9 in 10 French SMEs face late payments — only 33% have digitalized their follow-ups
Coface's 2nd TPE-PME survey, published 10 September 2026, puts at 90% the share of French small businesses hit by late payments over the past twelve months, and at 55% those who have already turned down a client for fear of non-payment. Against that, only 33% of business owners have digitalized their payment follow-ups.
The most telling number isn't the late-payment rate (90%, near-universal) but the gap with the response given: most businesses still handle a late payment once it happens, with a manual phone call or follow-up email, rather than systematic tracking upstream. One owner in three even estimates their business couldn't absorb three months of non-payment from one of their five main clients.
AppH's Pack Accueil doesn't replace the decision to follow up or negotiate a delay — that stays a human call, always — but it absorbs the mechanical part upstream: reminding of a deadline before it turns into a late payment, following up on a pending document or payment on a schedule set by the agency, with every send tracked. That's exactly the gap Coface documents: digitalized follow-up stays a minority practice (33%), while the need touches 9 businesses in 10.
For AppH
- A scheduled, tracked follow-up before the due date reduces the files that slide into an "endured" rather than anticipated late payment — no new collections tool, just a reminder sent at the right time.
- The figure comes from a credit insurer whose business is precisely measuring this risk (Coface), not an invoicing software vendor — it's an independent market read, not a disguised sales pitch.
Against / the honest limit
- AppH follows up and reminds, it never negotiates a payment delay or assesses a client's creditworthiness — Coface itself notes that a better-delivered invoice isn't a better-paid one, and that part stays a human call.
- The survey covers French SMEs across all sectors, not specifically multi-site agency networks with a physical front desk — the exact payment-follow-up rate for that specific segment isn't isolated in the study.
What stands out in this figure is the gap: the problem is near-universal (90%) but the digital response stays a minority (33%). A well-timed follow-up reminder is a repetitive task with no complex judgment call — exactly the kind of task an assistant can absorb without replacing the underlying decision, which always stays with the business owner.
Reviewed by a human at AppH