How Elate Cut DSO Nearly in Half and Modernized Billing & Receivables Management with Monk

We expected to improve this over time through better process, discipline, and automation. Our billing operation is complex, and we knew there was a meaningful opportunity to create a more consistent, scalable process. What we didn't expect was how quickly the results would show up. DSO is nearly half of where it was historically, monthly collections more than doubled in our first month, and outstanding A/R is at its lowest point since 2023.
Kyle Frederick
VP of Finance at Elate
Business model
Roles Impacted
Core use-cases
Integrations

About Elate

Elate, an AI-native strategy execution platform helping Chiefs of Staff, COOs, and corporate strategists turn plans into results, partnered with Monk to modernize billing and receivables management across a complex subscription portfolio.

Led by Kyle Frederick, VP of Finance, the initiative helped Elate bring greater consistency, visibility, and discipline to its order-to-cash process. 

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Collections
More than doubled versus the prior 18-month average in the first full month on Monk
40%
of invoices paid before the due date in the first full month on Monk
DSO
cut nearly in half shortly after implementation
Outstanding AR
at its lowest point since 2023

Elate unifies planning, execution, and reporting in a single system, giving leadership teams real-time visibility into priorities, risks, and progress. Elate's customers span nonprofits, education institutions, credit unions, and industrial organizations.

Challenges

As Elate scaled, its subscription portfolio became increasingly nuanced. Varying contract structures, mid-term upsells, early renewals, and account-specific billing terms created a process that required precision at every step, from invoice creation through collections follow-up.

Elate’s finance team identified billing and receivables management as an area where stronger systems could improve both operational efficiency and working capital. The team did not simply need more reminders to customers; it needed a scalable process that could reflect the complexity of Elate’s contracts, maintain consistent follow-up, and give finance better visibility into where judgment or escalation was actually required.

  • Varied contract structures. Every customer signs different terms, so no invoice can be templated. Billing has to reflect each agreement on its own.
  • Mid-term upsells. Expansions land partway through a contract, changing what to bill and when, with no clean reset point.
  • Early renewals. Customers renew ahead of schedule, shifting billing timelines and forcing the schedule to be rebuilt on the fly.
  • Account-specific billing terms. Payment windows and terms differ by account, so collections follow-up can't run on a single cadence.
  • Precision at scale. One missed detail on any account compounds across the full portfolio, and manual tracking doesn't hold up as volume grows.
  • Visibility into what needs a human. The team needed to see clearly where finance should step in to escalate or negotiate, instead of chasing every invoice equally.

Our Solution

Elate selected Monk because it combined contract-aware billing, automated collections, accounting integration, and CRM visibility in a single workflow - allowing the finance team to manage the full receivables process with greater control and less manual effort.

Contract-driven billing. Monk ingested Elate's full contract history - original agreements, renewals, upsells, and amendments - and generated accurate billing schedules across the entire customer base. Invoices are generated from the underlying contract terms, reducing manual calculation, improving consistency, and giving the finance team a clearer review process.

Automated collections. Monk's AI agent manages outreach on outstanding invoices, maintaining consistent follow-up with the right tone and timing for each account. The finance team retains full visibility into every active conversation and can step in at any point, particularly for accounts that require escalation or a more hands-on approach.

QuickBooks integration. Monk syncs directly with Elate's QuickBooks instance, keeping the general ledger current and eliminating double-entry. Payment reconciliation flows from Monk through to QBO.

HubSpot deal queue. Monk surfaces closed-won deals from HubSpot directly in the platform, ensuring new customers are invoiced promptly and nothing falls through the cracks between sales and finance.

The results from our partnership with Monk have far exceeded our expectations.
Kyle Frederick
VP of Finance at Elate

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