In the first quarter of 2022, Sidetrade signed a global contract for an initial period of three years with an North American company specializing in strategic technology consulting and the delivery of critical IT services. A Fortune 500 global technology services company and listed on the NYSE and, the company operates in 70 countries, employs more than 130,000 people and supports the digital transformation of the world’s largest private companies and public organizations.
With revenues of more than $17 billion, controlling working capital management- in particular accounts receivables – has become a crucial issue for this group, which has made securing and accelerating cash flow generation one of its key financial objectives for several years. Sidetrade will equip all employees in charge of the Order-to-Cash process, and in particular those within their four shared service centers. Sidetrade’s Augmented Cash platform along with Aimie, Sidetrade’s Artificial Intelligence, will replace a competing North American solution dedicated to Order-to-Cash.
This new contract, the largest in Sidetrade’s history, is fully in line with the company’s Fusion100 growth plan, which includes the goal of becoming one of the top three players in the US market. Building on its record Q4 2021 bookings and 16% growth in SaaS activities, Sidetrade – with this new contract – breaks its record for SaaS bookings from a single client with a total value of $4.2 million in Annual Recurring Revenue over three years.
Olivier Novasque, CEO of Sidetrade said:
We are proud to support a North American giant in its transformation project to accelerate its cash flow generation. Being selected by a leading IT consulting firm is a tremendous recognition of the value of Sidetrade, its technology and its teams.
In a competitive context, our technological lead in AI was a determining factor against our two main North American competitors. After Expedia, Tech Data and XPO, this iconic signing propels Sidetrade as a key player in the Order-to-Cash market in the US and reinforces the execution of our Fusion100 strategic plan, only a few months after the start of our US operations.
Sidetrade looks ahead to the 2022 business year with confidence and a clear vision. Sidetrade has high expectations, and the means to achieve its ambitions.
Cash Culture Pulse 2022, conducted by Sidetrade, interviewed international firms across the UK, Europe, US, Asia and the Middle East to explore ways to improve efficiencies in the management of unpaid invoices in B2B and the current cash culture trends.
Key to this new study was a focus on measuring the direct impact of the use of accounts receivable software in improving the cash collection results:
- It revealed that 42% of finance teams still heavily reliant on spreadsheets reported a high ratio of late payments overall (15%).
- Conversely, this number was almost halved (22%) for finance teams that use a cash and credit management software.
Nearly ¾ of teams using spreadsheets are unsatisfied
Cash Culture Pulse 2022 provided insight into how businesses track customer payments, and measured the satisfaction and expectations of the teams in charge of this business area:
- While 87% of finance teams still relying on spreadsheets to manage accounts receivables – either fully or partially – 72% claim to be dissatisfied with the process.
- In contrast, 80% of teams that use a dedicated solution to manage this process are satisfied.
Artificial Intelligence: a strategic priority for cash & credit management
While 61% of finance departments are not taking full advantage of new technologies, this trend is expected to change in the coming years, as 79% of respondents say Artificial Intelligence and automation will be a strategic priority to generate cash faster and more efficiently.
In the fallout from the pandemic, cash culture has been positioned higher on business leaders’ agendas, as companies look to secure and accelerate cash flow generation and establish a 360° vision on the whole Order-to-Cash cycle. This paradigm shift provides seamless collaboration among Finance, Sales and Support functions and ensures that Finance has the best technologies available.
Sidetrade’s CFO, Philippe Gangneux, commented: It’s clear that spreadsheets have an increasing number of limits and complexities. Now intelligent technologies support changing methods of delivering enterprise business capabilities. CFOs have a vested interest in including these intelligent technologies in their new roles and new challenges, or risk missing opportunities to optimize value and drive growth. The modern CFO should now take advantage of AI technology to streamline financial processes, particularly in cash management, and receivables.
Beyond this, there are a whole host of other ways in which spreadsheets prevent finance leaders from reaching their potential; they limit an organization’s ability to instill a cash culture, they don’t provide any intelligent recommendations, and they cannot promote data centricity and visibility across the business. The crisis we have been through has revealed the importance of securing cash flows, and more and more financial leaders are recognizing the benefit of working with a dedicated technology for enhanced Order-to-Cash performance.