The new debt collection law: digitalisation and innovation more important than ever before

Anita Gluszak-Haefs, the newly appointed authorised signatory of atriga: “Regardless of whether a company has been on the market for many years or has only been operating as a “FinTech” or “Startup” for a short time – in the end, what still counts is a leading position in benchmarks combined with the greatest possible customer recovery, i.e. exactly what atriga delivers.”

From the atriga Self Service online portal … 

atriga has also always been a pioneer in the industry when it comes to digital communication with defaulting customers: as early as 2008, atriga Web Payment was the first online-supported payment service. For the first time, defaulters were able to settle an outstanding debt directly online without a system break. Anita Gluszak-Haefs comments: “Since I have been working at atriga, I have always been impressed by how early this company has dedicated itself to innovations and implemented them. The future potential of these innovations was recognised years ago. That’s why, for example, the atriga IT platform was structured from the ground up in such a way that we can integrate unlimited payment type offers without much effort.”

… to the atriga Customer Communication Journey, …

Finally, the atriga Customer Communication Journey documents atriga’s sustainable innovative edge. The systematically controlled communication offer for defaulting customers uses, among other things, 9 analogue and digital communication channels, all relevant payment methods and a creditworthiness and score-controlled selection of reminder content to implement the individualised customer approach. A unique feature of the system is that the control elements embedded in the communication process allow the defaulting customer to influence the communication process without noticing.

… focuses on the optimisation of the actual goal

A communication or reminder process cannot be implemented more individually and closer to the individual person. Glusz-ak-Haefs comments: “All known reminder/communication systems end up working based on a prognostic approach. This means that attempts are made to control the dunning communication or the static course of the dunning process with the help of forecasts that are based, for example, on creditworthiness information or empirical values. So, there are hardly any approaches to dynamising the dunning process. All systems that follow a psychological or behavioural approach, such as debtor typology, also use a process based on forecasts at their core.

This means that one tries to predict with a certain statistical probability which process, and which offer is better for the respective group. Due to this purely static approach, however, one logically always “moves away” from many customers. In principle, the atriga Customer Communication Journey uses the advantages of forecasting but combines them with the possibility that defaulting customers can influence the process themselves at any time through their actions. In all this, one must not forget that the actual goal of a dunning process is to combine a maximum recovery rate with the greatest possible customer recovery.

And this is where the atriga system reveals its strengths, namely its leading position in benchmarks combined with excellent customer ratings – be they clients or defaulting customers.”

Service instead of reminders – court proceedings only in last place

Keyword ‘legal proceedings’: The new law basically puts debt collectors on an equal footing with lawyers. This means that a long-cherished wish of the debt collection industry has become reality, as there is no difference between the collection activities of the two professional groups. Among other things, the VVInk abolishes the capping of costs for all collection service providers who represent their clients in judicial dunning proceedings. Here, the fees that lawyers also charge may now be used. This opens up new income opportunities for debt collection service providers, which could lead to a more rapid enforcement of claims in court.

However, atriga has always pursued a different approach: the focus is clearly on a customer-friendly pre-judicial realisation of the client’s claims. The principle of ‘service instead of reminder’, which is consistently pursued by atriga, also serves this purpose. A high degree of automation, modern self services and highly personalised communication with defaulting customers controlled by algo-rithms bring advantages for all involved. Anita Gluszak-Haefs, authorised signatory, emphasises: “This approach not only enables us to increase the willingness to pay of defaulting customers, which is reflected in earlier payment dates and considerably higher overall payment results. We also see that our service approach is perceived positively by those concerned, as evidenced by the friendly response and good reviews time and again.”

No end to innovation in sight

The concept of constant innovation will continue to guarantee success in debt collection, customer recovery and cost efficiency in the future. Anita Gluszak-Haefs adds: “Digitisation and innovation in receivables management will become even more important in the future. Collection service providers like atriga, with the appropriate technical know-how and many years of experience in innovation, will master the challenges of the new collection law and continue to deliver optimal results to their clients in the future.”

The constant customer-centred further development of all processes underpins atriga’s sustainable pioneering position. For example, atriga has developed the atriga Customer Survey System (acs²) together with a well-known market research institute from the financial sector. This is the first real market research system that can be used within the framework of a reminder process to create qualified surveys for process optimisation. In contrast to the “evaluation systems” often mentioned today, such as Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) or Net Promoter Score (NPS), which only enable an “evaluation”, the aim of acs² is process optimisation.

The same applies to atriga CRM Driven Retention. The system developed by atriga for qualified customer recovery controlled according to the client’s wishes offers for the first time the possibility of winning back valuable customer relationships in a targeted manner.

Anita Gluszak-Haefs once again comments: “There is no doubt that we are facing a time of upheaval and change. It is good to know that atriga is already advising and supporting companies holistically in their digital transformation process. This covers the entire customer financial lifecycle, from the multi-functional application check to the rules-based customer recovery after a successfully completed dunning procedure. Companies looking for a receivables management partner are therefore well advised to turn to a competent and technologically very well-positioned debt collection service provider such as atriga and make use of its expertise. Regardless of whether a company has been on the market for many years or has only been operating as a “FinTech” or “Startup” for a short time – in the end, a leading position in benchmarks combined with the greatest possible customer recovery continue to count, i.e. exactly what atriga delivers.”