Top 5 Criteria You Should Consider When Selecting Collection Software For A Creditor, Agency, or Debt Buyer
Selecting a system of record should be an exciting experience. With a reliable collection software provider, your organization can focus on your core business while ensuring that your reputation and workflow are managed succinctly and efficiently. With that in mind, these are the top 5 criteria your organization should consider while shopping for a new collection software. These tips will not only help secure additional revenue but also help keep you and your organization safe from any frivolous litigation attempts through proper workflow management.
1. Company Reputation and Honesty
Reputation is at the core of most accounts receivable management (ARM) industry processes. When selecting a system of record to manage your entire collections process, ensure that the organization you’re working for is reputable and honest. Many organizations rely on word-of-mouth reputation through trusted industry organizations, like the Receivables Management Association International (RMAI) or ACA International. Organizations with advanced certifications and an already established trusted network of clients are typically the best to consider.
When organizing your thoughts on what system of record to use, ask yourself: “Do their customers LOVE working with the company?” Many professionals in the industry sing the praises of long-standing, trusted organizations. Find an organization that brings the necessary information—current and historic—to agents on one single platform. The ease of use, transparency of the software, and reputation of the organization are all keys to finding a trusted name in the industry.
2. Industry and Compliance-Related Knowledge
Understanding the risks associated with collections is paramount to finding a trustworthy system of record. Every organization involved in the industry knows the challenges of recovering overdue accounts, but partnering with an organization with industry and compliance-related knowledge ingrained in their culture is vital to the success of the software. Everyone involved in the development and sales of the software should have experience and knowledge regarding all applicable rules and regulations governing the ARM industry.
Compliance and industry experience come from just that, experience. Organizations with decades of knowledge to pool from can provide you with peace of mind that their executives are positioning the product for maximum growth. Find a system of record that evolved along with changing regulations and consumer trends to offer the most innovative, flexible, and functional software solutions for not only collection agencies but also for creditors and other ARM organizations.
3. Data Access And Unrestricted Integrations
Third-party vendors who offer best-in-class functionality are needed to conduct collections and recovery activities for a wide range of businesses. Pre-built integrations make it easy to fully integrate with multiple service providers for mail generation, skip-trace functionality, payment processing and data enrichment providers—saving your valuable development resources.
Don’t be held hostage by your collections technology. Integrating with other tools without processing that information isn’t the complete solution. Access your data with data exchanges from within the collection and recovery platform to other platforms or solutions, such as data warehouses or business intelligence platforms. A system of record that lets you freely exchange data allows you to extract or ingest information without using expensive IT resources to develop complex integrations. Drag-and-drop data-mapping tools let you create simple or complex data interfaces.
4. An Excellent Support Staff and Resources
Long-term relationships help build success. Face-to-face demos and in-person meetings, when possible, are the cornerstones of good support strategies. Organic conversations help build stronger connections and create collaborative environments. A keystone of a good company culture is to remain agile so you can effectively evolve products and create a globally positive customer experience while driving business success for every customer.
To that end, when selecting a collections software solution, you should carefully consider how relationships and resources are allocated. Many organizations will ignore the basic building blocks of healthy long-term relationships in favor of quick cash infusions. Look for organizations with major investments in resources and support, including recent hiring of more software developers to continually improve the product as well as an investment in customer support, marketing, and customer success teams to improve client experience.
5. Ease of Workflow Management
The last, but certainly not least, criteria to consider when selecting a collections software solution is how workflows are managed within the software. Organizations that handle account waterfalls without any additional IT resources or programming are paramount to the success of clients looking to capitalize on their accounts.
Software that provides automation tools can give your organization a powerful drag-and-drop workflow designer that lets your business users design, test, and deploy process automation within your environment, without the need for IT resources. Tools exist that extend beyond the capabilities of a traditional automation tool that reacts to actions or events.
Latitude Has You Covered
No matter what system of record your organization chooses to go with, it’s vital that these five criteria are considered to ensure a healthy, profitable experience. Reputation, compliance, workflow management, resources, and a complete customer experience are critically important to the collections industry and you cannot afford to ignore them.
Latitude by Genesys provides the complete answer to your accounts receivables challenges— from day one delinquency through charge-off and debt sale. Latitude by Genesys is a standalone product that integrates with the Genesys Cloud CX™ and Genesys Multicloud CX™ platforms. Since 1996 we’ve been the most trusted collections software in the receivables industry. Latitude was founded by collections agents, for collections agents.
About Latitude by Genesys®
Latitude by Genesys® is a comprehensive debt collection and recovery solution for managing all pre- and post-charge-off accounts and workflow processes. It provides collectors and agents with the tools to manage the debt collection and recovery process and provides full functionality for the collector’s or agent’s desktop and deploys as a true zero-footprint, browser-based environment.
