In Focus Collections
Developing for the benefit of staff and customers
The current health and economic situation is a challenge for all businesses, and particularly in the credit and collections industry. CCR spoke to David Parker, Group head of data governance at Arrow Global about how they are helping both their customers and colleagues
How can data be used to help customers in the current situation? When you are in an asset-management business, the nature of what you do means you are working with lots of different asset classes from multiple channels. Therefore, you need to be able to identify individual customers, and the data that applies to them. Without the ability to accurately differentiate one set of data from another, you cannot properly commit to a repayment plan or repayment holiday and ensure that the customer has the right outcome. You need to know that your data is well
structured and easily accessible, and that you have the tools to structure it properly on an ongoing basis. This will always be the case when you
are focused on doing the very best for your customer: you need to have data that is fit for purpose. One of our core guiding principles is a
focus on delivering a better customer outcome; one that is aligned with our business purpose, which is to build better financial futures. It requires us to reach out to the customer and really understand their situation, and we will always take an approach that we are open to talking and understanding their individual needs. The customer really is at the heart of
everything we do, so we need to remember that the data we hold – a name, an address, or a telephone number – is an individual, with their own needs and maybe their own family and other responsibilities. We need to be mindful that each and
every customer is different. Most recently, we've had to be acutely attentive of issues arising from the Covid pandemic including customers with reduced income or mental health problems and how their personal
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circumstances can change from one day to the next, which may necessitate increased forbearance on our behalf.
Are current data laws adequate to allow this help to be offered? We work under the Data Protection Act and GDPR, and there are other important regulatory concepts like Treating Customers Fairly (TCF). The data cannot always give a full view of the customer’s personal circumstances, so we always need to take our TCF principles into account and do the right thing. To drive the right customer outcome, they do have to be at the heart of everything that we do. If you went back 20 years, then ‘a
customer record was a customer record’ and that was it, however, with the regulation of the industry and introduction of the TCF principles, businesses really started to think about their responsibilities to the customer.
How is Arrow adapting to the current situation? It has greatly changed the way that we work, going from multiple offices across the group, to everyone working at home. There has been a very significant change
in our responsibilities as managers: we have to have a focus on our colleagues’ work-life balance. For example, we are not having those
casual conversations in the office kitchen anymore, where you could really get to understand colleagues and any problems they might be going through. There is more emphasis on having daily online meetings and we always take the time to ask “are you OK?” It really is paramount to care for your colleagues – you do not necessarily know
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The customer really is at the heart of everything we do, so we need to remember that the data we hold – a name, an address, or a telephone number – is actually a real individual, with their own needs and maybe their own family and other responsibilities
what pressures lockdown has caused them unless you ask. Maybe they have childcare issues or
things have changed now they are at home 24/7. In the same way as each of our customers
situation is unique to them, the same can be said for our colleagues. Some have young children to home
school, other elderly or shielded parents to care for and we are now all connected via digital tools with new remote working behaviours still in their infancy. As a business the wellbeing of our
employees has been one of our priorities and I am pleased to say that we maintained full operational performance throughout this crisis.
What will be the role of debt purchase going forward? There may well be business opportunities over the next 12 months as the economy starts to pick up, but we also need to remain very focused that there will be people who will need our long-term support.
August 2020
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