Co-creation Helps Transform Debt Collection, Reduce Costs by 60%

This is our story of co-creating a solution with a global energy company

As we know…

Energy and utility companies are under immense pressure to reduce operational costs. At the same time, with new technologies shifting consumer expectations, customer engagement is more important than ever. Companies have to find ways to transform their operations to balance cost optimization with enhanced customer service.

The challenge for the energy company was…

Its consumer debt was increasing and severely impacting its working capital. It was critical for the company to boost its cash flow while ensuring high quality customer service in debt collections. This had to be achieved through a partnership that would provide expertly managed services, cost advantage and additional resources. The energy company leveraged WNS’ domain expertise and rich experience in debt management.

Here’s what we co-created as a solution…

The engagement began with a ‘Proof of Concept’ model that provided impactful results — 50 percent labor arbitrage benefits and increased collections.

To identify the prevailing gaps in the client’s operations, WNS deployed Six Sigma techniques and conducted a thorough and accurate assessment.

WNS chose an appropriate offshore location to provide strong advantages of cost, debt collection management and front office capabilities. The location also offered high cultural compatibility, accent neutrality and a favorable time zone for operational efficiency.

The transition to the offshore location was achieved with minimal disruption to services and customers. The client’s existing quality methodologies were combined with WNS’ best practices to further enhance the debt management process.

A diverse range of skilled staff were deployed and trained further to add value to the client’s business. Optimal staffing was ensured at all times to maintain productivity and efficiency at high levels.

WNS deployed its automated dialer solution (with no additional investment to the client) and this resulted in higher number of calls. It also reduced the cost-to-serve and increased collections.

The outcomes from the process of co-creation are…

The transformative solution enabled the energy company to redeploy 45 percent of its resources to other strategic areas of business. This led to increased productivity and efficiency.

The company exceeded its goals and expectations in debt recovery, cost reduction and customer satisfaction:

• An incremental GBP 1.2 Million debt was collected without the help of additional resources. New methods introduced to improve the quality of data and dialing strategies resulted in 60 percent cost reduction

• Productivity and efficiency improvements raised collection rates from 7 to 35 percent. Right Party Contact rates increased from 38 to 55 percent

• There was a 25 percent increase in efficiency

• Response rates increased across all channels – more than 10,000 actionable customer feedback surveys undertaken

• Quality, in terms of value-adds and compliance, improved from 72 to 95 percent, leading to improved customer satisfaction scores

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