The atriga advisory board in conversation:
Three questions for Christoph Pfeifer

An advisory board with specialists from science and practice supports atriga in further expanding its lead in the development of innovative solutions for digital and customer-centric receivables management. Christoph Pfeifer is one of these experts. For more than 15 years, he was CFO of companies in the field of technology-based financial services. In addition to the diverse operational requirements of day-to-day business, he was particularly involved in strategic issues such as M&A projects, restructurings, financings and growth management, especially in private equity portfolio companies.

Today, Christoph Pfeifer works as an independent management consultant (www.pfeifer-advisory.de) and as such supports investors in the financial sector as well as finance executives in their current challenges by providing independent, qualified advice and passing on his many years of practical experience.

Mr Pfeifer, what impact do you think the Corona pandemic will have on the digitalisation of the finance and insurance industry?

“The Corona pandemic will drive the digitalisation of many sectors of the economy. For example, I expect that Germany’s backlog in terms of fast data networks will be significantly reduced in the next five years. As far as the finance and insurance sectors in particular are concerned, their products are immaterial anyway and thus predestined for digitisation per se. The fact that the progress in digitalisation perceived by the outside world is sometimes rather modest has actually something to do with the banks’ and insurers’ proprietary legacy systems. In my opinion, the companies will therefore also have to open up for intelligent cloud services that are purchased from third parties.“

“We will see that process and recovery management will become more effective and efficient through the improved use of data and with the help of machine learning and AI approaches.”

Christoph Pfeifer, a member of atriga’s advisory board, was CFO of companies in the technology-based financial services sector for more than 15 years and was particularly involved in strategic topics such as M&A projects, restructurings, financing and growth management.

How will receivables management develop in the coming years in terms of technology and content?

“Modern technology is the key. We will see process and collection management become more effective and efficient through better use of data and with the help of machine learning and AI approaches. We will also see more use of behavioural psychology approaches in debtor communication and in debtor portals, for example in negotiations with a chat bot about instalment payments or settlements. In call centres, tools are used that can draw conclusions about the debtor’s current psychological state from his voice and give the agent hints about which type of conversation is most promising.”

What are the advantages of working with atriga for companies in the financial and insurance sectors?

“First of all, you have to mention the comparatively high recovery success that atriga delivers for the client. This is not least due to the fact that atriga has already realised parts of the aforementioned approaches in its technical-organisational platform and has integrated a multitude of communication channels. These make it possible to react to debtor actions automatically and in real time, yet individually. It goes without saying that late payers are treated with the utmost respect and that the relevant laws and data protection are strictly observed. As far as the stability and scalability of the platform are concerned, atriga can definitely compete with the big players in the industry.