In Focus Collections
Left-right: Gail Armstrong; Victoria Herd; John Burke; Kay Brennand-Millington; Kevan McGerity >>
BL: Last year, we launched an online application process. We used to have
about a 90% choice of new accounts into direct debit and with the online application, although the option for direct debit is still there, the take-up is more like 10% now. So we now ring those customers to say that they did not click the direct-debit box, did they intend to, and, if so, can we do it for them. As a result, we are picking up about 25% to 30%. For the smaller customers, we have started to call to ask if we can send the invoice electronically and we have had a big take up; at the same time we asked if they would pay us by direct debit; the take-up was smaller, but still worthwhile. Now we look at pay-profile analysis of clients and, if someone is paying less than six times a year, they are the ones that we target for electronic billing and direct-debit payments.
Is data protection and GDPR a current issue for the industry? AV: I was looking at an article on the ‘10 biggest challenges’ and, rather concerningly, one of them was ‘exploding data’ – 90% of the world’s data was created in the last two years, because of social media and the cloud. Then you have questions of cyber security. Things are changing so quickly, so it is hard to see where we will be in five or 10 years.
VH: In terms of data protection and GDPR, there are a lot of people who are not aware of what is coming, and the implications of what is coming, and it is quite scary when you sit around with the consumer circle and discuss how prepared they are for what the consequences are going to be. This should make companies, who are aware of the changes, look at things again. It could be a really good opportunity to reassess what you
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are doing and upskill your team to adhere to it, which can only be a good thing because solid processes create a better team.
KB: We do not take many card payments because of the nature of the business, but we do shred original receipts and we send them a branded receipt with the key numbers stripped out to the last four digits. Because of the size of our business, we are looked at, by the banks, as being like one of the major supermarkets from a compliance point of view. So, although I do not have that many people in my department, I need to make sure that they are trained up in taking card payments and the things they say are correct and comply with the data-protection rules.
AV: Consumer awareness is the other side of this. We are fortunate our IT department look after the PCI compliance, but it is still startling how many customers are willing to e-mail their credit-card details. We will block it and send an e-mail back saying that we cannot accept it, but it does go on.
CE:With smaller firms, it is interesting to look back on a joint presentation we did a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about some things their insurers could not insure against, such as cyber-security – apparently solicitors and accountants are uninsurable
risks! Quite a few firms who attended, who were all SMEs, were not even registered with the Information Commissioner, and, if you have CCTV, you need a separate registration for that and the venue did not! Hardly anyone had any awareness of this, and they are the people who are taking information from the general public.
GA: It is important you create a positive change-management culture. Having a constant stream of fresh ideas, perspectives and ways of thinking about all aspects of your processes within the department is vital to staying ahead of the game and offering your clients the best service you possibly can.
JB:We relocated from Northampton to Coventry and that created a gap of about six people in our team, so I created an assessment centre with our HR people, not specifically looking for credit people, but more on the operational side. We try to sell it as an aspirational move for people and it was a breath of fresh air – people came in with no baggage attached to them, and it created a really highly motivated team with everyone bouncing off each other.
Now we look at pay-profile analysis of clients and, if someone is paying less than six times a year, they are the ones that we target for electronic billing
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AV: Another issue we have, in all businesses today, is that of reputation. Of course, we have all seen the impact on United Airlines of recent bad press and so we all need to be aware. Clearly that does have an impact on how you look to collect debt and, as a principle, we will always seek to find a way to make a deal work – that, to me, is modern credit management. It is not just about wanting to get your payment in on the due date, it is about making sure that you have the right margin.
June 2017
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