But what slows most companies in this effort is credit processing. Many offer trade credit themselves or maintain relationships with one or just a few financing providers. Manual credit decisions can take hours or even days - but customers today expect instant answers. And they can be easily tempted by a competitor who can meet their needs more quickly.
Different analysts make different decisions.
The same data may be interpreted completely differently by different analysts - an inconsistency that can be manipulated by some customers and alienate others. There is no way to manage financial risk across the company. And no way to implement a consistent policy about how much financial risk the company should take on. The credit policy is difficult, if not impossible, to change. If company risk tolerance changes, it's difficult to change the policy on what types of credit risks to accept or decline without significant retraining of personnel.