A $20B manufacturer experienced a steady increase in accounts receivable balances and past-due accounts, a systemic issue clearly linked to data quality and management problems, which included the absence of a companywide data hierarchy. Furthermore, data was contained in more than 50 systems, making it difficult and time consuming to aggregate data and create global reports for risk monitoring and collections activities.
Our experienced team of consultants offered a range of solutions to help the client organize and manage its data to enable accurate and timely global reporting. This entailed defining critical elements for data records; examining data extracts from 50-plus applications; designing a common model for data collection, analysis and reporting; and creating data quality routines, among other activities.
We redesigned the client’s data management process and provided a supporting playbook for data collection and management, enabling them to aggregate data in new ways and generate meaningful reports. The data standards we developed also addressed data quality problems; before our recommendations, more than 70% of the client’s data lacked important customer information, such as phone numbers, addresses, and emails. Ultimately, our data solutions will go straight to the bottom line as we helped the client remediate its data and create a framework to identify and address the most problematic past-due accounts.