AVANTGARD RECEIVABLES CASE STUDY

EmployBridge

EmployBridge Lowers Days Sales

Outstanding (DSO) by 11 Days and
Increases Cash Flow with AvantGard

EmployBridge, a leading US provider of

branded, industry-specific staffing
solutions, has been able to help
improve cash flow, mitigate bad debt
expense and minimize operational costs
with the AvantGard Receivables
solution. Read on to learn how.

Background:
EmployBridge is a family of staffing
companies specializing in industry specific
workforce skills delivered through seven
branded divisions: ResourceMFG, ProLogistix,
ProDrivers, Resouce Accounting, Personnel
One, Staffing Solutions and Medical
processes that are tailored to these industries.
Solutions. Each division offers full-service
As a result of EmployBridge’s ability to
staffing options: Short/Long-term, Temporary-
provide well-trained, industry-specific
to-Hire, Direct Hire, Planned Staffing,
personnel, clients commonly incorporate
Facilities Staffing and Vendor-On-Site.
these staffing services into their ongoing
operations.
EmployBridge has developed industry-specific
service models that enable their brands to
consistently attract and place better qualified Receivables Structure:
personnel through the development of
EmployBridge’s collections department is set
defined recruiting, testing and placement
up at two service center locations—one
positioned in Dallas, Texas and the other in
EmployBridge Knoxville, Tennessee.
Industry: Staffing Solutions
Environment: Regional The Dallas operation, which services the
Location: North America company’s western regions, consists of a
collections manager, 2 team leaders, 1 part-
Solution Benefits Derived: time and 3 full-time collection analysts. The
• Lowered DSO by about 11 days Knoxville location, responsible for the eastern
sector, is slightly smaller in size, with a
• Return on investment (ROI) in appx. 7 months
collections manager, 1 team leader, one part
• Decreased past due A/R by more than 25% time and 3 full-time collection analysts. The

