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Whether to invest in new technology could give a collection agency pause in a shaky economy. Like any other business these days, many agencies are muddling through, focusing on ways to maximize money coming in while trying to minimize the amount of money going out.
Some agencies, however, are investing in their businesses to not only endure the current economic climate, but to be in a position to flourish when conditions improve.
"It's not been record years of losses but we have noted in the first part of the year that things haven't been what they were the last few years," says Gloria Gerber, president of Kenosha, Wis.-based Oliver Adjustment Company of Kenosha & Racine Inc.
In early February, the company, which collects mostly medical debt, began using Bloodhound debt collection software by Manitowoc, Wis.-based Roydan Enterprises Ltd., and implemented Roydan's hosted dialer in August. By the end of February, Gerber says her three full-time collectors were comfortable with the new technology.
The Bloodhound software is designed to simplify the data-entry process by searching for matches as account information is entered. Collectors can work accounts quickly while the collection agency software does most of the work, according to the company, as the software automates repetitive tasks.
Within the last four months, Oliver Adjustment Co. has seen an increase in revenue and Gerber believes it is because of the change the company made in its technology. "It is allowing us to implement new things and to do more with the same amount of people. It streamlines [our operations]," Gerber tells Collections & Credit Risk.
As of October, Oliver Adjustment Co.'s net income was 6% higher than it was the same time a year earlier. "We believe the new software and the dialer has everything to do with [the increased net income] because the economy hasn't gotten any better," says Gerber, who has been with the company for more than three decades.
Gerber and her partner, Chris Cope, bought the previously family-owned agency in 2006, when the company used Linux-based collection software. They contemplated switching over to a Windows-based system since they acquired the company.
"It was something we wanted to do but had to wait for the time to be right. Of course, most people would make that decision when things are going well, but it gets to a point where a change has to come and we felt very strongly about the software being a positive for us. We were in a position where we could do it, so what's a better time than now?" Gerber says.
For more on this topic, check out the December issue of Collections & Credit Risk.
