Its fair to say, that managing the uncertainty of a COVID 19 economy, is posing challenges for business leaders across Australia – and none less than in regard to the collection of debt. That said, collection agencies and credit departments that use an on-demand debt collection predictive dialler, will invariably be better equipped to navigate through the COVID 19 maze.
In particular, on-demand applications provide business leaders with predictive dialler capabilities that incorporate high-contact rate and flexible price models that are able to accommodate the scaling of operations (either up or down) with immediacy. Organisations also have the capacity to implement incremental or expansive changes as required at any point of time – regardless of operational size.
As Australia emerges from a debilitating COVID 19 recession, the accumulated debt, coupled with a decline in revenue will most likely expose many organisations to unprecedented risk. Furthermore, as the prevailing conditions and inherent ‘soft-glove’ approach is likely to continue in the immediate future, the challenge for business leaders will be to determine the most effective means of collecting debt, and in mitigating the risk, deal with financial hardship concerns; whilst also remaining a good corporate citizen.
Collection agencies and credit departments alike that use dialler technology will unquestionably gain ‘poll position’ in the pursuit of payments, as the volume of debt steadily increases.
Likewise, collection agencies that adopt dialler technology will also be well positioned to acquire new clients – due largely to their ability to deliver high productivity levels and superior contact rates. Indeed, with productivity of 200-300% greater than manual calling, ‘dialler enabled’ companies will inherently gain a competitive edge over rivals.
On-demand diallers in particular, provide collection agencies with the capacity to both fend off rivals, in addition to pitch for new business and respond to tendors with vigiour – as a direct result of the superior capabilities and agility that a debt collection predictive dialler can bring to an organisation.
In addition, quality dialler systems facilitate many regulatory and compliance related processes, as a matter of course.
Its evident that COVID 19 will continue to challenge businesses throughout 2021, as collection agencies and credit departments position themselves to adeptly operate in an environment full of unknowns and surprises that can arise without notice.
To be effective in such a dynamic environment, agile contact centre technology is becoming more or less a business imperative. In particular, an on-demand, debt collection predictive dialler is able to provide businesses with an arsenal of capabilities to better cope with workplace logistics that is so susceptible to change; in particular in relation to;
In addition to the many benefits of an on-demand, debt collection predictive dialler, the ‘work from anywhere’ capability enables the deployment of staff to any location from one day to the next ie; call centre, interstate or overseas offices, or home office.
For collection agencies and credit departments to position themselves in readiness for the year ahead, operational flexibility will invariably be paramount; with agile technological capabilities being more or less mandatory.
Matched with flexible price models, agile technology at your disposal can be adeptly used to your advantage. Moreover, an on-demand predictive dialler reduces wastage, resulting in the effective deployment of staff and technical resources.
This in itself, allows business leaders to be bold in their decision making; with the knowledge that technical resources can be quickly rolled-back if needed – and hence avoid any financial fall-out that would typically apply with lesser dialler applications that don’t accommodate ‘on-demand’ deployment.
As we emerge from the height of COVID 19, its evident that an increasing number of businesses are wanting to work more closely with collection agencies as a means of facilitating early engagement debt. However, to manage this type of debt on any level of scale, requires collaboration – in particular between the customer CRM and input from collections teams – as payments during the course of the day could potentially be made with either the agency or direct with the credit team. A contemporary debt collection predictive dialler is therefore an ideal cloud application to both efficiently and effectively manage early engagement debt.
Contemporary predictive dialler applications provide an effective means of managing the many nuances associated with recovering debt. Moreover, with the aid of scripting, call centre agents are able to engage with debtors with a consistent dialog, as well as be better equipped to determine the ability and willingness of debtor to pay; whilst also being considerate in regard to financial hardship.
Furthermore, an electronic audit trail of interactions with debtors provides both evidence and reinforcement of ‘best practice’ activities across an operation.
Managing the ebbs and flows associated with a COVID19 economy is likely to be a testing time for many. Nevertheless, the situation may also very well present collection agencies and their clients with the opportunity to build stronger, mutually rewarding relationships.
Its nonetheless apparent, that building relationships as such, will become increasingly difficult for collection agencies that don’t have access to agile customer-facing technology – in particular when forming new business relationships.
The value of a predictive dialler with on-demand capabilities can therefore have a profound affect in the early stages of relationships in this regard; in that management can control and manage strategies as a direct result of IT resources being readily available. Equally, companies can quickly retreat from strategies without incurring unnecessary costs.
Furthermore, establishing and retaining business relationships is further enhanced through operational transparency via functions such as; quality performance management reports, call recording and staff monitoring.
Importantly, the capabilities of an on-demand predictive dialler is able to give organisations the ability to ‘go to market’ with consistency, compliance, and operational transparency; utilising dialler functions such as Call Monitoring, Scripting, Call Wrap-Ups, PCI DSS Call Recording and Performance Management Reports.
The benefits of predictive diallers has been well documented over the years. Here’s a re-cap;
Collectively, the above contributes to the delivery of;
A Cloud Dialler offers another layer to the above;
An ‘On-Demand’ Cloud Dialler offers yet another layer, that in essence delivers;
All things considered, the introduction of ‘on-demand’ cloud dialler technology can dramatically improve the collection of payments; for both credit departments and agencies alike.
Adopting business critical applications such as a dialler can add significant value to businesses at various technological stages;
For organisations that have not yet adopted predictive dialler technology (and hence manual dialling), the impact of introducing a dialler can be both immediate and profound. Above all, businesses will benefit from productivity gains of 2-300%; in addition to accommodating corporate governance compliance and improved processes.
Likewise, diallers provide collection agencies with the ability to; solicit the marketplace for new business; increase volumes with existing customers; and report to customers and third parties in a timely and accurate manner.
Credit teams on the other hand, gain the capacity to reduce the Debtor Day KPI with immediate effect.
Ageing customer facing technology is not only making it increasingly difficult for businesses to gain competitive advantage, the lack of firing power may in fact provide competitors with the opportunity to exploit such weaknesses.
The advent of cloud technology has resulted in companies being able to easily transition to advanced dialler systems without incurring capex. As a result, companies can either fully replace dated technology or incrementally introduce new dialler applications.
On-demand cloud diallers are ideal for traditional inbound call centres that have a need to contact customers for business applications, such as; Credit Management; Customer Service; SLA Management; Customer Retention; Cross-Selling etc.
For call centres already using an onsite dialler, an on-demand cloud dialler provides management with the opportunity to expand operations without incurring capex; and for designated campaigns if required.
Likewise, companies already using a cloud dialler can also use an on-demand dialler to their advantage for add-hoc campaigns.
All things considered, its clear that diallers are not uniformly alike. In particular, the agility of on-demand diallers can add a new dimension to the collection of debt for both agencies and credit departments.