• Enhanced visibility across the organization enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
that the company utilizes are Bond/Adapt
• Improved productivity and Lawson.
 Challenges:
EmployBridge was facing a number of
challenges that drove them to investigate
technology for improving order-to-cash
management. DSO was much higher than the
company desired and there was a large
percentage of past due A/R—with a few
accounts being as high as 120 days past due.
Many of these negative results were
stemming from the fact that EmployBridge
did not have a unified system in place for
helping the credit analysts to prioritize which
accounts to contact first during their work
day. This lack of organization also contributed
to employee dissatisfaction with their daily
workflow. Furthermore, it was difficult for
upper management to gain an accurate
picture on the performance of individual
collectors throughout a daily, weekly or
monthly basis.
“Our invoice volume was increasing and
we required a solution to help us manage
this growth. The AvantGard solution fully
supports our objectives to improve operational
efficiencies and minimize costs.”
Jerry Roth, vice president of credit and
collections, EmployBridge
Analysis relating to the root cause of
business problems in the collections
environment was not easily achieved either,
as there was no tool in place that could offer
a consolidated view over all business units,
nor a complete picture of any individual
customer’s activity throughout different
EmployBridge branches.
EmployBridge planned that by implementing
robust receivables technology that could
provide workflow controls for more strategic
and effective collections management,
tangible benefits such as lowered DSO
and reduced past due A/R would naturally
be achieved.
Solution:
EmployBridge had a specific list of
requirements regarding what they wanted to
see in a receivables solution. First and
foremost, they sought a single, consolidated
system able to offer a unified view of
collections information throughout the entire
company, as well as provide controls for
better managing disputes. Introducing
strategic workflow that could dictate the
order with which accounts should be
contacted daily, was also imperative and the
company hoped that employees productivity
rates would elevate as a result.
Automated mass communication tools were
also necessary, as these would help cut down
on the amount of time that collectors were
spending on individual phone calls or emails
to customers regarding their accounts.
Employees’ time would thereby be freed up
to spend on reaching out to the customers
who owed the highest dollar amounts and
helping to promote cash flow for the
company.
A tool for tracking customer behavior
patterns was also high on EmployBridge’s list,
as this would help them to react quicker to
fluctuations in customer paying habits and in
effect avoid negative consequences, such as
bad debt expense. Management also
anticipated that this functionality would
 support them in adjusting collection
strategies accordingly, helping them to
reduce bad debt expense and appropriately
allocate resources.
Lastly, EmployBridge desired to find a
technology provider that was financially
strong and equipped to offer ongoing service
and support, as well as enhancements.
AvantGard Receivables, SunGard’s Web-
based order-to-cash solution that drives
automation, workflow and collaboration,
proved to be aligned with all of these factors.
“Using AvantGard, we can optimize our
collections with features such as the invoice
dispute resolution functionality, which is helping
us automatically generate, assign and route
disputed issues through a workflow process to
reduce our dispute cycle time.”
Jerry Roth, vice president of credit and
collections, EmployBridge
Results:
EmployBridge utilizes the credit and
collections functionality to drive strategic
collections activities, and the sales & service
portal for the management of dispute
resolution including problem detection,
assignment and notification. The company is
currently in the process of implementing the
dashboard, which will provide them with a
comprehensive view of performance and
compliance to policy in real-time.
Within just an approximate 7 month period of
time, EmployBridge has achieved a full ROI
with the AvantGard solution, as well as
lowered DSO by an average of 11 days in a
year’s time. Features such as automated
payment reminders are also helping to
improve customer service levels. The unified-
system approach to order-to-case
management introduced by AvantGard has
been a great asset to the company, as now
management has full visibility into receivables
activities in all of its operating locations and
they are also able to gain better insight into
what A/R processes are working well and
which may need altering.
Employee satisfaction and productivity rates
have risen, as now collectors have more
strategic direction and a clear idea of their
workflow each day. Responsibilities are better
segregated, with disputes being automatically
escalated to the correct employees.
Furthermore, by establishing prioritized call
queues, collectors are able to focus on the
highest risk items, helping to mitigate bad
debt expense and reducing DSO.
Automation has reduced formerly time-
intensive manual processes, such as
communication to customers and thereby
freed up time for staff to devote to more goal
oriented A/R tasks. Additionally, management
is now able to gain a better sense of the
collectors’ performance on a daily basis.
Looking Forward:
Plans for the future of the AvantGard solution
at EmployBridge include drawing on
additional reporting functionality and
efficiently utilizing this information for
devising ways to improve efficiency and
productivity in the collections environment.
With these proposed initiatives,
EmployBridge anticipates that they will see
additional positive results, such as lowered
operating costs and further improved cash
flow as time goes on.
 www.sungard.com/avantgard

About AvantGard receivables

AvantGard Receivables helps companies manage strategic and major accounts as well as the
order-to-cash life cycle, credit risk, collections, dispute resolution, cash application, dashboards
and reporting for all accounts. Additionally, AvantGard Receivables provides collaborative
solutions for sales and customers.

About AvantGard
SunGard’s AvantGard is a leading liquidity management solution for corporations, insurance
companies and the public sector. AvantGard provides chief financial officers and treasurers with
real-time visibility into cash flows and increased operational controls around receivables, treasury
and payments. AvantGard helps companies drive free cash flow and reduce inefficiencies across the
EcoSystem of suppliers, buyers, banks and other trading partners. For more information, visit www.
sungard.com/avantgard.

About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and IT services companies. SunGard serves more
than 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries.

SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the
public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information
availability consulting services and business continuity management software.

With annual revenue exceeding $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 435 on the Fortune 500 and is the
largest privately held business software and services company on the Forbes list of private
businesses. Based on information compiled by Datamonitor*, SunGard is the third largest provider
of business applications software after Oracle and SAP. Continuity, Insurance & Risk has recognized
SunGard as service provider of the year an unprecedented six times. For more information, please
visit SunGard at www.sungard.com.

*January 2009 Technology Vendors Financial Database Tracker http://www.datamonitor.com

©2009 SunGard.
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