Traditionally, credit management was considered a back-office function limited to assessing the customers? creditworthiness on spreadsheets and putting customers on a ?stop credit? list without consultation. In essence, it was a transactional overhead, which was perceived by the sales team as an obstacle rather than an enabler of business growth. However, over the last few years, businesses have started looking at credit management in a more strategic light. We see a shift from the traditional role to one focused on consulting, financial services, and business development. It is evolving into a data-driven function supported by artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), advanced scoring models, and automated workflows that automate most manual tasks. The aggregation and analysis of credit data, collaboration with business teams, reference calls, emails, and never-ending follow-ups are all being replaced by automation and workflow systems. The role of a credit manager is no longer limited to assigning credit limits to customers using excel formulas and mentally processing credit decisions based on intuition or experience. Greater business value and insight are now being sought from credit managers, and they are evolving into advisors for both finance and sales departments. In addition to risk containment and the enterprise-wide implementation of credit policies, the credit management team is now being entrusted with P&L analysis and working capital optimization, thus becoming responsible for tasks that were previously performed by financial analysts. Another area where credit managers are contributing more strategically is commercial opportunity analysis and business development. Credit managers are sitting on a lot of information via credit bureaus, trade groups, public financials, and internal data including insights from sales, marketing, and operations. This information could be used to drive customer-specific insights and identify those customers who should be developed over the long term and can help sales focus on creditworthy and profitable prospective customers. The latest trends and management expectations require credit departments to think not only in terms of risk optimization but also in terms of business opportunities to transform from being just another overhead to a valuable bottom-line facilitator.