The Deal Economy - Page 1 - Enable

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 valu...Continue reading

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. There is no simple answer to completely remove human errors but businesses that utilize the latest technology and processes correctly can take steps to reduce the likelihood and severity of mistakes...Continue reading

When setting prices for your products or services, you always need to keep in mind the volume of sales you will get, the profits you will make, and even the way your brand is perceived.

Rebates and discounts are distinct forms of cost reductions which directly or indirectly promote the overall sales of a business. Both pricing terms may sound similar, however, there is a considerable difference between discount and rebates which we explore in more detail below.

Discounts

What is a discount?

Discounts are typically applied at the point of purchase to reduce the buying price: when you get a bill, you pay the discounted value. It’s all very immediate. The discounted price is visible as of the precise moment that the purchase would have been made and therefore offers immediate satisfaction.

6 min read

With 80% of B2B transactions governed by contractual agreements, contracts are the foundation of nearly every trading relationship and should seek to define and mitigate risk. Contracts also provide the basis by which companies ensure compliance with regulatory and financial accountability requirements. More importantly, agreements should be documented.However, the number and complexity of those contracts are growing. According to IACCM, the average Global 1000 corporation maintains over 40,000...Continue reading

How was your last year end? We’re not referring to the actual outcome, but the process of getting your year-end figures together.

If you’re in the fortunate position of being able to match each supplier invoice to an order at the right price, then perhaps your year-end is simply a question of dealing with a volume of transactions? But for those in the building supplies sector, those working in buying groups, and many wholesale distribution companies, revenue recognition is hampered by supplier rebates, retrospective discounts and other promotions.

In fact, in industries where rebates are an important part of normal trading, the rebate accountant is often the key to having a true picture of your profits and losses.

6 min read

To survive and succeed in today’s changing business landscape, companies need to evaluate their current processes and realise that digitalization is transforming how organizations in every industry carry out their operations. Forbes has reported that 90% of global businesses have kicked off a formal digital transformation initiative of some form. The concern for many companies is that they’ve already fallen behind, or they are too late to get started. But that is certainly not the case.One of th...Continue reading

In the supply chain and the rebate world, you will often hear the terms supplier and vendor used interchangeably when supply chain roles and duties are discussed. Even here at Enable we sometimes call supplier rebates, vendor rebates. They both supply goods and services, but there are certain attributes that make each one a distinct term in the supply chain world, which we will discuss in more detail below. Definition of vendor A vendor is someone who purchases products from manufacturers or di...Continue reading

When you become an independent business owner, you’re always thinking of ways to reduce your expenses, manage your finances better and stay ahead of the competition. One of the best ways to solve all three is to join a buying group also known as a group purchasing organization (GPO). A buying group handles the payments, sourcing, contract and supplier management for you, while leveraging the purchasing power of the group to get better pricing than you could negotiate if you were independent. Bu...Continue reading

When it comes to rebates there are two sides of the story: customer rebates and supplier rebates. How to differentiate the two can cause confusion. So, to explain the difference between customer rebates and supplier rebates we will take a different approach and think of them like a tango, rather than a war.

What are customer rebates?

Customer rebates is a term applied to the business process where a company is managing the rebate liabilities they have out to their customers: rebate monies they’re going to pay to their customers at some point in the future.

Read: The complete guide to B2B customer rebate management

What are supplier rebates?

Supplier rebates is a term that is used where a company is managing their income stream of rebates that will become due in, from their suppliers.

Read: Why the supplier rebate model is broken — and how to fix it

8 min read

As experts in rebate management, we have come across (and have helped to fix) many problems with rebate management spanning commercial, financial and operational processes.

In this article we focus on the financial side where most issues revolve around accuracy, predictability and auditability. These are usually among the key drivers of our customers’ business cases in defining their requirements and selecting Enable to manage their rebates.

In our experience, when our customers get these financial areas right, they win the battle for trust and confidence in their figures, thus allowing commercial and operational teams to make better, more profitable trading decisions.

8 min read

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. This is becaus...Continue reading

At Enable we see a lot of different types of deals, from simple examples like loyalty rebates where you get a percentage off a product or to more complex where specific behaviours are trying to be incentivised like a particular product range being pushed by a manufacturers especially if it’s new to the market.

Complexity can allow you to target more specific behaviours but it’s important that both parties have clarity otherwise you could end up with disputes over money.

In this video, Neil Jenkins covers how to handle these complex deals and ensure they remain a useful tool for your business.

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 fact, over 40% of US jobs are compatible with working from home, but only 7% make it available to most or all of their employees according to Global Workplace Analytics. But the desire to work from home is there....Continue reading

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. Companies are struggling to effectively manage, store and access this data wherever and whenever it might be. These manual financial processes are causi...Continue reading

Right now our customers, our communities, and the world at large are facing unprecedented challenges. To overcome the impacts of COVID-19, it’s important that we work together. In that spirit, we wanted to share some of the things we’re doing to help safeguard our customers, our employees, and our wider society. Providing free access to Enable solutions There’s never been a more difficult time to run a business, so we wanted to do something to make life easier. That’s why we’re now offering our...Continue reading