Collections 101: Upgrading Your Platform
A guide to choosing the right accounts receivable management solution for your company.
Gwynn Group — July 18, 2018
Collecting outstanding balances from debtors is challenging enough. Throw shopping for accounts receivable management solutions in the mix and you’re bound to suffer a migraine before lunch. Gwynn Group knows how important lunch is. That’s why we’ve created a guide of features we feel to hold the most weight when it comes to upgrading your platform. Manual workflows, resource constraints, multiple systems, and limited visibility shouldn’t be obstacles you have to overcome. Our guide will walk you through the potentials of modern technology and how it can be utilized to optimize your collections efforts.
Size of Company
The first thing to consider when looking to upgrade your collections platform is the size of your company. Are you a Fortune 500 company with over 1,000 employees or a new start-up with a team of under 20 people? Does your company handle multiple case types across departments or do you specialize in just one? These are the questions you need to ask when evaluating if a solution will work for you. If you’re a large organization, we recommend that you find a versatile and customizable solution that works seamlessly with every case type and every department. For smaller companies, finding a cost-effective solution will likely be the priority. For smaller companies that plan on expanding, it’s also important to look for solutions that are capable of scaling with you as you grow while also having the same functionalities of platforms designed for larger companies. There are solutions available that cater to both large and small companies, but it’s up to you to decide what your long and short-term goals are and what fits the needs of your company.
User Interface
When it comes time to search for a new solution for your company, one of the most important things to consider is the user interface (UI). There’s nothing more maddening than trying to use an application and getting lost in a maze of pages, ending up worse off than when you started. Not to mention, the weeks of training that application would take to teach to new agents. A good UI eliminates these frustrations and increases your overall productivity. Look for a simple, organized, and consistent design that is capable of guiding you towards tasks. Specific to an AR management solution interface, make sure that the presentation and disposition layers are customizable so that you’re able to handle any case type your company works with. The ability to avoid clutter by only giving your agents relevant information, along with enhanced case routing, are also important factors to consider when comparing UI’s.
Integrations
More than likely, you already have a billing system, dialer, and customer relationship management software that are all vital to running your operations. It’s important to find an AR management solution that has the ability to interface with any application, regardless of its complexity or uniqueness. Finding a solution that can integrate with your current platforms eliminates duplicative work and provides you with automated case resolution and workflow.
Case Documentation
Your entire collections efforts rely on the information you’ve gathered on your customers. With this being such a vital aspect of closing cases, it’s a mystery as to how client activity, customer promises, and previous disputes often don’t follow a customer’s account when working with outside collection agencies (OCA). Moreover, most dispute management systems frequently administer ineffective documentation transfer and limited dispute details that hinder your agents’ response times and the overall customer experience. To avoid this headache, make sure to look for a solution that has a permanent history of all client information and provides you with a recap of prior case presentation, customer touchpoints, and resolution. Updated dispute management technology that enables dispute categories and provides root cause data and documentation is also an important function to find.
Machine Learning & Predictive Analytics
Find a solution that not only utilizes technology but embraces it. Modern technology like machine learning and predictive analytics are reinventing the world of collections. These algorithms route the right cases to the right agents at the right times, increasing productivity tenfold. Machine learning and predictive analytics will grant you foresight into which customers are most likely to pay, which agents have the highest skillsets, and which cases you should deploy to your OCAs. Solutions that are able to harness historical data and turn it into actionable plans should be considered frontrunners in your search.
Reporting & Visualization
If you’re looking to make sense of your data, solutions with a reporting and visualization feature are what you need. This feature is for both the visual learners of the world and for people who don’t have time to read through all 20 pages of a report. Visualization turns your key performance indicators (KPI) into descriptive graphs and reporting allows you to choose between canned or custom reports to view your data. Having these aspects included in your solution is a must-have if you’re wanting to optimize your earning potential.
Our data and collections experts at Gwynn Group have already taken these key features into consideration for you in developing our own accounts receivable management solution, Kenekt. Whether you’re a large or small company, need a customized UI or multiple integrations, Kenekt works for you by supporting the entire collections lifecycle. To learn more about Kenekt, and the advantages our solution can offer your company, email shensley@gwynngroup.com or call us at (214) 941–7075.
We hope this guide helps you upgrade to your perfect platform, reinventing the way you approach the debt collection process.
