How Amthal Cut Median Days Late by 77% with Kolleno’s Automated AR Workflows

About Amthal

At Amthal, no two days look the same. With a busy portfolio of fire and security contracts across the UK, the team is always on the move, installing systems, managing maintenance, and staying ahead of safety regulations. But behind the scenes, their finance team was juggling: overdue invoices, various notes, and time-draining admin.

Before Kolleno, everything was tracked manually. Disputes were manually logged in spreadsheets. Customer payment history was buried in QuickBooks notes. For a fast-growing company, it simply wasn’t sustainable. They needed a smarter way to stay on top of receivables and fast.

That’s why they turned to Kolleno.

The Challenges

As Amthal’s business scaled, so did the pressure on its finance team. More clients meant more invoices, more queries, and more complexity. However, the tools in place weren’t built to keep up. Without automation or a centralized AR system, the team was forced to rely on fragmented spreadsheets, QuickBooks notes, and manual communication.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to handle the volume of invoices.

That’s when they turned to Kolleno. 

1. Disconnected Tools

Amthal’s finance team had strong foundational processes in place, but they were spread across various tools, like spreadsheets and QuickBooks notes. While functional, this setup created inefficiencies, particularly when reconciling data or managing follow-ups across team members.

“We were keeping things in check with QuickBooks and spreadsheets, but it wasn’t scalable,”explains Amy Bradbury, Group Finance Manager.“We wanted a better way to bring everything together and reduce time spent on repetitive admin.”

Without a unified view of accounts, chasing payments was inconsistent, and customer queries often went unresolved or unnoticed. Team members couldn’t easily pick up where someone else left off. The result? Delayed responses, missed follow-ups, and a collections process that was more reactive than strategic.

2. Manual Workflows Were Slowing Down Progress

Amy, who managed daily AR operations, found herself pulled in every direction: one day deep in invoice processing, the next buried in disputes or tied up in meetings. 

“There was always a lot to juggle, and priorities changed quickly. We were doing a good job, but it was clear that a smarter workflow could help us stay ahead,” shares Amy Bradbury, Group Finance Manager. 

Amthal handled promise-to-pay tracking via spreadsheets and manually cobbled together daily priorities. The team lost precious time and energy on things that could and should have been automated.

3. Disputes Going Cold

Disputes are inevitable in a business with hundreds of active accounts. Amthal had a clear structure in place to manage them, including a disputes log that provided visibility and accountability across the team. 

However, the tools available at the time limited how efficiently the team could track, assign, and follow up on those disputes within day-to-day workflows. Weekly meetings were helpful for coordination, but without system-level support, some disputes were still at risk of being revisited later than ideal

“We have our weekly disputes meeting, and now with Kolleno, it’s much easier now to figure out what’s in dispute because you can mark it, assign a task, and follow up.”, comments Sandra Abuawwad.

4. Strong Team, Scattered Tools: The Need for Centralized Visibility

While Amthal’s finance team has always worked well together, collaborating effectively across tasks and priorities, managing collections without a centralized system sometimes required extra effort, especially when team members were out of office. Information was recorded across different tools, which made it harder to access context quickly or hand off work seamlessly.

With Kolleno, that changed. The platform created a single source of truth, making it easier to track conversations, view account activity, and ensure continuity. Now, when someone is away, the rest of the team can step in confidently, with full visibility into customer histories, promises to pay, and open disputes.

The Solution

Why Kolleno AR Management?

Amthal needed a central system for its accounts receivable operations. The finance team was juggling everything manually, from promise-to-pay tracking to dispute resolution. What they needed was structure, automation, and visibility across the board.

Specifically, they were looking for a solution that offered:

• Automated AR workflows to reduce manual chasing
• A task manager to bring structure to the day
• Integrated reporting to track customer promises and follow-ups
• Seamless QuickBooks integration to sync customer data and payments
• A dispute management system to ensure nothing slipped through the cracks
  

Kolleno delivered all of that in one platform.

“Kolleno stood head and shoulders above the other platforms we reviewed”, said Amy Bradbury. “It gave us exactly what we needed—a single platform where we could keep track of everything related to accounts receivable.” 

Automated AR Workflows

For Amthal, Kolleno’s automated AR workflows were a game-changer. What had been a time-consuming, inconsistent process became streamlined and scalable, removing the need for manual follow-ups.

Before Kolleno, the finance team manually reviewed overdue accounts, sent reminders, and tracked promises to pay. It was repetitive and error-prone. Now, the system automatically chases invoices based on schedules, payment history, and customer behavior. According to Amy Bradbury, “Automation has almost entirely replaced the mundane task of credit control.”

Amthal’s team customizes the company’s follow-up frequency, adjusting by customer type or invoice age. Promises to pay are logged and tracked automatically, pausing workflows when commitments are made and reactivating them if broken.

“We used to track promises manually. Now, it’s built into the process, and if someone doesn’t pay when they said they would, Kolleno picks it up”, adds Sandra Abuawwad.

By automating reminders, Amthal has reclaimed hours each week, freeing up the team to focus on high-impact tasks like resolving disputes and strengthening customer relationships.

Task Management

While automation improved follow-ups, Kolleno’s task management system brought structure to Amthal’s daily operations.

Before Kolleno, there was no shared view of priorities. Tasks lived in emails, notebooks, and people’s heads. Now, the team logs into Kolleno each morning with a clear, actionable list: who to contact, what to follow up on, and which disputes need escalation.

“The tasks set you up for the day. You already know what to start with—and that makes such a difference when there’s always more coming in”, explains Amy Bradbury.

Tasks are automatically generated for key AR events, such as promises to pay, overdue invoices, customer queries, all assigned to the right team member each time. Each task is tied to the relevant account, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. It’s also boosted collaboration. If someone’s off, another team member can pick up where they left off using task history and notes.

