The Quote to Cash Process

I have written before that a company is a collection of processes. And, it is pretty easy to see that these processes exist in support of a company’s ‘Quote to Cash’ process.

Regarding the ‘Quote to Cash’ process, a national leader in Receivables Cycle Management for Parson Consulting wrote:

The ‘Quote to Cash’ process includes all of the steps from the initial quote through order processing, order fulfillment and finally the receipt of cash.

• Did you know that receivables ranked among the top 3 tangible assets for 75% of the Fortune 100 companies?
• Did you know that the staff who perform this process have more frequent customer contact than anyone in your company [including sales]?

Improvements in your ‘Quote to Cash’ process can be a prolific source of profit and cash benefits.

My Thoughts…

Over the years of my career, I have mapped out many ‘quote to cash’ diagrams for companies. I have been involved in many conversations about how to improve this process. I have also seen that, since it crosses departmental boundaries, it is difficult to make any wholesale changes to the process. Tweaks – yes…

The real story here is that one of their clients redesigned their ‘Quote to Cash’ process including staff skills and management culture. Over the next year and a half, they saw a huge increase in their stock price and they saw an increase in cash on hand equivalent to 4 months of sales.

There are many processes that support the ‘Quote to Cash’ process. Some of these processes are key to adding value to the ‘Quote to Cash’ process. They might be processes like: Manage quotes; Manage legal contracts; Manage product changes; Manage purchasing items; Manage collections; Manage customer support; etc.

When is the last time you really looked at your ‘Quote to Cash’ process? Do you have any documentation on it? Can you identify the processes that add value to the ‘Quote to Cash’ process?

Your Thoughts…