Yearly Archives: 2016

Remember the call centre… the next wave of opportunity?

There has been plenty of discussion recently regarding automation in the collections and recoveries industry. In many companies there has been intense pressure to reduce costs and increase compliance/control, whilst maintaining excellence in customer experience. It has been a trend; one … Continue reading

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A real lending alternative?

The last couple of decades have been a fascinating time in the financial services industry. We have seen some seismic shifts in the products available and how business is done. If you mention ‘visiting the bank manager to talk about … Continue reading

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Trends influencing Credit and Collections

Last week, I was lucky enough to be able to speak at the latest Arum round table held at the rather grand National Museum of Scotland, overlooking Edinburgh Castle. The discussion at this event focused on wider trends in the … Continue reading

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Is all social media worth it?

It seems we all use social media these days; Facebook, Linkedin, Whatsapp and even Skype have become common, if not essential, everyday communication tools. However in the work environment, LinkedIn still seems to dominate. The accepted thinking is; LinkedIn is … Continue reading

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High value from low cost?

Over the last few weeks I have become fascinated by low cost models in business.  Be it airlines, hotels, or indeed banking, many of us are turning to these businesses to find value and in some cases more responsive service. … Continue reading

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Struggling with the new reality

I admit I have been having trouble holding it together post the EU referendum result. To sit by and have to watch the effects predicted take place is very hard for many.  The Leave camp responded to presented facts, by persuading people they were lies, to not believe experts and that we are Great … Continue reading

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After the vote

Tomorrow in the United Kingdom the population is heading to the polls to vote to decide on continued membership of the European Union. Whilst I have hesitated to mention politics on Linkedin (I have previously expressed my views here, with … Continue reading

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Why I went back to Blackberry…

I have a new iPhone for work. It is great, there is an app for everything; ordering a taxi, checking traffic, the tides in Fiji or looking to see if that rumble was indeed an earthquake or just I missed … Continue reading

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The UK – EU referendum: An analogy

I don’t normally stray into politics, however there is an excellent article by Alicia Ngomo on FinExtra, who relates some of what she has been hearing regarding the EU referendum. I have been hearing something similar and agree it is … Continue reading

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Digital and Customer Centric: The Future of Collections?

The other week I was lucky enough to be able to attend my first roundtable discussion with Arum at the Caledonian Club in London.  These are held with key individuals across the industry to discuss key trends; with this time being a … Continue reading

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The end of outbound calls as we know it?

This week I was chatting with a couple of folks in Canada, as part of my new role at a new company. Inevitably our conversation turned to contact strategy and in particular reflections on the use of predictive dialers in … Continue reading

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The Rise of the Micro-Indicator: Getting the lead on leading indicators

Office conversations often turn to finding the best measure for a particular process. Opinions abound, there is heated discussion, however agreement is usually reached (only to be informed by IT there is no captured data available and no historical values!). … Continue reading

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Leading indicators: there is more information than you think

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attended a talk by the Bank of England providing an overview of the UK, its economy and outlook. Now whilst the discussion itself was very interesting (the latest report here), what … Continue reading

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Why does no one read my blog – when is comment too much comment?

Last year I decided to publish articles on LinkedIn.  I had seen some great articles and wanted to share my insights too. Not being a natural writer (I always preferred maths/science at school) this felt a bit daunting.  I already … Continue reading

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Think you are in control?…. think again

The other week I wrote about the changing face of contact channels… the ever increasing need to ‘speak customer‘. There is however a more fundamental change underway… as customers’ ready access to information is having a broader influence, beyond just how we contact a company… we increasingly have a desire to be informed and in control of … Continue reading

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Speak customer, not contact channel

I caught an interesting news story last week. The chairman of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield, was speaking at the National Retail Federation in New York, explaining how he thought ‘the age of multi-channel is over’.  His argument:  Thinking in … Continue reading

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