In the collections industry, ensuring compliance is paramount for both collection agencies and their customers. For Plaza Associates, the largest global accounts receivable management company in New York City, speech analytics technology was the answer to improving risk management and collections performance.
Mike Patrone, director of operations for Plaza Associates, and Jeff Stroum, the company’s telecommunications manager, shared in a video testimonial how speech analytics technology expert Nexidia (News - Alert) helped them to ensure all collection calls adhered to current policies and that Plaza Associates could adapt to the ever-changing landscape of the collections industry.
By analyzing recorded calls, organizations can quickly extract business intelligence, and thus identify issues and processes that need improvement. With Nexidia’s speech analytics technology, collection agencies can reduce risk by pinpointing and correcting inappropriate collector behavior, thus ensuring compliance and improving collector performance. This, in turn, ultimately drives revenue.
On a monthly basis, Plaza Associates receives extensive reports of significant changes to what can and can’t be said on a collections call. Hoping to be “ahead of the curve,” and avoid reacting to a potential lawsuit or a change in statue, Plaza Associates aims to proactively train or address those issues before they became larger ones. Together, Patrone and Stroum incorporated Nexidia’s Enterprise Speech Intelligence solution into their organization to quickly solve complex and sensitive business issues; mitigate risk; and increase collector productivity and performance.
By eliminating the manual process of analyzing recorded calls, Plaza Associates freed up 30 percent of floor managers’ and supervisors’ days by having a system in place to query, queue and provide the calls that needed to be addressed on their desktop every morning.
In addition, Plaza Associates benchmarked its top performers in terms of revenue to see what they were saying in conversations with consumers. Meanwhile, Plaza also took a closer look at bottom collectors’ performances to get a glimpse into what they weren’t doing.
In addition to ensuring compliance in its collections practices, Plaza Associates managers reclaimed time due to the provision of succinct information, while new initiatives focusing on collector effectiveness were rolled out.
“We like to be at the forefront of any types of innovations, whether it be from a strategy or technology perspective. Nexidia has let us do that,” said Patrone, at the time. “We were able to leverage the flexibility that Nexidia provided us and mitigate any potential risks that are out there, and also increase the performance and productivity of our agents. I think it’s been a win-win for Plaza and our clients.”
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Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet web editor. She covers a wide range of topics, including IP communications and information technology. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell