EOS Studies - This is knowledge.

Knowing what moves the economy and society: That is our claim for the market and consumer studies of EOS. Our studies, which we produce together with renowned market research institutes, offer exciting facts about customer payment behavior, payment methods, digitalization and the benefits of data.

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EOS European Payment Practices 2022

The latest survey by EOS with insights and assessments from 3,200 financial executives.

EOS Survey “European Payment Practices 2022”: Companies need to step up the pace of their digitalization efforts.

Europe’s companies need to act. Because the payment practices of customers are worse than ever. At the same time, new technologies and social changes are challenging conventional processes and business models.

What are companies doing so as not to miss the boat? How are they making their receivables management more efficient? How data-driven are their decisions – and what is the role of artificial intelligence in this context?

The survey “European Payment Practices”, which EOS conducted in 2022 for the 13th time, provides the answers to these and other questions.

In 2022, the proportion of receivables in Europe that were paid late or were unrecoverable was 21 percent.

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Poor payment practices are spelling trouble for European companies.

How Europe’s companies are counteracting bad debts.

For many European companies, their existence is at stake, as a growing number of customers are paying their bills late or not paying them at all. And many financial executives fear that the situation is going to get even worse in future. Read here how companies are fighting back by outsourcing their receivables management and about the role played by new digital payment methods.

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If you don’t digitize, you end up sitting on your receivables.

For companies, defaulting customers don’t just mean less liquidity but also more work. Although a digitized reminder process can help reduce this workload and increase repayment rates, until now only half of all European companies surveyed had taken this step. Find out here why investing in a digital receivables management system pays off.

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European Payment Practices 2022: Survey structure

Respondents

Between March 4 and April 19, 2022, telephone interviews were conducted with 3,200 financial executives from companies with an annual turnover each of at least €5 million.

Countries

16 countries from Western and Eastern Europe: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

Survey

Since 2007, the EOS survey “European Payment Practices” has evaluated the mood of the international economy. In 2022 it appears for the 13th time.

EOS Chatbot Survey 2021

How do companies use chatbots?

More and more companies in Europe are using chatbots.

The technology offers a lot of potential for communication and thus benefits not just companies and customers, but employees as well.

Two out of three companies in Europe are already using chatbots. The results of the recent Chatbot Survey 2021 by the EOS Group provide fascinating insights into how chatbots are currently being used and what expectations will be imposed on them in the future.

Read whole survey

Download survey report (1.4 MB)

Another five percent of companies plan to introduce a chatbot in the next 12 months.

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Chatbots are very popular in companies, but there is still a lot of untapped potential.

The chatbot revolution.

Hardly any communication tool is more efficient today than the chatbot. A prime example is the bot of the World Health Organisation (WHO): the bot answered 13.5 million questions via the messenger service Whatsapp alone - and in 19 languages! So it is not surprising that many companies also want to take advantage of the communication skills of digital helpers. But how many of them really exploit the potential of this trendy technology?

Humans and chatbots – a match made in heaven?

They are available around the clock and offer quick help. But will digital assistants soon compete with their human colleagues - or merely relieve them of tedious routine tasks? Read why in the end all parties can benefit from the use of digital assistants: employees, customers and the companies themselves.

EOS Chatbot Survey 2021: Survey structure

Respondents

2,800 companies from 14 European countries
Companies in the B2C segment, with a minimum workforce of 20 and annual revenue of at least €5 million (with the exception of Croatia)
200 computer-assisted phone interviews per country

Countries

Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, France, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Russia.

Survey

Kantar, a leading international market research institute.

EOS survey “What's the value of data?” 2020

Representative survey on data and its value.

Digital trust as a challenge

Digital data have become a key economic asset. Companies collect, analyze and interpret data to optimize their business models. This is why the responsible handling of such data, and an appreciation of how valuable it is, are increasingly a topic of public debate: How do consumers feel about the disclosure of data and its value? Are they willing to sell personal information? And how do companies win the trust of consumers for the use of their data?

The representative international survey conducted by the EOS Group on the subject “What’s the value of data?” provides answers to these questions. The online poll was conducted in 17 countries in the spring of 2020 by Kantar, one of the world's leading market research institutes.

Read survey

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