivable process. By automating tasks, improving customer engagement, and streamlining collections, Upflow has helped Walnut achieve substantial improvements in its collection process.

Summing up, Ron notes “Upflow came at the exact right time. My VP Finance is calling our collection process a major success story for our organization. Cash flow is key for the health of any business and Upflow has made such a difference in a short time.”

Upflow came at the exact right time. My VP Finance is calling our collection process a major success story for our organization. It’s so crucial for the health of the business and Upflow has made such a difference in a short time.

Finance Teams

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