Workflow automation: The Secret Ingredient to Better Collections and Operational Efficiency

About 6,000 collection agencies in the U.S. work for debt recovery, with every nine out of ten employees stressing on administrative work instead of real work. Even the top business leaders in the debt recovery industry spend about two days in a week, on mundane tasks such as sending out emails, shuffling data, and updating spreadsheets. The end result is 20% recovery rate, with only $40 billion of successful debt recovery out of $150 billion worth of debt (according to 2011 post in the Huffington Post by Harry Strausser III). These statistics illustrate a grave problem, which is related to lack of attention to the primary task of debt recovery, against the regular activities.

However, many enterprises have adopted and implemented a modern debt collection andmanagement software, to free-up their staff so that they can focus on actual recovery efforts. Are your employees going through the same grind?

Introduction of Workflow Automation in the Debt Recovery Industry

The latest innovation in debt industry is Workflow Automation, which takes away a significant work load off the employees, so that they can focus better on the calls. Workflow automation standardises the collections operation, taking care of a multitude of debt collector’s tasks. To your debt management and collections system, it: brings necessary tools, displays information, automatically delegate tasks, simplifies the payment process, inform the client on the progress, add deadlines to your calendar and ensured compliance. This whole process becomes error free, optimising a business’s performance, competitiveness, through this effective channelization of tasks.

Several businesses have already adopted the workflow automation technology to keep abreast in the race. They have addressed the organisational challenges, which have been hampering their output, by freeing them up for collection activities, streamlining their collections activities, consistent credit assessment, and monitoring of collection performance.

To know precisely how Workflow automation improves business processes, bringing overall growth, read here:

1.       Processing Efficiency: Automated workflow frees up time for the employees, replacing the low return activities with more critical tasks of calling. They don’t have to spend time on repetitive and tedious clerical tasks, as they have latest update on pending approvals, delayed actions, tasks in the pipeline and more. So now that they can immediately start making calls without wasting time.

2.       Lowers Costs: Workflow automation saves an enterprise’s significant amount of funds from going down the drain due to an inefficient process, where: excessive time is spent on insignificant tasks and a deal suffers manual errors. It optimises staff‘s performance, by sending them notifications on the next step, which saves them the struggle to extract information manually. Resultantly, staff is empowered to handle volumes of work efficiently. Work which was bottlenecked due to operational inefficiency, get released.

3.       Enhanced Visibility and Control: With a clear communication on the pending tasks (through regular, automated notifications), employees don’t have to wait for manual notification. A technology facilitated workflow brings them instant report on the deal’s status, bringing control in collector’s hands. They have the latest insight into the status, and are empowered to act immediately. While it ensues a better collaboration, it also lays down the accountability of each staff member.  

4.       Adherence to Compliance Requirements: Employees get notifications on the adherence and compliance rules, reducing the possibility of inaccurate information flow and lapses. Organizations are better equipped with the ability to meet the compliance obligations with better risk management methods. And since most of the debt recoveries fail due to lack of compliance, this technological innovation in the debt management andcollections system boosts the chances of a debt recovery.

“My thoughts on workflow automation and the application of a modern day debt collection system as whole is that the future of the industry rests with it. Adoption of workflow automation has already raised the bar for organisations who still depend on manual and error-prone processes. If you want to churn out more money, you need to move towards more promising methods”. – Russ Johnston, Manager Business Development, Cogent by AgreeYa Solutions.