EOS survey shows that the number of companies that have fully digitalized their dunning processes has increased by a mere four percent
Majority of companies only partly digitalized
Due to the pandemic, one in three companies in Europe is experiencing an increase in receivables management workload. At the same time, the proportion of companies that have fully digitalized their dunning processes has only gone up slightly since 2019. Just one out of five European companies has completely digitalized their receivables management. These were some of the findings from the meanwhile 13th representative EOS Survey “European Payment Practices”, which polled 3,200 companies in 16 European countries.
Digitalization improves repayment rate
Whereas in 2019, 16 percent of invoices were paid late or not paid at all by private customers, this figure had gone up to 20 percent by 2022. Although more and more companies were relying on digitized dunning processes during the pandemic to deal with the increased workload, there were still far too few overall. According to the survey, just 21 percent of companies in Europe have a fully digitalized dunning process and 36 percent are only partly digitalized. This is despite the fact that digital processes already help achieve a lower error rate and provide companies with the basis for approaching their customers individually and at the right time, explains Michaela Homann, Head of Customer Communications at EOS in Germany. “In our experience, defaulting consumers want to make payments quickly, using digital means and without a lot of effort,” says Homann. “Linking technology with the perspective of the defaulting consumers improves repayment rates. This means that in the majority of email inquiries we can already identify the issues of concern in a fully automated process, making it easier for our experts to respond to complex queries,” Homann continues.
“There’s still a lot to be done”
In the light of the economic forecasts in the euro zone and worsening payment practices, Justus Hecking-Veltman, Member of the EOS Group’s Board of Directors and CFO, recommends that companies continue to push the digitalization process: “Companies need to stay the course and further digitalize their receivables management to reduce payment defaults.” One obstacle to introducing digital processes might be the initially high financial outlay, says the EOS financial expert. In this context, the outsourcing of specific processes can make sense. “In fiscal 2021/22 alone, EOS invested around EUR 20 million in the upgrading of its core debt collection systems and in innovative technologies. This allowed us to further improve the service we offer to companies and defaulting consumers.”
About the EOS Survey “European Payment Practices”
In partnership with independent market research institute Kantar, EOS conducted phone interviews with 3,200 companies in 16 European countries between March 4 and April 19, 2022, to ask them about the prevailing payment practices in their respective locations. In the spring of 2022, 200 companies (each with an annual turnover of more than EUR 5 million) in each of the countries Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK answered questions about their own payment experiences and current issues relating to risk and receivables management. This is the 13th time that EOS has conducted the survey. Find out more on our study website.
About EOS Group
The EOS Group is a leading technology-driven investor in receivables portfolios and an expert in the processing of outstanding receivables. With over 45 years of experience, EOS offers some 20,000 customers in 25 countries around the world smart services for all their receivables management needs. Its key target sectors are banking, real estate, telecommunications, utilities and e-commerce. EOS employs more than 6,000 people and is part of Otto Group.
We use cookies on our website to enable you to have the best possible website visit. These include cookies that are necessary for the operation of the website, those that are only used for anonymous statistical purposes, cookies that are used for comfort settings and cookies that are used to provide you with personalized, interest-based content. You can decide yourself whether you want to allow the use of statistics, comfort, and marketing cookies. In addition, you can change/withdraw your consent at any time by clicking on the Change Cookies settings on the bottom of the website. Further information can be found in our Privacy Policy and in our Imprint.
Necessary
We use necessary cookies. These cookies are necessary for the operation and the basic functions of the website. In particular, they enable the security-relevant functioning of our website.
You can read about which cookies we use here.
Tool name
Cookieconsent_status
Tool provider
EOS Holding GmbH
Address of tool provider
Steindamm 71, 20099 Hamburg, Germany
Tool description
Essential cookie to save consent banner inputs.
Data processed
None
Purpose of data processing
To save consent
Retention period
60 days
Tool name
Java Session Cookie
Tool provider
EOS Holding GmbH
Address of tool provider
Steindamm 71, 20099 Hamburg
Tool description
Randomly generated session number essential for the proper functioning of the application software.
Data processed
None
Purpose of data processing
Proper functioning of website
Retention period
Session cookie – is deleted after you have closed your browser.
