BlackLine Unveils Industry's 1st Accounts Receivable Automation Capabilities to Deliver Real-Time Insights into Customer Risk and Growth Opportunities Based on Behavioral Analysis

New Customer Attractiveness Scoring provides organizations with flexible models that assess credit worthiness to reduce risk and identify revenue opportunities

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BlackLine, Inc. (Nasdaq: BL) has unveiled Customer Attractiveness Scoring, new capabilities in its AR (accounts receivable) Intelligence solution designed to provide real-time insights into the risk profile and behavior of an organization's customer base.

Using behavioral insights gleaned in real time during the cash collection and management process, companies can better identify customers who are at risk of defaulting on and/or delaying payments and reduce the risk of debt going bad.  BlackLine's added capabilities also will help organizations to better identify customers whose credit risk is minimal, allowing companies to raise credit limits for those who demonstrate consistent payment behavior, thereby becoming a better partner to the business.

As concerns over inflation and an impending economic recession persist, the ability to tap into powerful insights around payment behaviors could help to significantly improve an organization's cash flow.  Additionally, as the cost of borrowing continues to rise, companies are looking internally for ways to release working capital to invest elsewhere, without having to borrow from financial institutions.  In fact, according to the The Hackett Group's report, "2022 Working Capital Survey", the 1,000 largest public companies in the US had almost $1.7 trillion tied up in excess working capital in 2021.  As a result, The Hackett Group recommends large companies review and fine tune their credit risk management and collections management processes to capture changing payment behaviors and minimize exposure to bad debt.

Unlike credit risk profiles provided by credit agencies, BlackLine's Customer Attractiveness Scoring shows customer risk based on payment behavior as it's happening, providing the most up-to-date assessment of risk, specific to the trading relationship, instantly to credit teams.  Customer Attractiveness Scoring features the following capabilities:               

• Aggregated Customer Benchmarking – that provides real-time comparative data of one's entire customer portfolio to determine which customers to prioritize for either growth expansion or monitor for risk.
• User Configurable Internal Credit Scores – that allow credit professionals to assess customers' behavior on their own defined criteria which they deem to be most important instead of relying on generic third-party scoring.
• 'What If' Analysis Capabilities – that let organizations change their risk model internally to see what the impact of decisions might be and thus adapt to industry events or the general macro-economic climate.

"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.  In fact, we are now seeing executives being asked to report on cash flow and working capital as much as on earnings and revenues," said Andy Lilley, managing director and head of Global AR at BlackLine.  "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."

The new Customer Attractiveness Scoring sits within BlackLine's AR Intelligence solution, which enables customers to manage financial risks and opportunities by providing access to real-time, actionable data, which helps them understand their customers' financial behaviors and use the information to impact strategic and operational decision-making.  Customer Attractiveness Scoring is generally available now as part of BlackLine AR Intelligence at no additional charge. 

Kevin Permenter, research director, Financial Applications, IDC, added: "Navigating the current economic headwinds means looking for ways to free up working capital, and the best way to release working capital is to better manage cash.  One of the best ways to do this is by accurately assessing credit risk in real time; after all, global economic uncertainty goes hand in hand with rapid and unexpected changes to business conditions.  Therefore, the more information an organization has about customer behavior in a timely fashion, the better they can assess this risk and minimize exposure to bad debt.  As such, BlackLine has developed a potentially impactful product feature with BlackLine's Customer Attractiveness Scoring which is specifically designed to help companies better navigate a tough financial environment."

For more information on BlackLine's market-leading AR automation solutions, please go here.

Companies come to BlackLine (Nasdaq: BL) because their traditional manual accounting processes are not sustainable. BlackLine's cloud-based financial operations management platform and market-leading customer service help companies move to modern accounting by unifying their data and processes, automating repetitive work, and driving accountability through visibility.  BlackLine provides solutions to manage and automate financial close, accounts receivable and intercompany accounting processes, helping large enterprises and midsize companies across all industries do accounting work better, faster and with more control.

More than 4,000 customers trust BlackLine to help them close faster with complete and accurate results.  The company is the pioneer of the cloud financial close market and recognized as the leader by customers at leading end-user review sites including G2 and TrustRadius.  BlackLine is a global company with operations in major business centers around the world including Los Angeles, New York, the San Francisco Bay area, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney.  For more information, please visit blackline.com.

 This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "plan," anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "potential," "would," "continue," "ongoing" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding our growth plans and opportunities. 

Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon BlackLine's current plans, estimates and expectations and are not a representation that such plans, estimates, or expectations will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and/or management's good faith beliefs and assumptions as of that time with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize or if any assumptions prove incorrect, actual performance or results may differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to the Company's ability to execute on its strategies, attract new customers, enter new geographies and develop, release and sell new features and solutions; and other risks and uncertainties described in the other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the risks described under the heading "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K.  Additional information will also be set forth in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. 

Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and you should not place undue reliance on such statements. Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. 

SOURCE BlackLine