How Cloud-Based Collections Systems Save Time and Provide a Human Touch

First and foremost make sure that you are going with a cloudbased system Although there are still some great onpremise solutions available this technology is all but obsolete expensive to maintain and usually requires dedication from your IT group The new collections system should check off three boxes efficiency of scale customer experience and user configurability not necessarily in that orderEfficiency of scale means different things to different people In this instance it refers to the ability to do more without having to become labor or resource heavy An ideal setup allows the company to automate strategies such as sending out statements and reminder emails on a set schedule that is configurable by an accounts receivable profile categories like small VIP and international It allows the collector to focus on answering customer responses and targeted follow upAn even more ideal setup involves having the collections system learn customer behavior via artificial intelligence AI and suggest strategy changes accordingly One system that allows for this is HighRadius Collections Cloud Adding Freeda an AIpowered digital assistant to this platform takes AI to a whole new level allowing the system to make calls notate customer accounts and enhance the footprint of the collections teamIn comparison with these advanced systems onpremise solutions are much more dependent on IT resources Pick a major onpremise enterprise resource planning tool that has collections capability and you will find that any changes that your business requires have to be road mapped and time allocatedThis is particularly cumbersome when a strategy does not work as anticipated For example dunning letters may need tweaking Making those revisions often takes a back seat to the sales department39s customerfacing needs and can severely degrade the collectors39 morale when the changes are not madeConfigurability by a functional user or subject matter expert SME are essential to the success of an everchanging collections environment It allows the SME to add functionality to the existing platform such as new templates or tweaking strategies that may not be working as designed While this could take days weeks or months with an onpremise solution a knowledgeable SME can make changes in as little as minutes based on real time feedback from the teamNow that I39ve discussed what a cloudbased solution should do and how it can be easily maintained we have come to the part that can be scary at the time a system is implemented customer experience Companies want to collect the funds that are due to them but often view automation as a necessary evil that can adversely impact communication with customers This is definitely a risk but no more so than hiring the wrong people to work on your collections teamA truly effective collections strategy that maintains a pleasant customer experience is not a pipe dream It39s actually based on the same rules an oldschool strategy would run but with automation Collections is done via building customer rapport and engaging which can also be done with automation The key is wordsmithing each automated quottouchquot in such a way that it appears an actual human wrote the email which they didStatements go out every month on the same day with a short note that essentially says quotHere is your monthend statement Please contact the team if you have any questions or are missing any invoicesquot Collections letters of old started with a friendly reminder and continued along an escalating path The strategy that you create should be no different When payments were made in the past the customer was thanked Guess what You can build that in tooThe key that keeps the customer interactions quothumanizedquot is how your collections team responds to customers electronically or verbally Thank them for their business and treat them with respectIn closing remember that you39re not replacing your collections team with Cyberdyne Systems Terminator reference here The main reason for automating your collections process is to eliminate time stealers and make your team more efficient The absolute best way to do that is to have them involved from start to finish in designing implementing and improving the system along the entire journeyThis article was written by Nat McCall Director Order to Cash Global Ad Sales for Warner Bros Discovery He can be reached at natmccalldiscoverycomClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

How Cloud-Based Collections Systems Save Time and Provide a Human Touch

Publish date

Channel

Jon Miller | Cofounder Marketo, Engagio | The Gumball Machine is Broken - Rethinking B2B Marketing - By Mike Linton

More Videos:

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

How Cloud-Based Collections Systems Save Time and Provide a Human Touch

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

TAGS:

Jon Miller | Cofounder Marketo, Engagio | The Gumball Machine is Broken - Rethinking B2B Marketing - By Mike Linton

The payment was successful

Cookies