Client case: Kinepolis

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Everyone knows the Kinepolis star logo. It is the largest cinema chain in Belgium and with more than 110 branches worldwide, the chain also plays an important role globally. But the daily film screenings are only part of its business plan. The chain also organises events, rents commercial space, offers screen advertising, sells vouchers and organises exchange deals. All this results in a large number of outstanding invoices.

Kinepolis did not have a real credit management system until 6 years ago. Then, the follow-up of outstanding invoices was carried out by the sales departments. This led to decentralisation and a lack of consultation with the accounting department. Moreover, the credit management was carried out in an inefficient, manual way, which was unable to cope with the continuous flow of new (expired) invoices and incoming payments.

Kinepolis therefore knocked on iController’s door. Their question was simple: make credit management more efficient, centralize it and ensure more consultation and better reporting. The challenge for iController lays in the nature of the invoices: Kinepolis has a mix of invoices that are paid immediately (such as cinema vouchers), invoices that are paid in advance (such as commercial space rental) and exchange deals.

iController’s approach

As a first step, iController decided, in consultation with Kinepolis, to switch from decentralized to central credit management. The credit management was therefore centralized with the accounting team of Kinepolis. Thanks to the iController software, the accounting team can consult quickly and easily with its commercial colleagues. What’s more, thanks to the introduction of monthly consultation moments and weekly reporting, cooperation between the two departments is now more coordinated.

Subsequently, the configuration of the iController software was adapted to the needs of Kinepolis, making it easy to import the different invoice types. In addition, the software was adjusted to Kinepolis’ strategy, so that customers can be contacted in the right order. This means that first the trade rents are handled, then the events and thirdly the exchange deals and vouchers.

Central management makes it possible to carry out operations across all branches. The accounting department downloads a weekly pre-programmed invoice overview from the iController software and delivers this to the various departments. Each branch also has a local user account, which allows them to consult their own customers. In practice, however, this function is rarely used at Kinepolis because the weekly invoice overview provides sufficient information.

Success

Kinepolis is seeing a major impact of the implementation of the iController software on its credit management. Indeed, its DSO ratio (Days Sales Outstanding) has evolved from 41 to 28 days. This means that invoices are paid on average 13 days faster than before. Moreover, the number of overdue invoices has decreased from 60% to 40%.

Kinepolis is also very satisfied with iController’s customer service. The monthly software updates and an annual consultation ensure that the software is continuously adapted to the changing needs of the international company that Kinepolis is now. Also in the event of technical questions, iController is on standby: there is a guaranteed response within 24 hours.

Since the start of its collaboration with iController in 2013, Kinepolis has grown a lot. The Belgian chain is now also active in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Canada and the United States. The iController software grew smoothly with the Kinepolis branches and is currently used in all countries, with the exception of Canada and the USA (which will probably follow soon). 

Christof Verelst (Transactional Teamlead Kinepolis Group): “iController offers a total solution, which makes our credit management a lot easier. The company listens to our needs and responds well to them, also on an international level.”