AUTOMATED ELECTRONIC DEBT COLLECTION   

In debt collection, as in other professions, it is tempting to believe that electronics and automation can replace humans. Is it so? How did IT invade our businesses and homes, what can it achieve and what are its limits?

 

The modernity of 1980

 

Electronic calculators had just replaced slide rules. It was a time when an army of typists – a now obsolete term – transcribed what their bosses had imagined. Thousands of letters were sent in all directions to recipients who would open them a few days later. I’m telling you about a time the under 40s can’t know, when desks crackled with “golfball” typewriters hitting layers of letterhead sheets separated by carbon paper. For communication between large companies, Telex sizzled. Copiers, slow and expensive, used strong smelling products. Around 1990, the fax appeared in our offices. At the same time, computerization was already underway. Companies of a certain size had a “mainframe“: a central computer that allowed the analysis of certain management data. The desktop computer (the “pc”) did not become popular in business until the 1990s.

TCM, established in 1994, started off with a small ‘X486’ pc (referring to its x86 ’processor, which is less powerful than that of any smartphone today). Word and Excel software and an already “laser” printer completed the equipment. TCM had its first website around 1997 which was unusual for a small business (the Google search engine was launched in 1998). Internet connections were made, on demand, via the telephone line. Email was still a rare form of communication; mainly used between very distant companies.

All of this was to combine and develop into the current situation of masses of data stored in the Cloud and an internet that answers everything … and even more!

 

Computerization of services

 

As soon as TCM exceeded 100 claim files, it was necessary to develop a more suitable tool than Excel-Word. The Microsoft Access product seemed to be the perfect fit with its relational database. Since then, the concept has not fundamentally changed but, after several stages of complete overhaul, we now have a powerful tool, in “the cloud” equipped with impressive features and optimally secure.

The technicality of the solutions in place, maintained and developed with talent by EASI, was chosen with care. But that is EASI’s job. Our task is to determine the functionalities. This raises the – essential – question of what we expect from IT to do our job. What is the part of man, what is the part of the machine?

 

The IT part

 

The rampant digitization of the last decades is regularly criticized for two main reasons: the destruction of jobs it would induce and the dehumanization of social relations.

  • Job destruction is reminiscent of the old song of the Luddites aiming to destroy the textile machinery to stop job destruction that they related to these machines. This theory is not credible. It is certainly not technical progress that destroys employment in the medium and long term. Humanocracy, the new book by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini is interesting in this regard.
  • Dehumanization caused by IT was Unabomber’s deadly fight. His alienation was based on the fear of losing our social relationships because of computerization. Aristotle said that “Man is by nature a social animal“.

 

But computerization can also be celebrated for its benefits. Isn’t it a step forward to be able to find information and offers on the internet easily and quickly on everything … and more?

Who still wants, for example, to queue in a bank branch to pay bills? Who still wants to walk around with piles of banknotes to pay the electricity bill (today by QR-code), or a car (by banking app) and the evening restaurant (by Payconiq-Bancontact)? Who still wants to file their bank statements (now available online for a few years)?

However, screens cannot replace everything; we will always remain “a social animal”.

 

The human part

 

What is essentially human in our debt collection business? Hence, what is essential about this job?

 

What is our mission?

 

The “values” page of our site indicates that we are “committed to boosting the reliability of economic deals”. And the first line of this page quotes our tools: “respect, openness to dialogue, transparency, reliability”.

Of course, our specialty is to collect bad debts. It boosts economic confidence, essential to social relations, to know that there is a solution to the peril of unpaid debts which is: relatively inexpensive and essentially no-cure-no-charge, ethical and law abiding, including the GDPR, tested as effective according to other companies, and recommended by professional associations including the largest.

 

How to carry out this mission?

 

Any business must strive for maximum professionalism; which is defined as the commitment to effective performance. Our commitment is to effectively collect the legitimate claims of our customers in an appropriate manner. The first step is to send a letter.

  • On the basis of a letter: between 15% and 25% of receivables are paid on the basis of a letter. The following graph is limited to school debts in order to limit the variations due to the different types of debts, but it faithfully reflects the general situation. Of course, the content of the letter has an impact. We make sure our letters are clear and neutral (no irritation or threats).

