It is unfortunate that collection operations are measured and evaluated based on the number of people they employ! Many years ago, we questioned the wisdom of that approach and set out to create a system that could generate significantly higher numbers for “revenue per collector” as well as low ratios for support personnel compared to collectors. RMEx lends itself to significant improvements in cost reduction, increased management control and gains in productivity, compared with traditional systems. We have analyzed the impact of RMEx and its “intelligent” approach within different collection operations. Based on this research we have considered a 50-user operation to show the benefits that RMEx brings. It is not uncommon to find that an existing 50-user operation can collect as much as they did with their prior system, with a staff of 30 and RMEx. That is a reduction of 40 percent in people costs and if you think this is marketing hype, please call us and we will give you the names and numbers of several RMEx users you could contact. Typically these gains in productivity are utilized to expand a collection operation without a significant increase in personnel.
In the typical collection operation where RMEx is installed, users have already had the benefit of an automated collection system and a dialer. In our analysis, we will assume that RMEx was not involved in the increase of sales, but was the center of all of the collection management activity within the organization. We will describe the key collection areas and show how RMEx was used to increase productivity or reduce costs.
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Area
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How RMEx is used
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Benefits
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Data entry of new accounts
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In many companies, electronic entry of accounts can not be used for all placements. For accounts that need to be keyed in, RMEx was used to change the input screens based on the supplied data. |
30% reduction in the time taken to key in new accounts.
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Electronic “scrubbing” of new accounts
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Many companies use 3rd-party services to verify addresses or obtain phone numbers on new accounts. In some cases it is advantageous to obtain a credit report or collection score prior to working the account. RMEx was used to intelligently select accounts and determine the level of service required, based on the account information, the collectability of the accounts and potential fees. |
By analyzing each account and calculating its collectability, users were able to intelligently select accounts and the service levels needed, thereby reducing costs
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Scoring
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By using information obtained using different products and services (electronic “scrubbing”, credit scores, credit reports etc.) RMEx was able to react, adjust strategy and take action before a single letter was generated or the account presented to a collector. |
If the standard plan was to send 3 letters, but an account was determined to have a low “collectability”, the system would make the adjustment and only send one letter, resulting in significant savings in mailing costs. Accounts were prioritized and worked based on collectability. Effort was reduced on less collectable accounts, resulting in at least a 15% increase in collections with existing staff.
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Scripting
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Intelligent scripting allows powerful scripts be be built at the time of presenting an account and accessing different areas of the system. This is significantly different from traditional scripting which is static. RMEx’s I-Script module can be equated to an expert studying each account and building a script and instructions for working each account! The scripts can even be set up in an interactive fashion – The user can be directed and prompted based on the results of each step. |
Minimal training and consistent work standards when scripting is applicable.
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Linking
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Linking of accounts is critical in any operation. RMEx’s “fuzzy” logic will ensure that more accounts get linked. In most systems if there is no perfect match on a field (e.g. address) no “points” are given for that matching criteria. In this example, RMEx’s fuzzy logic could award points even if an address was incorrectly spelled! |
While there is a reduction in mailing costs, the true savings are enjoyed when the linked accounts can be worked as a group. Our estimate is that increased linking results in there being 3 – 4% less accounts to be managed individually!
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Integrated dialer
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I-Tel is Quantrax’s integrated dialer platform. It incorporates what is probably the best predictive dialer engine in the dialer industry. Feature-rich and flexible, it is a dialer that was designed for the collection industry, |
Significant advantages when compared to a standalone dialer. Additional features such as call recording and intelligent call monitoring make this a truly state-of-the-art product.
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Predictive dialer performance
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The quality of a predictive dialer is measured based on the accuracy of working through the accounts in a campaign, the number of contacts made, wait times, classification of non-connects (analysis of SIT’s) and abandoned call rates. Quantrax’s dialer engine is arguably the best technology that is currently available and is backed up by the results we have seen, |
High contact rates and low wait times can be produced by any dialer, based on the way the dialer paces its calls. This will usually result in high abandoned rates. With our dialer, the pacing is automatic and abandoned rates will be always be less than 5% (You can set it at less but not at more that 5%). You get responsible dialing without debtors being inadvertently “notified” or warned that you are trying to contact them!
