Debt Recovery CRM

Our client, a leading mid-tier legal firm was seeking to transform their end to end debt recovery services.  The current debt recovery technology was outdated and limiting future scalability.  A project was initiated to replace the existing technology and re-engineer current business processes.  The key goal of the new CRM technology platform was to bring all debt collection activity into one centralised system and enable real-time sharing of files and advice on cases. The project had been initiated with a preferred technology supplier but had veered considerably off track.  Clarit-e were engaged to help steer the project back on track and deliver the new enabling CRM technologies with a newly appointed technology supplier. The implementation of the new CRM enabled the team to increase their revenue by 50% over the next 12 months.

The debt recovery team had a 25 year track record of debt recovery and management services for local councils.  While the team had established great relationships with their clients the existing service offering was proving difficult to scale into other industries.  There were several key challenges the debt recovery team was looking to resolve as part of the implementation of new CRM technology.

Customer relationship management – All instructions from clients were being received via email. There was no real time visibility of the status of the debt or the associated fees.  Customer reporting was highly manual and time consuming to produce.  There was a ongoing risk to brand reputation due to the highly manual processes.

Operational inefficiencies – There were gaps and inconsistencies in business processes and quality assurance procedures were limited. Manual follow up was required for all key actions and billing processes were outdated and difficult for the customer to reconcile.  Customers were starting to lose confidence with internal processes and in some instances they had departed to other suppliers.

Technology – The current legacy technology was on premise and costly to maintain. It did not offer a scalable platform and integration with client systems was not possible.  The total cost of IT ownership was high as it required significant effort from the IT team to support and maintain.

A high-level capability model was designed that focused on developing a clear view of the customer value chain.  An assessment was completed with the new technology vendors of current CRM development activities and a revised project plan was formed.

The role of key subject matter experts was formalised with the debt recovery team and capacity was created for these individuals to focus on the delivery of the new CRM.  A series of workshops were planned to review the customer value chain in detail and to lock in the user stories that would form the backlog for development.

The agreed approach to the requirements workshops was to utilise the future state processes to gain an understanding of whether the proposed user stories would:

1. Increase operational effectiveness
2. Improve the capability to recover debt
3. Increase overall customer satisfaction

By starting out understanding the high priority user stories in the customer value chain we were able to quickly establish a backlog and commence sprint planning.  One of the initial challenges that the debt recovery team had been experiencing with the initial technology vendors was that they were not located on site.  This was making it difficult to problem solve quickly and adjust the delivery of any user stories.  We ensured that the new project team were allocated a dedicated project area close to the debt recovery team with close access to subject matter experts to actively solve problems as the sprints were in progress.

Prior to the commencement of the development sprints the baseline of agreed user stories and sprint structure was reviewed with senior executives to agree on the timings and approach for managing the development moving forward. A project steering committee was established with key executives to ensure issues and decisions that could not be resolved by the project team could be escalated and resolved in a timely manner.

We utilised an agile methodology for the delivery of the new debt recovery CRM that enabled the following key changes from the initial project:

1. A weekly showcase that enabled key stakeholders to understand the product and provide feedback
2. Increased visibility of the development by using JIRA project management software
3. An established project rhythm that enabled the team to continuously improve

The iterative development process enabled the debt recovery team to showcase elements of the new client portal to key clients prior to the release of the new system. This change management approach ensured key clients were fully engaged prior to the release of the new system and had a good understanding of the benefits it would deliver well into the future.

The delivery of the new CRM technology platform transformed the way the debt recovery team were able to go to market. It positioned the team as leading innovators in debt recovery and management and solidified their position in an aggressive marketplace.  It delivered the following key benefits to the organisation

Centralised customer relationship management – All client communication was now stored centrally and key notifications were automated.

Automated workflow management – Automated workflow management was implemented across the customer value chain providing real time visibility of each stage of the debt recovery process.

Scalable technology – The new CRM platform which was built using Microsoft Dynamics provided robust integration capabilities and future opportunities to integrate with client systems and processes. It required limited support from the IT team and would reduce the overall IT cost of ownership.

The new CRM platform had completely transformed the way the debt recovery team operated.  Over a 12 month period the team were able to leverage the new capabilities to win new business and increase their revenue by 50%.   Confidence was restored with existing customers and the team was able to re-establish their trusted brand.