In Focus Collections
‘Automation is evolving as it remains central to collections’
Last month, CCRMagazine and Webio brought together a senior group of industry professionals for a virtual round-table debate to consider the role of automation in the industry today. They were: Joshua Mayhew, director, Global Credit Recoveries; Frank Horvath, managing director, Link Financial Outsourcing; Chris Warburton, ROStrategy (CW); Charles Mayhew, managing director, Global Credit Recoveries; Denise Crossley, chief executive officer, Lantern (DC); Raj Gill, client services manager, Resolvecall; Oliver Smith, collections team manager, Loans 2 Go (OS); Gary McCready, commercial development director, Dixons Carphone (GM); Helen Patterson, customer manager - credit management, Northumbrian Water; Tom Edmunds, senior collections manager, Revolut; Natalie Bunyer, director, Global Debt Recovery; Nick Cherry, chief operating officer, Phillips & Cohen Associates (NC); Ian Warne, head of collections and recoveries, Shawbrook Bank; Brian MacFarlane, business development manager, Capita (BM); Helen Curtis, head of operations, Snap Finance (HC); Richard Kernick, collections director, PSA Finance UK; Nigel Cates, head of financial support operations, HSBC UK (NCA); Phil McGilvray, chief operating officer, Cabot Credit Management (PM); Joshua Anthony, director of business development, Past Due Credit; Richard Sharp, managing director, Oplo Group Consumer Division (RS); Mark Oppermann, head of sales and marketing, Webio (MO); Delia Jones, head of projects and operations, Webio (DJ)
DJ: I am getting regular feedback from clients saying ‘we are now speaking to the other part of the business more than we ever had’. The world has become a much smaller place now that it is virtual; there is nothing stopping you because, whereas previously it would have been on a flight somewhere, now you are getting that experience of all being in the same place and all being able to be on a quick call, and it is really expediting the progress. It is one of the positives that has come out of this period.
How close are we to widespread adoption of chatbots and agents working side-by-side? BM: I think I would say that we are getting there. The use of chatbots is very positive in terms of allowing your agents to deal with
To get the best results, view the human and chatbot messages as part of the same conversation and blend them appropriately
what you would deem to be intricate and detailed work, and more engaging work for them, whereas conversations that they may have been tied up with previously are being dealt with via automated processes.
NCA: Chatbots definitely have a place in customer-bank interactions, but at the
moment it perhaps fits best with purely transactional and signposting work. I think that a lot of what we do in the financial support and collections space is very much built around a need for empathy and for human understanding, and to be able to identify and work with vulnerable customers, and we are a long way from having chatbots that can work effectively in that space. Digital channels – with a human on the other end – have much more scope in this area, and digital channels and tools can really help us reach customers who are currently disengaged or who do not want to speak to someone via telephone or in branch.
GM: One thing that we have used at CurrysPCWorld is the ShopLive
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Left-right: Gary McCready; Helen Curtis; Joshua Anthony; Joshua Mayhew; Richard Sharp February 2021
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