With manual tasks, tagging, and built-in reminders, everything is centralized, and weekly reporting gives managers a real-time view of progress and workload. What was once lacked structured coordination is now easily manageable, clear, and fully accountable.

Integration with QuickBooks

Kolleno’s integration with QuickBooks was essential for Amthal. The team was already embedded in QuickBooks for their core accounting processes, so any new AR platform needed to sync seamlessly, and Kolleno delivered.

From day one, Kolleno pulled in customer data, open invoices, payments, and credits from QuickBooks to create a live, unified view of Amthal’s accounts receivable landscape. This eliminated the need for double data entry and ensured that collections efforts were always based on the most accurate, up-to-date information.

Beyond syncing data, the integration also unlocked smoother reconciliation. With all payments, credits, and communications centralized in one platform, the team no longer had to jump between systems to confirm who paid what and when. Everything, from invoice status to payment history was visible and actionable in Kolleno.

As a result, Amthal’s collections team spends less time reconciling accounts and more time resolving issues, chasing high-priority balances, and accelerating cash flow. 

Automated Reporting 

Amthal’s finance team used to track customer promises manually. Follow-up dates were scribbled in notebooks, logged in spreadsheets, or mentally filed away, leading to inconsistent chasing and missed opportunities. Kolleno changed that.

With automated reporting built directly into the platform, Amthal can now instantly pull up reports on promises to pay, overdue invoices, dispute statuses, and task completion, without spending hours compiling data.

The Promise-to-Pay report has become a key asset for the team. It shows at a glance which customers have committed to pay, by when, and whether they followed through. If a payment deadline passes without fulfilment, Kolleno flags the broken promise, updates the account’s risk profile, and re-activates chasing workflows automatically.

This visibility allows the team to focus on the accounts that need attention now, rather than treating all overdues equally. It also powers more productive team meetings. During weekly AR reviews, Amthal’s team can sort promises by date, assign follow-ups, and make fast decisions without digging for context.

“Before, we were manually logging promises to pay in spreadsheets. Now it’s all there. You can filter, export, assign tasks, and get on with your day”, explains Amy Bradbury

Because it’s directly tied to customer behavior and task history, Kolleno’s reports give the team the real-time intelligence they need to be proactive, not reactive. They offer the team a live, up-to-date view of what’s happening across their entire receivables pipeline.

Dispute Management

Disputes used to be one of the most frustrating parts of Amthal’s AR process. Issues were flagged manually and follow-ups relied on individual memory, spreadsheets, or uncentralised notes. With multiple team members involved and a lack for ownership, disputes often dragged on longer than necessary, delaying payments.

With Kolleno’s dispute management tools, that’s no longer the case. Every invoice marked as disputed is now clearly flagged within the system, tracked in real time, and linked to dedicated follow-up tasks.

“It’s quite easy to figure out what’s in dispute. You just mark it and put a task to follow up in a week. It’s really, really handy”, comments Sandra Abuawwad.

The process is now systematic. When a dispute arises—whether due to a billing error, delivery issue, or client concern—the team logs it in Kolleno, categorizes it, and assigns a follow-up with a due date. These tasks are tied directly to the customer and the invoice in question, ensuring the full history is visible to anyone who steps in.

That visibility has improved internal collaboration and elevated Amthal’s weekly dispute meetings. Rather than sifting through emails or comparing notes, the team simply pulls up the current list of open disputes in Kolleno and walks through them, one by one.

According to Amy Bradbury,“We have our weekly disputes meeting, and it’s much more efficient now. Everything is in one place and already prioritized.”

This new workflow not only reduces the time it takes to resolve issues but also ensures that nothing gets lost in the shuffle. Disputes no longer stall out due to oversight. And because tasks are assigned and tracked, every action is accountable.

Ultimately, this has led to faster resolutions, improved cash flow, and a smoother experience for both Amthal’s team and their customers.

The Onboarding Experience

Amthal’s transition to Kolleno was smooth from day one. The onboarding team provided hands-on support, helping clean up legacy data, merge duplicate accounts in QuickBooks, and configure workflows to match Amthal’s internal processes. 

“We were positively surprised at the onboarding experience. To be honest, we expected it to be a lot longer and more complex, but Kolleno got us up and running quickly”, says Amy Bradbury.

Any early issues, such as handling unapplied credits, were resolved collaboratively, with Kolleno’s team offering tailored guidance every step of the way. As a result, it wasn’t long before the finance team started using Kolleno and seeing its benefits. 

The Impact

Kolleno didn’t just streamline Amthal’s collections—it significantly enhanced the overall accounts receivable operation.

In just six months, the results have been remarkable:

• 77% reduction in median days late
  
• 61% decrease in invoices 1–30 days overdue
  
• 91% drop in invoices over 60 days overdue
  

Automation reduced the manual workload. The task manager brought clarity and structure to daily operations. Disputes became easier to flag, track, and resolve. And with real-time reporting and QuickBooks integration, the team gained complete visibility over their AR pipeline.

However, these results weren’t due to technology alone. A key part of this success was the addition of Sandra Abuawwad, who joined the team in March 2024. Sandra’s full-time focus and expertise had an immediate and noticeable impact on aged receivables, further accelerating the gains enabled by Kolleno.

Rather than expanding the team significantly or overhauling core systems, Amthal combined smart hiring with the right technology, transforming reactive workflows into a streamlined, proactive process.

“I would absolutely recommend Kolleno to any business — it’s incredibly helpful and really eases the workload for our team.”

– Amy Bradbury, Group Finance Manager, Amthal

Ready to revolutionize your receivables? 

Book a demo today to see how Kolleno’s end-to-end AR tools can empower your finance team.