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Our Subscribers Say...
Credit Today's Resource Directory and their online e-mail forum (ListServ) provide information on almost any credit-related topic you can think of. It is a great way to exchange information with other credit professionals. As the saying goes, "You don't know what you don't know."
- Scott Goen,
Credit Manager, Big Lots Stores, Inc., Wholesale Division
"We've recently started using the ListServ tool within Credit Today. This is phenomenal and powerful forum for gaining immediate feedback, ideas, and suggestions, relative to any credit topic under the sun, all in a real-time e-mail format."
-Javier Vela, Senior Credit Manager, Global Credit Services, JDA Software Group Inc.
"Being a part of the Credit Today online community is like having the expertise of hundreds of credit managers at your fingertips. These credit execs are willing to help you solve topical business issues as they arise. In the current environment of ever increasing competing priorities which reduce our opportunities to meet peers out of the office face-to-face, this is the most valuable tool you can have on your desktop! It's important that we have a mechanism to reach out to our counterparts quickly to exchange knowledge as well as to stay on top of industry trends."
- Victoria Artis, Director of Customer Financial Services, Pfizer, Inc.
"Over the last 10 years I've seen Credit Today evolve from a monthly credit publication into a quality source of information and guidance for the B2B credit community. The website, with its user friendly form downloads, will take you from examples of new account credit applications to bankruptcy forms and everything in between.
The Credit Today ListServ has become the pre-imminent online forum, providing an opportunity for discussion and comments (and occasional humor) from an impressive list of credit professionals."
David Dungan, Director of Credit
Justin Brands, Inc. (A Berkshire Hathaway company)
Fort Worth, Texas
"There are numerous credit periodicals available to the credit professional today. How good is Credit Today? Is it relevant? I always have to read it late, or online because my credit analysts want to read it the minute it comes in. When my staff wants to read a publication before I have a chance to read it then something is working in that publication. We have cancelled our other subscriptions. When you have the best you do not need the rest."
Ron Woods
Corporate Credit Manager-World Wide
Thales Navigation, Inc.
"The newsletter, coupled with the website and the ListServ, are to us, more valuable than any other credit publication, bar none. I try to use at least one article out of each newsletter for departmental training/discussion sessions."
D. Mark Constantine
Corporate Credit Mgr
Fulton Paper Company
"I love Credit Today and read every issue cover to cover. For me, the greatest perk of a subscription is ListServ. I believe Credit Today's ListServ members may be the most knowledgeable Credit brain trust in existence today. I have saved and categorized hundreds of contributions on a wide variety of topics which I refer to often. It's an easy and cost effective way to network and learn."
Doug M. Thomas
Kimberly-Clark Customer Financial Services |
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Five Factors Necessary to Justify a Technology Purchase
One of the best things you can do for your company -- and your
career -- is to implement some of the great technology that's
currently available for credit and A/R systems. In fact, it's not
an understatement to say that in today's environment, a savvy
technology purchase may actually save your job! But it's never an
easy task to justify spending money, even if the investment will
save you many times the cost. So what do you do? According to David Caldwell, director of credit for Emerson and chairman of the Credit Research Foundation (www.CRFOnline.org), you must quantify not only the predictable benefits, but also the hidden, and usually underestimated, costs of a technology purchase. Use a spreadsheet to put the numbers together. Caldwell also suggests that you "challenge all assumptions." He noted that "55 percent of projects fail to meet ROI expectations," a prime reason being a failure to anticipate the full impact of the project. Along these lines, Caldwell identifies five qualifiers for determining if a technology solution is appropriate, but only if you have verified that the underlying assumptions apply to your situation:
- Breadth: The more users the better.
- Complexity: The more difficult, time-consuming work automated
the better.
- Importance: The more critical the work the better -- "If it's
not critical, maybe you should outsource instead."
- Significance: The more the solution compliments long-term goals
the better: "A leap in technology allows for planned
organizational reengineering."
- Value: The sooner the victory the better -- Look to at least
achieve a positive investment in the first year, but depending on
your situation, a bolt-on solution may be able to give you a pay-
back in only a few months.
The bottom line is to be as thorough and as objective as possible.
This is obviously important for understanding the true economic
impact of a software solution. It is also a good planning
exercise that will help you recognize all the contingencies that
need to be addressed should you get approval for your project.
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