PUT YOUR COMPETITION IN CHECKMATE
ARE YOU PREPARED TO SACRIFICE YOUR QUEEN? Chess is a game of strategy. There is the opening move, the middlegame, and the endgame. Amateur players do their best to outwit their opponent with their limited experience and planning abilities, but professional players who have spent years studying chess can use their experience and knowledge to plan many moves ahead and ultimately win. Sacrificing a piece is a basic aspect of chess that separates the chess fans from the experts. Pros make the decision to sacrifice any piece, even the queen, to gain a tactical advantage. Chess novices, on the other hand, have difficulty letting go. These players will often wilt under an attack that requires them to sacrifice a rook or a knight. The biggest obstacle that amateurs face in a game of chess? Themselves. Once a player can let go of that fear, they can figure out how to put their opponent in checkmate. 2
PUTTING YOUR COMPETITION IN CHECKMATE Professional chess players are the ones who understand that winning involves making difficult choices. Knowing what moves their opponent will make, the pro will have a strategy with their winning moves planned out. The losers are the ones who let their own fear undermine their ability to think and strategize. The same holds true within a business. The decision makers who are willing to take bold steps are the ones who achieve success, and the ones who become paralyzed with fear are the ones who fall behind. Develop a strategy to help you win There are big decisions to be made involving resources, technology, and infrastructure which are necessary for your organization s growth and success. Amateurs stick with the current plan, status quo, doing things the way we ve always done them, because they are afraid to modify the plan, or don t know other options exist. In business and in chess, this strategy guarantees that you ll fall behind and your competitors will win. 3
YOU FACE CHALLENGES EVERY DAY Success today involves striving to exceed industry standards and expectations across every department of your organization, ranging from how you deal with customers to how you manage your back end operations. These challenges include: Improving customer loyalty and satisfaction Creating more efficient processes Becoming more nimble and flexible internally and with customers Embracing innovation and creating new ideas, products and services Protecting your reputation of trust and credibility Maintaining a healthy cash flow Ensuring customer data and proprietary information is secure Lowering production and processing costs Improving the user experience at every customer touchpoint Providing an outstanding value 4
There are also external challenges, outside your control, that can affect your business: Economic instability Industry trends New technologies Regulations Fees and taxes How do you face these forces that can negatively impact your organization? How do you deal with them all at once? 5
EMBRACE CHANGE AND INNOVATION Inertia is the biggest mistake you can make at your company today. Sticking with old, outdated, manual processes will prevent your organization from gaining a competitive advantage. Most people think that the competition is the biggest thing to be afraid of, but really, it s the status quo. Come up with a plan and execute it In chess, the path to winning involves anticipating the board and manipulating it one move at a time. The list of challenges that your business faces every day is long, and you can t tackle everything at once. But before you attempt to solve anything on your list, you need to anticipate your goals, your organization, and the industry, and then make one move at a time. With each step forwards, you ll find additional areas where you can strategically improve efficiency and save. Once you change your own perspective, you can work to change the culture of your team and organization by changing processes, adopting tech solutions, and upgrading your organization step by step. Together, as a team, you ll be able to adapt and innovate in order to keep your organization competitive. 6
TRANSFORM YOUR ORGANIZATION FROM THE INSIDE OUT Your company is unique, and there is no single plan that will help every organization move forwards and achieve success. But most plans include these strategies: Identify all of the goals you want to achieve and prioritize them. Look for cost-saving, time-saving, secure solutions that can help you achieve your goals. Find your champions! You need a team of supporters to help you change the culture and execute the changes so your business can succeed. Change doesn t happen in a vacuum. Plan and research all of your options before making a decision to ensure everyone is comfortable. (Get the facts, but watch out for analysis paralysis!) 7
This isn t a solo mission! Communicate any risks and potential benefits to your team so everyone has a chance to ask questions and get on board. Create your SWOT analysis (your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) to clearly understand how your proposed solutions will impact your organization. Compare this to the impact of not making any changes at all. This step will usually help get any stragglers on board. Finally, prepare yourself for a few bumps in the road. Unexpected delays, issues, and obstacles may come up, but don t give up! Create workarounds, but stick to your plan. Lean on your supportive team to help you solve any obstacles in your way. Still feeling moments of doubt? Visualize positive results to help you get over your fear, and remind yourself that you are moving forwards in the right direction. 8
INNOVATE WITH TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS Whatever objectives you need to reach, you re going to discover that an automated solution will help you achieve those goals faster, better, and at a lower cost. There are innovative solutions that will help you improve operational efficiency across your organization. They will also help you give your customers flexibility while streamlining your own internal processes. Beating the competition comes down to success across the board in these areas: 1. Keeping your customers happy 2. Lowering costs while efficiently using resources 3. Maintaining a steady cash flow 4. Supporting growth across the company 5. Being trustworthy and credible As you identify which specific processes and teams within your organization need to change, you ll be able to explore which innovative solutions will help you move towards your goal of putting your competition in checkmate. 9
BILLTRUST QUANTUM IS YOUR STRATEGIC MOVE For 15 years, Billtrust has helped organizations put their competition in checkmate by replacing manual tasks with automated solutions that seamlessly integrate with existing technology. Quantum Payment Cycle Management is our secure, cloudhosted, end-to-end solution which automates every step of the invoice-to-cash process. Invoice Delivery: Your ERP sends data files to Billtrust. We process the data and invoice customers any way they want print, email, fax, online portal or through their AP system! Payments: Your customers securely pay you any way they want via ACH, credit cards or by paper check. Cash Application: We apply your cash accurately and automatically using advanced robotic process automation and supervised machine-learning technology. Fully Integrated: We send the data back to your ERP no matter which system you use so you can access your cash right away! Businesses using Billtrust Quantum have lowered AR costs by 35%, improved customer satisfaction rates, reduced DSO by up to 9 days, and accelerated their cash flow. 10
Learn how Billtrust can help you put your competition into checkmate today! Contact a Billtrust Solutions Consultant at: info@billtrust.com or 1-888-580-2455 Follow us online! 2017 Billtrust. All Rights Reserved. Billtrust and the Billtrust Logo are registered trademarks of Billtrust. www.billtrust.com 100 100 American American Metro Metro Boulevard, Suite 150 150 Hamilton, Hamilton, NJ NJ 08619 08619 888.580.2455 609.235.1010 sales@billtrust.com sales@billtrust.com 11