 

Percentage of debts paid after a letter, without a phone call

TCM, Belgium, school debts, B2C, 2012-2020, #cases paid / # cases total  (sample> 100,000 invoices)

 

  • On the basis of personal contact: the second step is to contact the debtor by phone and even to visit him/her. Our employees’ competence is essential at this stage. This obviously includes technical skills such as debt collection legal knowledge or language skills. But the most delicate skill is the capacity to listen and communicate with openness and respect. Where in the private sphere we choose our friends and we know our relatives, in the professional sphere we are confronted with diverse people in an almost random way. Where in the private sector, our loved ones know how to get around our slight weaknesses and can smile with a character trait that resurfaces, in the office we must make ourselves available to welcome whatever happens. It’s not easy, but it’s the key to success: listening.
    If we can safely state that debtors do understand and appreciate our efforts, it is because they are happy to get a chance to explain their specific situation to a listening ear. It is this human factor that leads to a soothing solution, understood and accepted by all.
    We do not immediately propose solutions (whether they are good or bad, they will not be heard if they are forced onto the debtor). If your child comes to you crying because he scratched his knee, you don’t tell him, looking up for a few seconds from your book, to wash the wound and go back to playing. Likewise, if your friend shares a personal problem with you, it is not wise to propose your solution right away. Listening is essential for the solution to be comforting and applied.

 

Conclusion

 

Any collection business today is highly computerized, otherwise its operating costs would be too high, and errors numerous. At TCM, we have integrated this right from start. The aim of this computerization is to free our employees from technical concerns (file history, customer and debtor data, amounts, text of letters, etc.).

However, technicality alone is generally not enough to generate empathy and the best solution. For dating sites, IT needs to be technically mature, but it’s the people who meet! The same goes for debt collection: people solve people’s problems!

 

Questions? Contact us.

AUTOMATED ELECTRONIC DEBT COLLECTION   

In debt collection, as in other professions, it is tempting to believe that electronics and automation can replace humans. Is it so? How did IT invade our businesses and homes, what can it achieve and what are its limits?

 

The modernity of 1980

 

Electronic calculators had just replaced slide rules. It was a time when an army of typists – a now obsolete term – transcribed what their bosses had imagined. Thousands of letters were sent in all directions to recipients who would open them a few days later. I’m telling you about a time the under 40s can’t know, when desks crackled with “golfball” typewriters hitting layers of letterhead sheets separated by carbon paper. For communication between large companies, Telex sizzled. Copiers, slow and expensive, used strong smelling products. Around 1990, the fax appeared in our offices. At the same time, computerization was already underway. Companies of a certain size had a “mainframe“: a central computer that allowed the analysis of certain management data. The desktop computer (the “pc”) did not become popular in business until the 1990s.

TCM, established in 1994, started off with a small ‘X486’ pc (referring to its x86 ’processor, which is less powerful than that of any smartphone today). Word and Excel software and an already “laser” printer completed the equipment. TCM had its first website around 1997 which was unusual for a small business (the Google search engine was launched in 1998). Internet connections were made, on demand, via the telephone line. Email was still a rare form of communication; mainly used between very distant companies.

All of this was to combine and develop into the current situation of masses of data stored in the Cloud and an internet that answers everything … and even more!

 

Computerization of services

 

As soon as TCM exceeded 100 claim files, it was necessary to develop a more suitable tool than Excel-Word. The Microsoft Access product seemed to be the perfect fit with its relational database. Since then, the concept has not fundamentally changed but, after several stages of complete overhaul, we now have a powerful tool, in “the cloud” equipped with impressive features and optimally secure.

The technicality of the solutions in place, maintained and developed with talent by EASI, was chosen with care. But that is EASI’s job. Our task is to determine the functionalities. This raises the – essential – question of what we expect from IT to do our job. What is the part of man, what is the part of the machine?

 

The IT part

 

The rampant digitization of the last decades is regularly criticized for two main reasons: the destruction of jobs it would induce and the dehumanization of social relations.

