E-business Credit Manager (e-bcm), an online credit and debt-management service aimed at SMEs, is encouraging resellers to sell its facility as an additional service.
Launched by channel veterans John Carter and Dennis Scott at the end of last year (CRN, 4 December), e-bcm allows resellers to check their customers’ credit rating before accepting a transaction, as well as assisting with late payments and debt collection.
John Carter, managing director of e-bcm, told CRN: “We launched four months ago and are getting 60 to 80 new users a week. We are now saying to VARs that they should not just use it themselves, but also offer it as a service to their SME customers.”
According to e-bcm, this time of year is particularly bad for small businesses because many have to cope with the twin pressures of paying their personal tax bills and also finding the money to pay corporation tax on last year’s profits.
“Our service gives SMEs a chance to get their business in order,” Carter said. “If they use our debt-collection facility they can recoup some much-needed cash for their forthcoming tax bills. A lot of SMEs just don’t have the resources to chase up debtors.”
The Brigantia reseller buying group and the Professional Computing Association (PCA) have both recognised the benefits of e-bcm.
Iain Shaw, managing director of Brigantia, said: “E-bcm has joined us as an associate member so it has access to our reseller members. More than 20 of our members went out of business during the last quarter of 2006. They were all small companies that no doubt would have benefited from e-bcm’s credit check and debt collection facilities.”
Keith Warburton, chief executive of the PCA, said: “We have been promoting e-bcm to our members since January. Our members need to protect themselves from fraudulent customers so to have tools to check credit and handle late payers, as well as something that they can sell, makes excellent sense.”
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