Artificial intelligence (AI) holds great promise for creditors who want to mitigate the impact of bad debt on their cash flows and profitability. AI is already helping B2C financiers predict which customers are likely to be in arrears and design strategies to quickly resolve delinquent amounts.
As AI solutions learn as they absorb and analyze customer behavior, these ultra-smart systems become even more powerful over time, streamlining customer communications and reducing billing and collection costs.
As a financial professional focused on B2B debt, I admit to being a little envious of the consumer AI applications I hear about. But I am optimistic because I know AI solutions for business collections are on the horizon. Here are six amazing things we believe AI will soon offer forward-thinking companies looking to dramatically improve how they manage their accounts receivable risk.
1. Identify credit risk early with predictive intelligence
AI-driven systems have the ability to analyze customer payment experiences over many years, creating models that predict collection risk far more accurately than current methods. An example shows how this works as part of an effective strategy to prevent collection problems before they occur.
Dean Kaplan
Imagine being able to assess a new customer’s creditworthiness without relying solely on credit bureau reports and business references. For many companies, this is a time-consuming manual process. In this scenario, an AI-driven system not only captures these basics, but also compares existing and new customers who have established credit and payment histories with the company. This will give you a more informed risk profile of this new customer, allowing you to adjust your credit terms according to your risk and reward you for improving the terms earned by your selected customers.
Over time, the AI-generated model learns more about payment behavior and provides intelligence you can share with your sales team. This makes default prevention part of the new business strategy, enabling everyone to work together to attract, serve and retain the most profitable customers.
2. Streamline communications to engage clients and save time
In an AI-powered world, customers who fail to pay on time receive instant reminders through multiple digital channels. The content of each message is carefully tailored to the severity of the situation, based in part on the client’s risk profile and other receivable metrics. A message can provide the client with several ways to deal with the problem.
These messages are more efficient ways to do what well-run businesses already do: make sure you value your client’s business and strive to resolve payment issues quickly. It’s a way.
3. Client-friendly channels start productive conversations
Online chat has proven its value in B2C customer care and has emerged as an efficient way to address questions and concerns. What if your company could use this technique to accommodate customers visiting your website’s billing and payment pages? Not only does it give you instant access, but it also gives you a way to request custom help in setting up different payment plans. This confirms that you want to keep them in their favor and are ready to work with them.
4. Continuous learning makes outreach more effective over time
With AI driving the client communication process, messages are automated and timely, but don’t have to be robotic. You decide the exact content and tone of the message and the method for resolving any overdue amounts you offer. AI continuously monitors client responses and suggests the best message content, tone, and timing to close overdue balances. Fundamentally, collections get smarter and more efficient over time.
5. Detailed customer history on demand
As anyone involved in B2B collections knows, some clients don’t respond to multiple collection messages, no matter how compelling or timely. Most of these customers are in serious financial hardship and are unable to pay their debts and need to act quickly. Today, however, creating reports to inform decisions can be time consuming and repetitive.
AI continuously monitors client responses and suggests the best message content, tone, and timing to close overdue balances.
An AI-powered system can aggregate and deliver this data instantly, making reporting akin to doing research in ChatGPT. Billing and finance teams can view the history of a single customer in trouble or a group of high-risk customers and use the insights gathered to make timely, strategic decisions.
6. Rapid escalation to minimize losses and maximize financial health
Faster escalation is key to recovering the largest percentage of business debt, as it allows us to stay ahead of the curve in situations where large numbers of creditors are chasing delinquent customers. is. AI insights can help you decide when and what to do, from calling in a collection company just in case the worst happens.
In other words, AI can help corporate creditors move out of the reactive position they have been in for too long, anticipating risks and planning agile ways to resolve issues at any point in the claims and collections workflow. I promise to do it. By having AI on your side, you can build stronger relationships with high-value customers who have temporary payment issues, appreciate the trust you have placed in them, and refer other high-value customers to you. be able to build. You also benefit from fewer clients going into outright default, lower overall collection costs, and higher profits.
The B2B solutions needed to realize these benefits are still in their infancy, but I believe they will soon be available to any company willing to adopt them.
Dean Kaplan is the president Kaplan Groupis a commercial collections agency specializing in high value claims and international transactions.
