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Jakarta Post

Time to tap into technology's gentle touch in navigating potentially thorny areas

With China alone having more mobile connections than America and Europe combined, and India rapidly catching up, Asia is becoming increasingly mobile

Dattu Kompella (The Jakarta Post)
Singapore
Fri, May 17, 2013 Published on May. 17, 2013 Published on 2013-05-17T10:58:05+07:00

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W

ith China alone having more mobile connections than America and Europe combined, and India rapidly catching up, Asia is becoming increasingly mobile. Asia Pacific has the largest number of mobile subscribers in the world ' more than 2 billion subscriptions and expected to grow to more than 3 billion by 2020.

Indonesia, the most populous nation in Southeast Asia, will be a big part of that change. Indonesia's mobile market has grown rapidly in recent years, with over 260 million subscribers by early 2012, an increase of nearly 200 million from five years earlier.

There is still room for expansion in Indonesia's mobile market, and Indonesia is predicted to have 444.8 million subscribers by 2017.

Indonesia's the economic outlook for is bright. It is projected to have the third-fastest economic growth next year (after China and India) of the top 10 emerging Asian nations tracked by Barclays Research. The Indonesian government forecasts 6.6 percent to 6.8 percent growth for 2013, after growing 6.5 percent in 2012.

With this amount of projected growth, Indonesia's banking sector is looking at substantial developments over the next 12 months. Mobile already presents itself as an effective channel for improving security through two-step verification methods or SMS alerts accompanying large withdrawals as, increasingly, consumers move beyond simple internet banking to mobile banking which lets them manage their money at their own convenience. These mobile services are becoming more commonplace, as companies and consumers both become more accustomed to the technology and understand its benefits.

But the changing face of modern technology also presents other opportunities. Banks, telecommunications and utilities companies can take advantage of a different kind of mobility, one that creates new options for communication and interaction with customers while reducing the load on call centers. This aspect of mobility does not simply extend to being able to reach customers when they are mobile, but can play a critical, new role in helping organizations to manage their collections and fraud operations.

It moves beyond using human agents in call centers, and leverages automation and interactive multi-channel communication (including email, SMS, and automated voice) to connect with customers.

Personalized, automated, two-way multichannel communication can improve collection rates while minimizing embarrassment and maximizing customer satisfaction.

One major area in which this mobility approach can best benefit these companies is late payments and collections, where business rules and automation combine with best-practice strategies to drastically improve cure and roll rates while improving customer service and cost to collect ratios. Technology affords these companies alternative or complementary solutions to traditional collections methods.

Using technology, collections can create dialogue across multiple channels, including but not limited to automated voice, SMS, e-mail, web and mobile applications. These can reach consumers at their desks, or at home, but have the additional benefit of getting to consumers through their mobile devices.

These customer conversations are driven by a flexible and dynamic rules engine that tailors responses to customer behavior, ensuring that each segment will receive the right message, on the right channel, at the right time for maximum results. This is in contrast with just using a traditional approach of agent calls, one-way SMS messages, and/or letters to collect money.

When combined with best practice collections strategies, this approach can lower cost-to-collect, improve cure rates and customer experience ' especially during the first 30 days of delinquency ' and consistently outperform human agents, delivering:

* 25 percent-66 percent reduction in cost to collect across risk groups and products

* Matching human operator cure rates or improving them by as much as 25 percent

* Consistently reducing complaint rates and improving net promoter score over human operations

This works because consumers are increasingly comfortable with interactive text, smartphone applications and mobile web; when combined with personalized automated voice to the mix it provides an element of immediacy and trust without potentially embarrassing human contact. With the right strategy, automated voice can outperform a human operator in the three metrics mentioned above.

Collections has a heavy customer service function, as companies are coming to realize, and the way that customers are treated in collections can affect not only the likelihood of repayment, but also affect the entire relationship between a bank and customer.

Making contact with the customer and offering the option to make adjustment to the repayment is usually done via phone calls, emails and letters. This early bombardment on several fronts can leave the customer feeling harassed, which in turn causes resentment and lack of action.

Using SMS and mobile services lets lenders connect with customers in an interactive way. Reaching out via mobile can garner a near-instant response, and can reach even those customers who are overseas, or are screening their calls, or avoiding agents.

In addition to the immediacy of response, mobile communications can also be a way to let the customer take control. With no need for human consultation, the customer can be offered the option to adjust their payment plan, or service the loan using SMS authorized payments. They can then make payments easily, using an automated real-time, two-way system that does not require agent interaction.

A strong arm may be needed in some cases, but for the most part, a heavy-handed approach may backfire. A more reasoned approach can be more effective, especially considering that most payment problems are temporary and can be resolved relatively easily. Often, slight changes in a payment plan can help customers regain the footing they need to service their credit again ' and lenders can even reach out pre-delinquency in order to adjust payment terms for at-risk customers. It's not just about profitability ' it's about customer service and retention.

Quite simply, this type of technology solution completes the loop, enabling real-time consumer dialogue, immediate resolution, and a closed learning loop for the company. Better yet, for sensitive customers, this can minimize negative social ramifications, and let them retain control, something that is likely to benefit all parties.

The writer is vice president of FICO Asia Pacific.

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