By Sourabh Gupta

*Sponsored Blog Post* Confronted with growing challenges, financial institutions across the U.S. are gearing up for an era of rapid digital transformation and AI-led automation, aiming to boost productivity, efficiency, and security. Debt collection agencies are among the companies looking for solutions that can help them transform, and 2023 will be the year that voice-led tech will challenge the status quo of the ARM industry, especially when companies can deploy it within a day.

When collecting debt, phone calls are still an extraordinarily effective medium. However, deploying an effective consumer friendly compliant phone strategy with human agents alone seems daunting, and attempting to do so may result in suboptimal outcomes.

Agent retention, regulations, and costs have created a challenging environment for collection agencies to survive and thrive. Fortunately, voice technology may have the answer to most of the core challenges faced by collectors.

Cost, Efficiency, and Regulatory Challenges

Collection agencies relying on traditional live agents for outbound phone calls can only penetrate a tiny portion of the large volume of accounts placed with them leaving most accounts unresolved. Reaching a large number of consumers with live agents can be inefficient and costly.

Challenges such as wrong numbers and non-revenue calls, including compliance escalations, cost the agents time and effort. As the volume of calls increases, it is challenging to scale up manual live agent operations while continuing to ensure compliance with regulations like Mini-Miranda, 7-in7, etc. Agents, the most precious resource of collection agencies, can end up spending a significant amount of their time on tasks unrelated to account resolution providing sub-optimal outcomes for clients and consumers.

What Voice AI Can Do for Collectors

AI-powered voicebots, trained specifically for the ARM industry, can engage in intelligent, human-like conversations with consumers and help them to resolve their account balances. Based in the cloud, a team of Digital Collection Agents is scalable to infinity.

In a matter of days, the Digital Collection Agents can penetrate your full portfolio. Collection professionals have total control over who they want to call, when, and with what message. The voicebots can reschedule the call, mark if there is a dispute, engage in negotiation, and register dispositions. The end-to-end automation enables the agent to collect payments on-call via gateway. Whenever the call is too complex or the consumer asks to speak to a live agent, they are transferred to one of the agency’s representatives.

Sourabh Gupta is the CEO and Co-founder of Skit.ai, a leading global Conversational Voice AI company. He founded the company back in 2016 with a vision to elevate customer experiences and lay the groundwork for the future of voice interactions. With a vision for a voice-first future, Sourabh and Skit.ai have won several prestigious industry recognitions, including the Bronze Steve International Business Award, Gold Globes CEO World Award, CCW Disruptive Technology of the World, Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2021 and Entrepreneur India’s Tech 25 Class of 2021. Under his leadership, the company is now servicing customers in debt collections including American Finance, CDAC, Empire Credit & Collection among others The Business Outcomes Agencies Are Achieving As of now, many agencies across the U.S. have already deployed Voice AI, achieving remarkable business outcomes. The call costs have gone down by nearly 80%, and the processes have been streamlined. With Voice AI freeing human agents from repetitive, tedious, and low-value tasks, collectors can focus on high-value activities. Total account penetration has helped improve collections and optimize productivity. Conversational Voice AI offers significant value creation for collectors with deployment as fast as an hour and tangible results within weeks. It’s time for debt collectors to explore the potential impact of Voice AI.

The Business Outcomes Agencies Are Achieving

As of now, many agencies across the U.S. have already deployed Voice AI, achieving remarkable business outcomes.

The call costs have gone down by nearly 80%, and the processes have been streamlined. With Voice AI freeing human agents from repetitive, tedious, and low-value tasks, collectors can focus on high-value activities. Total account penetration has helped improve collections and optimize productivity. Conversational Voice AI offers significant value creation for collectors with deployment as fast as an hour and tangible results within weeks.

It’s time for debt collectors to explore the potential impact of Voice AI.