Comfort
If you allow comfort cookies, we can make use of our site easier for you. If you visit our website again to use our services, it will automatically be recognized that you already visited us and the entries and settings you made will automatically be recognized so that you do not have to enter them again.
You can read about which cookies we use here.
Tool name
Visitor
Tool provider
EOS Holding GmbH
Address of tool provider
Steindamm 71, 20099 Hamburg, Germany
Tool description
We use this cookie to make it easier for you to use this website.
Data processed
None
Purpose of data processing
Optimization, improvement of service
Retention period
Session cookie – is deleted after you have closed your browser.
Tool name
NEW_Visitor
Tool provider
EOS Holding GmbH
Address of tool provider
Steindamm 71, 20099 Hamburg, Germany
Tool description
We use this cookie to make it easier for you to use this website.
Data processed
None
Purpose of data processing
Optimization, improvement of service
Retention period
1 day
Statistics
We use statistical cookies to improve our offering and ensure a needs-based design and the continuous optimization of our website.
For this, we collect anonymized data for statistics and analytics, for example, to determine site traffic and user behavior and to adapt and improve our content and the website experience.
You can read about which cookies we use here.
Tool name
nmstat
Tool provider
Siteimprove GmbH
Address of tool provider
Rosenheimer Str. 143 C, 81671 Munich, Germany
Tool description
This cookie contains an ID character string for the current session. It contains non-personally identifiable information about which sub-pages the visitor enters – this information is used to optimize the user experience.
Data processed
None
Purpose of data processing
Analysis, statistics
Retention period
399 days
Tool name
AWSELB
Tool provider
Siteimprove GmbH
Address of tool provider
Rosenheimer Str. 143 C, 81671 Munich, Germany
Tool description
This cookie ensures that all statistics from the same session are captured contiguously.
Data processed
None
Purpose of data processing
Analysis, statistics
Retention period
Session end
Tool name
siteimproveses
Tool provider
Siteimprove GmbH
Address of tool provider
Rosenheimer Str. 143 C, 81671 Munich, Germany
Tool description
This cookie is used to track the sequence of pages viewed by the visitor during the website visit.
Data processed
None
Purpose of data processing
Analysis, website statistics
Retention period
Session cookie – is deleted after you have closed your browser.
Marketing
We use marketing cookies so that we can provide you with relevant and interest-based content when you visit our website.
You can read about which cookies we use here.
Tool name
Facebook Pixel
Tool provider
Meta Platforms Ireland Limited
Address of tool provider
4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin, D02, Ireland.
Tool description
Used by Meta to serve ads, measure and improve ad relevance, and offer advertising products on Meta.
Data processed
Ads Viewed | Pages Visited | Browser Information | Facebook Cookie Information | Facebook User ID | Geographic Location | Device Information | HTTP Header | Interactions with Ads, Services and Products | IP Address | Marketing Information | Usage Data & Behavior | Pixel ID | Referrer URL | User Agent
Purpose of data processing
Analysis | Conversion Tracking | Marketing | Social Media | Advertising
Retention period
__fbp (duration: 3 months)
Tool name
LinkedIn
Tool provider
LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company
Address of tool provider
LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland
Tool description
This cookie is used to obtain anonymized reports about the website target audience and the possibility of targeted advertising, e.g., in the context of retargeting.
Data processed
Device information, browser information, IP address, referrer URL and time stamp.
Purpose of data processing
Marketing, analysis, retargeting
Retention period
Cookie Name (duration: 90 days)
Tool name
Google Analytics
Tool provider
Google Ireland Limited
Address of tool provider
Google Building Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 4, D04 V4X7, Irland
Tool description
Used to track website activity such as session duration, pages per session and the engagement rate of individuals using the site, along with the information on the source of the traffic
Data processed
Ads Viewed | Pages Visited | Browser Information | Facebook Cookie Information | Facebook User ID | Geographic Location | Device Information | HTTP Header | Interactions with Ads, Services and Products | IP Address | Marketing Information | Usage Data & Behavior | Pixel ID | Referrer URL | User Agent
Purpose of data processing
Ad personalization | Ad user data | Ad storage | Analytics storage