Blackline Adds Credit Risk Assessment to Financial Operations Platform

Noting that companies are increasingly concerned about their cash flow metrics, financial operations management platform BlackLine has added new capabilities that give organizations real-time insights into the risk profile and behavior of their customers.

The new Customer Attractiveness Scoring feature uses insights gleaned from the cash collection and management process to help companies identify customers who are at risk of delaying or defaulting on payments, Blackline said in a Thursday (Oct. 13) press release.

“Given evolving global economic conditions, companies are under increasing pressure to maximize their cash positions, meaning they are spending more time scrutinizing cash flow metrics, such as credit risk management and collections management processes,” Blackline Managing Director and Head of Global Accounts Receivable Andy Lilley said in the release. “In fact, we are now seeing executives being asked to report on cash flow and working capital as much as on earnings and revenues.”

Blackline’s new Customer Attractiveness Scoring uses behavioral analysis to assess customers’ credit worthiness, according to the release.

With these insights, companies can both reduce risk and identify revenue opportunities. For example, the product shows users the customers whose scores have changed so that companies can identify those whose payments behaviors have worsened or improved. If a customer’s payment behavior has been consistent, the company may choose to change their credit limit, the release stated.

“With cash management more critical than ever, we are seeing more customers looking to Blackline for intelligent insights, as businesses look to harness real-time data and powerful analytics to improve critical decision-making across the enterprise,” Lilley said in the release.

PYMNTS research found that 26% of financial institutions (FIs) said real-time cash flow management is a problem area for their corporate clients, and 7% said it is the most important problem.

Read more: ‘Seeing is Believing’ for Corp Clients When It Comes to Cash Flow and Liquidity

To help solve the problem, 55% of FIs are working to find solutions that will offer their clients a single view of cash for real-time cash flow management and forecasting, and another 24% plan to do so, according to “The Innovation Gap,” a PYMNTS and FIS collaboration.

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