Results with Tesorio include:

• 12% increase in cash flow from 2019 to 2020

• 2X customer contacts reached

• Reduce DSO 33 days

• 2X collections team efficiency

Michelle Tibbits, Senior Collections Specialist for Planview, is a revenue rockstar with over 20 years of experience in accounts receivable (AR) and collections. Before becoming an AR leader, she worked in operations and customer service. With this experience, she knows the value of both a personal and operationally effective approach to collections as a key element in the customer experience strategy at Planview.

“I love getting my hands on new technology that I can easily jump into and figure things out for myself,” says Tibbits. When joining Planview, she received immediate access to their new accounts receivable automation tool (Tesorio). “It was very easy to use, straightforward, and I loved working with the Tesorio team to make the product fit our needs at Planview.”

From dispersed data to connected teams

Michelle was used to tracking all of her accounts receivable efforts in antiquated and rigid Excel spreadsheets in her previous roles. “Managing an entire portfolio of customer accounts in an Excel spreadsheet is incredibly tedious,” says Tibbits. Valuable time and effort was wasted calling customers, tracking their unique needs, updating multiple systems of record, and then manually monitoring it all.

Not to mention, trying to keep up with sales, customer success, and generate valuable, up-to-date reports for the leadership team was nearly impossible.

“As collectors, we are the last ones within a company to communicate with the customer. When we send out an invoice, our inboxes are flooded with issues,” says Michelle. The list of problems can be endless: having the wrong address, company name, contact information, billing terms, or missing a PO. Tibbits notes, “It sets a tone with a customer when these issues arise and we aren’t on top of it.” In many cases, sales or customer success is aware of issues ahead of time, but communication and visibility between teams are extremely difficult and nearly nonexistent when working with unintegrated tools like spreadsheets.

Tesorio connects all of Planview’s key systems and data—from customer contacts, communications, and special notes. Every team can see what’s happening in every system. When sales and customer success have done their work, collections is the next critical step in the customer experience strategy.

Collections as a part of the customer experience

“A customer will always remember the bad experience." When a collector is asking for money, it can be a tense moment, and if the timing or tone is off, they can feel accused, uncomfortable, or even attacked. It’s important to remember you’re representing your company, and your actions have a real impact on customer relationships.”

With Tesorio’s accounts receivable automation, Michelle and her team have time to address issues early, and take a customer-first approach with their collections process. For Tibbits, it’s important to be proactive, sensitive, courteous, and professional. “With the push of a button,” each collector on the Planview accounts receivable team has gone from 50 customer connections a week to 100. “Being able to customize tone, terms, timing, and formatting for different customer campaigns makes Tesorio a game-changer,” says Michelle. Tesorio hits a massive audience in a short amount of time and allows us to give personal attention where it is needed most.

“As a collector, I don’t like to be the bad guy, Tesorio allows me to be a customer experience professional and collector in one,” says Michelle.

Becoming a cash flow performance company

Due to automation, real-time insights, and the massive audience Planview can now reach with Tesorio, they’ve already dropped DSO from 100 days to 67.

“Cash flow increased significantly at Planview in 2020, our executive team is humbled by the goals we surpassed in cash collections, thanks to Tesorio,” says Tibbits. Not many companies can say they flourished through 2020 quite like Michelle Tibbits and the Planview team. Cash Flow Performance proved to be key to any company's success in 2020 and into 2021. Cash flow is king, and amid an uncertain economy, Planview was able to outdo their 2019 cash flow by $17 million.

With the Tesorio Cash Flow Performance platform, Michelle Tibbits and team were able to get rid of Excel to enhance collections efficiency, increase cash flow, reduce DSO, and delight customers.

“Anywhere I go after Planview, I will definitely be a Tesorio cheerleader.”