Category: Leadership

We want to congratulate BigChange JobWatch customer Richard Grey, owner and MD of Grey’s of Ely, for becoming Chairman of the Guild of British Coach Operators, rising from the position of Vice Chairman.

He succeeds John Johnson of Johnsons Coach & Bus. Taking over the Vice Chairman role is Andrew Richmond, MD of Richmond’s Coaches. Both new appointees will serve for a two year term. The Guild promotes and markets the services of its members, all of whom commit to meeting the highest quality standards, assured by regular independent audits. Prospective members have to achieve a 100% pass before being accepted into the Guild. The Guild is also registered as a Driver CPC training centre, giving members access to a suite of courses specifically designed for the coach industry. It celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The Guild membership currently comprises 23 operators across the UK.

Greys of Ely coaches were founded in 1946 by Charles Grey purchasing the companies 1st coach in 1948. At that time the company was based in central Ely and by 1960 operated a fleet of 8 vehicles. In 1996 the company moved to a custom built site at Witchford approximately 4 miles from Ely, and now has a fleet of 30 vehicles.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

These days the chief finance officer or finance director is under sustained pressure to improve working capital and profitability while minimising bad debt expense.

One way to achieve these goals quickly is by rationalising the order to cash process.

The activities involved in taking customer orders and turning them into revenue can be categorised in four broad areas: sales order processing (which includes order fulfilment and distribution), invoicing, credit management and cash allocation. While critical to the smooth running of any business, all stages of the order to cash process are characterised by time consuming, manual tasks which rely on paper documents and can be prone to human error. This presents a significant opportunity for business process improvement.

By moving from paper to JobWatch introducing greater automation, the finance director can increase speed and efficiency and generate important benefits both for the finance department and the company as a whole. Cash flow, days sales outstanding (DSO) and other key performance indicators are improved. There is also a significant reduction in costs. People and resources are freed up for other tasks, while delivering invoices and other financial documents electronically generates savings from lower print, paper and postage costs.

The benefits also extend to customer retention and revenue protection. Customers are happier and therefore less likely to defect to the competition because they find the company easier to deal with: their orders are processed faster; they are no longer chased for invoices they have already paid and they can receive invoice documents and data electronically, with the additional benefit of being able to upload it directly into their finance systems to eliminate re-keying.

If you want to Significantly Reduce The Number Of Days To Raise An Invoice call BigChange Apps Tel. +44 (0113) 3845800 or email [email protected] also visit www.BigChange.com.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO