The Evolution Of Accounts Receivable In Today’s Market
It’s obvious that the world has changed a great deal in the last few years. Even cliches that we all took for granted like the drudgery of a morning commute are no longer a guarantee. It is a given that laws regarding Accounts Receivable will change over time, and staying on top of changes in that space is paramount. However, there are a whole bevy of changes that have swept through the workplace in recent years. These reflect changing expectations and practices from both customers and employees, as well as advances in technology and available tools.
You’ve almost certainly heard of all of the buzz surrounding AI and Machine Learning. Individuals and companies invested in the mass adoption of these have promised the moon. Some say that predictive AI will make tasks such as sending collections emails easier. Others claim that AI deep fakes and automated calling and emailing will allow employers to eliminate entire departments altogether. With the world changing so quickly it can be a challenge to filter out the noise and keep best practices in mind.
Expectations Have Changed
Customers want to get through their transactions without having to pick up a phone. Employees want to work from home and preserve their work/life balance. Above all, everybody wants their interactions, by website, by phone, by online meeting app, to be completely frictionless. In practice, this means that no matter your point of interface, you need to get it right the first time and every time after that. Nowhere is this more true than in AR collections. A collections partner might boast a lower price tag but ignore your processes and customers’ experience. This will cost you money by lowering your rate of successful collections and damaging your reputation.
AI and Automation Tools
There are a simply dizzying array of AI, Machine Learning, and Automation tools all jostling for our attention and our budget. Some of them, like predictive learning tools that automatically populate databases, can save time and energy. Some of them promise to replace a human and instead pound our prospects with bot calls and spam emails. We urge extreme caution when using AI tools during the collections process. AI lacks the human empathy and understanding of your customers and internal processes to go through the process effectively. A lack of human discretion can often result in more cases escalating. This in turn winds up costing more money than you were trying to save with AI in the first place!
Working From Home Has Changed Less Than You’d Think!
Certainly we’ve all heard the (highly exaggerated) headlines: everybody’s working in their pajamas now! If that’s the case, then why does something like making use of a call center even matter? After all, things like office culture and location are no longer important, why not save some money and just outsource? This was a common misconception early on when the new work from home trend was just starting to take hold. NCS never uses call centers because we believe that culture comes through in every action that you take. This holds true whether or not you are in the office. In the end, a partner is a partner, not just someone that you’ve offloaded the work onto. The rising tide of technological advancement will never change that. Working with people (or machines) who don’t care about your processes and your customers will inevitably cause you to lose your money.
Changing trends and expectations will never change the fact that your culture, reputation, and customers are the most valuable resource that you have. Contact us today and learn what makes NCS “Yours In Personalized Services, Never Call Centers!”