Credit and Collections Market Definition

Businesses use credit and collections software to ensure customers pay for the products and services delivered by the company. By recovering the amounts due on time, companies can rely on a consistent influx of money to finance their operations. This type of software is used by accounting teams to identify which invoices are overdue, match invoices and payments, reduce processing errors, and manage collection issues such as bad debt (amounts owed by customers that are unlikely to be paid). Accountants also use credit and collections software to manage customer credits to mitigate the risk of not getting paid. This type of software can also be used by collection agencies that recover outstanding payments on behalf of their customers.

Credit and collections software can be delivered as a standalone product or as part of a financial management suite. Standalone credit and collections tools need to integrate with accounting software and ERP systems or with related point solutions such as AR automation software.

To qualify for inclusion in the Credit and Collections category, a product must:

• Allow users to define customer credit limits and adjust them based on payments history or type of customer
• Match invoice information such as the amount or the due date with payments
• Identify upcoming payments due and notify customers by email, phone, or mail
• Manage overdue payments and apply penalties or overcharges for late payments
• Monitor payments history and identify customers that are more likely to pay late
• Analyze discrepancies between invoices and payments and determine what caused them

Results Index Description

A product’s Results score is calculated by a proprietary algorithm that factors in real-user satisfaction ratings for a number of results-related review questions. Software buyers can compare products in the Credit and Collections category according to their Results scores to streamline the buying process and quickly identify the products that produce the best results based on the experiences of their peers. For sellers, media, investors, and analysts, the Index provides benchmarks for product comparison and market trend analysis.

Badges are awarded to products for: Best Results (highest overall Results score), Best Estimated ROI (based on a combination of estimated time to ROI and time to go live), and Users Most Likely to Recommend (highest likelihood to recommend score).

Products included in the Results Index for Credit and Collections | Winter 2024 have received both a minimum of 10 reviews and 5 responses from real users for each of the results-related questions featured in our review form by November 21, 2023. These ratings may change as the products are further developed, the sellers grow, and as additional opinions are shared by users. A new Results Index report will be issued for this category as significant data is collected.