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When Liquidity Tightens, Precision Becomes Power

Belgium’s latest credit data tells a clear story: late payments are climbing, liquidity is under pressure, and bad debts are cutting deeper into profits. According to Atradius’ 2025 Payment Practices Barometer, nearly half of all B2B invoices in Belgium are now overdue, while bad debts have risen to 9%,  the highest level since 2020. With average payment delays reaching 42 days, the credit-to-cash process is once again the silent bottleneck in business performance.

When less cash comes in, every decision counts. Credit leaders must strike the right balance between risk control and customer experience, a task that manual processes alone can no longer handle efficiently.

The Turning Point for B2B Credit in Belgium

The Atradius survey highlights a familiar pain: Belgian businesses extend 31–60-day payment terms to support customers, yet face longer waits for cash. Roughly 68% of companies cite liquidity stress among buyers as the main reason for delays. These longer collection cycles create knock-on effects, from rising financing costs to tighter supplier payments and missed investment opportunities.

The report also notes that one in three companies expects further deterioration in payment behavior in the coming year, a sign that traditional, reactive credit control is no longer enough. What used to be a back-office discipline is now a strategic function that directly shapes resilience.

From Manual Follow-Up to Intelligent Flow

In The Seven Pillars for Unlocking Cash Flow, we explore how automation and AI shift teams from repetitive tasks to intelligent operations.
Instead of chasing overdue invoices manually, modern AR systems automate the routine and escalate only what matters.
AI enhances this further, by analyzing behavioral data and suggesting next actions that move cash sooner.

Examples from leading organizations show what this looks like in practice:

  • Dynamic copy on brand: AI tailors dunning messages based on relationship and invoice status.

  • Dispute triage: The system classifies disputes automatically and routes them to the right owner.

  • Exposure tuning: Internal payment behavior and external ratings (e.g. Altares/D&B) combine to refine credit limits.

  • Cash-in forecasting: Predictive analytics detect early trends in delays, enabling proactive communication before risk turns into loss.

This shift doesn’t just save time,  it improves recovery rates and reduces customer friction simultaneously.

The Real Value Lies in Context

Belgian firms are not ignoring technology. Atradius notes that nearly half of respondents have already adopted or plan to adopt automation within credit management. But adoption alone isn’t transformation.
True impact comes when your AR system brings together all the signals that drive action, payment behavior, disputes, credit ratings, and contact history — in one clear view.

That’s what makes context the differentiator. When a collector sees both the internal behavior score and the external PAYDEX rating on a single screen, every decision becomes data-driven, from call prioritization to limit adjustment.

What Strong Credit Teams Do Differently

Winning credit teams in Belgium are not waiting for DSO to worsen — they’re using every tool available to anticipate it.
They connect automation, analytics, and human insight in one flow. They personalize communication without losing control. And they use AI responsibly, under clear guardrails to keep tone, timing, and actions consistent with company policy.

Ask yourself:
Are you still reacting to overdue invoices, or are you steering the flow of cash before it slows?

To see how the Seven Pillars framework connects automation, personalization, and predictive insights into one daily workflow, view our online whitepaper:
👉 The Seven Pillars for Unlocking Cash Flow