Economic consensus building?

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Chris Warburton

Out at a collection industry event recently.
Interesting discussion and re the potential for a new downturn.

Superficially the economy appears robust in many areas (….where is the recession) however the consensus is that the consumer is stretched in some segments.

We may be exposed and if there is a new external shock it could cause the system to crystallize, creating a further downturn.

Lots of discussion regarding the real estate market here, even the BBC was talking about housing in Toronto….

To use a weather analogy – Is this a stretch of late summer heat before the leaves turn, or did we just have a mild winter and this is spring?

Either way…. it is always good to be prepared and plan, whilst hoping for the best.

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Impact of social media on business processes

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Chris Warburton

I attended another interesting presentation on social media.
Using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Of them all LinkedIn is the easiest to understand. It is essentially replacing your Rolodex (what is this btw…!), business cards, (and paper resumes). It is a gold mine of information.

Facebook is more personal and Twitter (which I personally like) is increasingly becoming like a global stream of consciousness (and just as hard to follow).

These technologies are great, the information available is just tremendous.

However the social media boom reminds me a little of the original internet dot.com bubble.   Think back to 2000.

There were lots of great ideas at the time, everyone was excited about the new technology, VC funding was flowing.   However dispute all of this we still bought books and music from stores, had paper statements and watched TV.  All this excitement, yet not much had changed.

Then slowly, after the crash and over the next 10 years, gradually we understood what really worked, the code was cracked and our lives have been changed.   Now we could not live without it (nor could social media!).

It feels we are in the same excitement phase with social media. There are lots of ideas, some will work some will not, however for the right company who really ‘cracks the code’ there are major opportunities.

In the next 10 years (probably only 5 this time!) we will understand…

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Risk Operations Strategy discussion on LinkedIn

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Chris Warburton

I have now created a new LinkedIn group specifically for Risk Operations Strategy.

There are a few other good and active groups out there (of which Canadian Credit and Collections is one I seem to repeatedly visit), however most deal specifically with the collections process, operational or credit risk, but not Risk Operations Strategy.

This group is to discuss and explore the topic.
Ie. how do you link this all together, from Acquisition thru Recoveries, treatment strategies and reporting optimise profitability and customer treatment.

I have also re-created Collections History, as a subgroup.  This is to capture some of the experience of people in the industry and it growth over time in Canada.  Much of this history is undocumented, and yet is intrinsically linked to the growth of banking and lending.  This group is for this discussion, and is linked to the project website ->  CollectionsHistory.com.

Link to Risk Operations Strategy Group on LinkedIn

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