  • Job destruction is reminiscent of the old song of the Luddites aiming to destroy the textile machinery to stop job destruction that they related to these machines. This theory is not credible. It is certainly not technical progress that destroys employment in the medium and long term. Humanocracy, the new book by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini is interesting in this regard.
  • Dehumanization caused by IT was Unabomber’s deadly fight. His alienation was based on the fear of losing our social relationships because of computerization. Aristotle said that “Man is by nature a social animal“.

 

But computerization can also be celebrated for its benefits. Isn’t it a step forward to be able to find information and offers on the internet easily and quickly on everything … and more?

Who still wants, for example, to queue in a bank branch to pay bills? Who still wants to walk around with piles of banknotes to pay the electricity bill (today by QR-code), or a car (by banking app) and the evening restaurant (by Payconiq-Bancontact)? Who still wants to file their bank statements (now available online for a few years)?

However, screens cannot replace everything; we will always remain “a social animal”.

 

The human part

 

What is essentially human in our debt collection business? Hence, what is essential about this job?

 

What is our mission?

 

The “values” page of our site indicates that we are “committed to boosting the reliability of economic deals”. And the first line of this page quotes our tools: “respect, openness to dialogue, transparency, reliability”.

Of course, our specialty is to collect bad debts. It boosts economic confidence, essential to social relations, to know that there is a solution to the peril of unpaid debts which is: relatively inexpensive and essentially no-cure-no-charge, ethical and law abiding, including the GDPR, tested as effective according to other companies, and recommended by professional associations including the largest.

 

How to carry out this mission?

 

Any business must strive for maximum professionalism; which is defined as the commitment to effective performance. Our commitment is to effectively collect the legitimate claims of our customers in an appropriate manner. The first step is to send a letter.

  • On the basis of a letter: between 15% and 25% of receivables are paid on the basis of a letter. The following graph is limited to school debts in order to limit the variations due to the different types of debts, but it faithfully reflects the general situation. Of course, the content of the letter has an impact. We make sure our letters are clear and neutral (no irritation or threats).

 

Percentage of debts paid after a letter, without a phone call

TCM, Belgium, school debts, B2C, 2012-2020, #cases paid / # cases total  (sample> 100,000 invoices)

 

  • On the basis of personal contact: the second step is to contact the debtor by phone and even to visit him/her. Our employees’ competence is essential at this stage. This obviously includes technical skills such as debt collection legal knowledge or language skills. But the most delicate skill is the capacity to listen and communicate with openness and respect. Where in the private sphere we choose our friends and we know our relatives, in the professional sphere we are confronted with diverse people in an almost random way. Where in the private sector, our loved ones know how to get around our slight weaknesses and can smile with a character trait that resurfaces, in the office we must make ourselves available to welcome whatever happens. It’s not easy, but it’s the key to success: listening.
    If we can safely state that debtors do understand and appreciate our efforts, it is because they are happy to get a chance to explain their specific situation to a listening ear. It is this human factor that leads to a soothing solution, understood and accepted by all.
    We do not immediately propose solutions (whether they are good or bad, they will not be heard if they are forced onto the debtor). If your child comes to you crying because he scratched his knee, you don’t tell him, looking up for a few seconds from your book, to wash the wound and go back to playing. Likewise, if your friend shares a personal problem with you, it is not wise to propose your solution right away. Listening is essential for the solution to be comforting and applied.

 

Conclusion

 

Any collection business today is highly computerized, otherwise its operating costs would be too high, and errors numerous. At TCM, we have integrated this right from start. The aim of this computerization is to free our employees from technical concerns (file history, customer and debtor data, amounts, text of letters, etc.).

However, technicality alone is generally not enough to generate empathy and the best solution. For dating sites, IT needs to be technically mature, but it’s the people who meet! The same goes for debt collection: people solve people’s problems!

 

Questions? Contact us.

Don’t wait another second – collect your money

Focus on your business, we’ll take care of your outstanding payments. Contact us to find out more.

Don’t wait another second – collect your money

Focus on your business, we’ll take care of your outstanding payments. Contact us to find out more.