Can You Cut Agents, IT, Telco, CapX and Protect Client Performance?

LiveVox, the leading provider of hosted-dialer solutions, today announced it can arm collection industry leaders with the tools to survive the crippling economy by delivering complete, real-time visibility into IT and telephony costs, agent productivity and dollars collected.

Account volumes will continue to rise, but liquidation rates have declined because consumers are less willing and able to pay. Net charge-off rates at FDIC-insured institutions are their highest since 1991. Loan and lease charge offs tripled in the second quarter, and credit card charge offs rose 48%, from the second quarter of 2007. However, the tight credit market prohibits collection organizations from borrowing money for investments in premise-based technology or expansion plans to manage these volumes.

Collection organizations must make tough but surgical cuts on agents, IT, telecom and capital expenditures to endure a climate more difficult than anything in recent memory.

“Collection organizations must reassess their operations and their approach to technology to survive this economic downturn,” said Louis Summe, Chief Executive Officer, LiveVox. “To survive, you need to innovate. The consumer recession in 1990-1991 led to numerous efficiency and productivity advancements like collection systems, dialers and scoring. Today, companies cannot put much needed capital toward premise-based technology. Agencies that take the right steps now will outlast the recession and thrive when the economy rebounds.”

The LiveVox Hosted VoIP dialer includes enterprise benchmarking tools that deliver strategic cost containment to eliminate IT and agent expenses. Executives will have system-wide cost visibility by region, site and the individual collector level.

Added productivity with unlimited dialing capacity
 
LiveVox analysis shows that a typical US-based primary contingency collector must generate $90 gross per hour to cover expenses. Given that less than 2% of calls will result in right-party contacts (RPCs), agencies can no longer expect to survive if they continue to operate within the capacity limitations of premise-based dialers.

The unlimited calling capacity of the Hosted VoIP Dialer delivers twice the RPCs, allowing organizations to manage volumes without adding staff and giving remaining collectors better chance for success.

Fixed technology and telephony costs

Many agencies believe they have acceptable, fixed telephony costs. In reality, they suffer hidden taxes, IntraLATA, loop charges, PRI costs, and other line items that drive up expenses and make true cost analysis difficult.

LiveVox reporting reveals variable telephony expenses and replaces them with a single per-minute charge. For the entire Hosted VoIP Dialer feature set, agencies pay only one per-connected-minute expense, a completely transparent amount tracked real time on the “manager” dashboard.

Visibility into agent productivity and campaign success

Managers can track in real time the number of RPCs all agents speak to each hour, as well as see total dollars collected across the campaign. These critical benchmarks are the lifeblood of understanding the health of an organization.

LiveVox also offers collection agencies the following tips to survive the recession:

• Preserve your capital. Avoid technology that requires upfront investments to achieve ROI;
• Analyze the total cost of ownership; of technology, including all inputs, like telecom, labor and maintenance;
• Rank expenses in a similar manner as employees before deciding on reductions. All line items are not equal — to drive productivity, consider increased spending on contests, skip tracing, scoring, and negotiation and compliance training;
• Review all equipment leases for termination or buyout;
• Embrace real-time performance measurement tools, like RPC per agent per hour, for better visibility into the operation.
• Consider transformational strategies such as outsourcing, offshoring, nearshoring or home-based agents.

“I am often asked by industry outsiders, ‘Aren’t recessionary times great for collection agencies?’ The answer is ‘No!’ When consumers have less discretionary income, debt collectors have less to work with. Average transaction amounts drop, driving up costs,” said John McNamara, Chief Marketing Officer, LiveVox. “Agencies must embrace tools that will force multiply the impact of their collectors. The average cost of a collector is $0.25 to $0.35 per minute. No agency at these times can afford to have collectors waiting for the next call or manually processing wrong numbers, answering machines, tri-tones and other dialer waste.”

About LiveVox
LiveVox is the first provider of hosted dialer solutions for the credit and collections industry. Breakthrough, patented technology and deep industry knowledge allow LiveVox to assist clients with optimizing their operations and collection strategies. Private, carrier-grade VoIP networks enable LiveVox to maximize the productivity of leading credit, collections, debt purchase and call center organizations at the lowest cost of ownership in the marketplace. LiveVox is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.livevox.com.