Order-to-Cash - Collections Process Specialist

As a member of our Business Transformation team, you will work as an extension of our client’s team to advise on and lead their transformation initiatives. Your work will serve in a functional role on high impact transformation initiatives and you will serve as a liaison with key stakeholders and the finance group, helping them to identify improvement needs and fully execute the changes to address them. 

The Order to Cash (OTC): Collections Process Specialist will create value for clients by leading engagements that map the current state, design an optimized process, remove inefficiencies, and align the process with the client’s overall business strategy. The Process SME will a) help lead and enable all client initiatives with this specialization and b) deliver on projects that will be part of the client’s organization as necessary to drive necessary operational enhancements and transformation as an extension of the client’s teams.  This team member will also contribute to collaborative internal (non-client facing) initiatives, creating and maintaining process expertise across our CFGI resources to help further the offering infrastructure and support/lead the growth of the Business Transformation practice.

Roles and Responsibilities:

·       Ensure leadership and expertise across our project teams.

·       Lead initiatives focused on Collections tangential processes like Credit, Payment terms, Invoicing, Cash Applications, Order Processing, Escalations Management, and Sales Operations and/or Lead to Contracting.

·       Perform current process state assessments and future state process design opportunities.

·       Perform gap analysis to business problems and process defects and recommend proven remediation.

·       Recommend technology and automation solutions, including leading process and technology design through implementation programs.

·       Create Project Plans to ensure successful projects from concept through to closure.

·       Maintain open, honest and transparent relationships.

Preferred Skills:

·       Assess client Sales Order to Invoice process infrastructure, through review and analysis of existing policies and procedures.

·       Provide or design and establish KPIs or key operational and financial metrics to measure success across key process or functional areas of focus.

·       Independent leadership abilities, capable of driving successful outcomes and ensuring client satisfaction in client engagements.

·       Contributions to internal business leadership, practice development, and initiatives focused on growth and development of team members.

·       Familiarity with tangential Accounting concepts, topics, and practices is a plus.

·       Maintain an understanding of advancements in technology and innovations which are happening across digital, analytics, and the broader marketplace.

·       Serve as liaison between the client’s leadership and functional/operational teams to bridge organizational strategy with process optimization at the task level.

·       Proficient in other Technology platforms: Salesforce (or other CPQ/CQM) end-user experience, Escalations and Dispute Management Platforms (e.g. ZenDesk, etc.), ERP (e.g., NetSuite, Oracle, SAP, etc.), and Credit Management.

·       Experience with Cash Collections / Customer Payments forecasting and/or Collectability Analysis is a plus.

 Required Skills, Qualifications and Capabilities:

·       College Degree in Finance/Business required, Advanced/Master’s degree preferred.

·       Minimum of eight to ten years of professional experience with three to five years in the Collections process execution capacity. The three to five years of experience with process execution should be from industry (preferred) or serving in an embedded or interim role capacity, or a combination of both.

·       Three plus years of experience in process execution having led teams of 10+ people who have executed the Collections Process, which can include tangential processes such as Order Entry, Order Fulfillment, Credit and Invoicing.   

·       Process execution experience: Collector policies and procedures, Collector Performance and Cash Related metrics (Past Due AR, 90+ AR), Customer Segmentation, Collection Cycle, Escalation Management (internal and external), Escalation processes (Dunning, Order hold, Service hold, Credi hold), and 3rd party agency placement/process.

·       Experience in an Order to Cash Operating environment/team.

·       Experience working in a Shared Services/Transaction Center environment desirable.

·       Experience in professional services industry desirable.

·       Fundamental understanding of key Order to Invoice organization structure to help deliver a quality process: Sales Desk, Deals Desk, Order Control/Release Desk.

·       Deep understanding of critical process policies and controls.

·       Proven track record of leading transformation initiatives to drive process improvements (including automation and organizational design).

·       Strong process and project management skills, with a strong understanding of industry standards, best practices and supporting process metrics.

·       Effective written and verbal communication skills, with proven experience in escalation management, to Leadership internally and externally (e.g. external customers).

·       Proficient in Technology as an end-user and enabling process improvements through system enhancements across Collections tools (e.g. GetPaid, HighRadius, etc.).