Enable Blog — Rebate Management System

Software and systems are essential part of modern-day businesses, they support and facilitate processes whilst helping your business to stay competitive and even help your teams to achieve more of their potential. Some systems even save a lot of time and money by accomplishing different tasks in minutes.

Businesses managing complex rebates and deals often do not realize how crucial the software they use is to company expansion and increased rebate revenue. What was most likely the best fit for your business when you first started out, may not be the right choice to fuel the next stage of your company’s growth - especially when the scale of your business processes increases dramatically!

One of these pieces of software is Excel spreadsheets, which according to Forrester Research is used by 81% of businesses and has 750 million users worldwide. Many of us use spreadsheets daily because they are inexpensive to create, highly flexible, mostly easy to use and very easy to share. However, Excel has its downsides.

A continued reliance on Excel spreadsheets causes inefficient manual processes, high operational costs, greater risk of errors, and limitations to your rebate revenue potential. Below we’ll share in more detail the many disadvantages of spreadsheets and the various ways they are used in the rebate world, plus why an automated rebate management system is a more secure, efficient and safer software option for your business going forward.

If your business is planning an overhaul of its rebate management, then you know finding the right solution is only half the battle. The second half is actually implementing the system. No matter the size of your organization, implementing a new rebate management system into your existing processes can be a daunting task, since you and your employees need to adapt to the new system and learn how to use it effectively. After making an initial investment in a new solution, the last thing you want is a failed implementation.

It’s important to have a solid plan on how to move forward by first assessing the current situation. While the software implementation process may take some time, preparation and planning is the best way to ensure the implementation goes as smoothly as possible. To position you and your team for success, here are some things to consider prior to starting your software implementation.

Most businesses start out managing their rebates using a variety of simple, standalone tools such as financial spreadsheets. But from experience, we know that these outdated rebate management processes can prevent businesses from calculating, accruing, and allocating rebates easily. Businesses that rely upon inefficient rebate processes as they evolve, could face various challenges and risks that prevent growth, efficiency, and increased ROI.

Don’t let obsolete rebate management processes hinder your business’s evolution; discover the twelve warning signs you’ve outgrown your old rebate system or financial spreadsheets and why you need a modern rebate management system that can help you maximize the performance of your B2B deals.

1. Spending too much time on data entry

Do you often find yourself spending hours on end creating reports or staring at financial spreadsheets because your current system can’t keep up? Or do you find yourself constantly manually entering data? Both of these tasks can easily be automated with a rebate management system – so your valuable time is not being wasted.

2. You’re relying too much on financial spreadsheets

Creating, updating, and generating rebate calculations in financial spreadsheets requires a significant amount of manual labour. Plus, financial spreadsheets are extremely limited when it comes to collaboration and version control. For example, employees from several different departments may have contributed data to the spreadsheet which can also present challenges when it comes to regulatory compliance and month-end closings. As such financial spreadsheets can be a warning sign that your rebate processes are not up to the job.

Many businesses around the world have integrated various rebate management processes to get a better grasp of their B2B deals. These businesses quickly found the benefits of having a rebate management platform, inspiring other businesses to look for software of their own. While businesses stand to benefit from rebate management processes, some companies might have reservations of what these processes and platforms can do for them, and whether their businesses should make the investment. They often go into the software selection process with misguided presumptions and tend to stumble upon outdated information. Such “myths” can be misleading and discouraging to potential software users and fail to communicate the significant benefits businesses make, causing them to resign the chance to maximize the value of their rebate agreements.

For decades, many of the world’s strongest trading relationships have been built on rebate agreements.

The people trusted with managing these mutually beneficial business deals have played vital roles. But by necessity, they’ve been cogs in a much larger machine. Their time has been absorbed by administrative tasks: collecting and keying-in data, performing audits, corresponding over disputes.

Now, the limits of rebate management are expanding.

Businesses are realizing the need for—and immense value of—even closer collaboration with their suppliers and customers. And at the same time, technology is automating rebate management administration, enabling deeper strategic insights, and supporting new ways of working together.

Liberated from mundane tasks, empowered to analyze and collaborate...

Ambitious rebate analysts and rebate accountants are redefining their roles—to supercharge their careers, and help their companies thrive.

When it comes to the complexities of rebate management and B2B negotiations, human errors can creep in and seriously compromise the value of trading agreements, especially when the process is manual. Human errors tend to create additional costs, reduce efficiency, and cause catastrophic failures.

Rebates are prevalent in many industries because they can have a significant impact on a business’s bottom-line. A buyer agrees to purchase a certain volume, or value of a seller’s goods. Once the purchase has been made, the seller refunds a proportion of the price they’ve paid. But although they sound manageable, we have found that 4% of potential rebate revenue typically goes unclaimed which can mean many industries are missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

The COVID-19 outbreak has seen many companies being forced to embrace remote working like never before in a bid to delay the spread of the virus. Remote working will be entirely new for some companies, while others will be well experienced in working from home on various occasions.

In today’s business world, the finance department including the CFOs are expected to deliver accurate information more quickly than ever. But with large volumes of information, data is spread across an array of sources such as spreadsheets, emails, and paperwork; which only increases the likelihood of errors and inconsistencies in the process.