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Using a dialer in a pooled environment
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With most systems, there is no method of measuring individual productivity in a pooled dialer environment. We know who is making the contacts, but who is really bringing in the money? RMEx was designed to allow companies to measure individual productivity in a pooled dialer environment. |
Allows a user to effectively manage a dialer and to accurately evaluate the productivity of collectors who work on the dialer.
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Unattended (agentless) campaigns
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You can set up agentless campaigns with or without IVR features such as TTS (text to speech). |
Allows you to reach many people using messaging campaigns. With IVR you can have a call transferred to an agent when a right party contact is made.
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Time spent working an account
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The design of the collector interface provides rapid access to information, specially in the case of linked accounts. There are numerous tools that intelligently manage the linked accounts. E.g. If an address is changed, the system automatically changes the same address on linked accounts. |
Less time is spent on working an account. With RMEx, collectors were typically able to work 20 to 30 percent more accounts per day.
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Making collectors remember to do certain things
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The collection industry is filled with rules and procedures that must be followed. What letters a client specific client has permitted, what letters can be sent in a specific state or remembering that the debtor has instructed the collector not to call the place of employment, are just a few examples. These important areas were completely automated by using RMEx’s knowledge base to store the rules and warn a collector if needed. Even the process of sending a Spanish letter to a Spanish-speaking debtor is automated! |
Less mistakes, less lawsuits and greater productivity.
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“Closing” accounts
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In any company, accounts have to be closed. If this is not done at the correct time, accounts are overworked at the expense of others, one of the largest costs in the industry. RMEx was easily set up to automate and handle what is usually a management function. |
In a typical organization, 80% of a manager’s work in reviewing and closing accounts was eliminated through automation of this function.
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Account management
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The concept of having the system make decisions on the closing of accounts was easily extended to all areas of account management. RMEx’s knowledge-based technology will literally allow you to “clone” your collection experts, allowing their thinking to be used to review every account when it is worked, or at predetermined times during the collection cycle. |
The quality of work is significantly higher. You can now create workflows that incorporate very high levels of automation. Overall account management is improved with less management resources and collection results will improve.
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Payment processing
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RMEx was designed to capture important account information during the payment entry phase (e.g. address information or bank account data). A variety of automated distribution options across linked accounts significantly speeds up the payment process (e.g. by balance type, oldest account, client priority, commission rate) |
Time taken to process payments was often reduced by 20 to 30 percent.
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Reporting
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To accommodate the different reporting needs of companies, RMEx provides many versions of the same report in the base package. E.g. There are about 200 different versions of the popular “Placement history” report! |
Custom programming is not required for many reporting needs. Reports can be e-mailed with no operator intervention.
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Automated reporting tools
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At month-end, a single option can produce a specific report for all clients set up to receive that report. The standard reports can be printed as a group, allowing different reports to be printed together and mailed as a group! |
Significant reductions in clerical support required.
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System availability
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The hardware platform has a reliability factor that translates to minimal or no downtime. RMEx does not require a dedicated system other than for a short period during Nightly Processing. |
Greater system availability means more work is done.
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On-line training modules
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Powerful training modules that reside on the system and show actual pictures of screens can be used to educate and train management and new collectors. |
Collectors can be trained without significant management involvement.
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For many different reasons, agents and supervisors prefer to work with RMEx compared to other systems. It is very realistic to understand that each system will have its own approach to solving the same problem, and differences in features will always exist. Once the concept of RMEx has been understood, the proactive manager quickly sees value in the high levels of automation that RMEx offers. Even small steps and simple changes can result in significant gains in productivity. How do the benefits translate to results? In general, you can expect to design better business processes with RMEx. You can expand your thinking because you are not restricted by limitations within the software. To implement complex workflows, you will typically require far less human resources, less management effort, you will lower your costs but have a greater chance of meeting the objectives of the business processes.
For any successful company, our claims will be thought-provoking and challenging. We have some very satisfied customers. Send us some information about your company, the challenges you face etc. and we will find a customer close to you who will be glad to share their experiences with Quantrax and our intelligent software.