AI Implementation Forum: Making The Partner Ecosystem Work

One of the things I really enjoyed about the recent AI Implementation Forum in Milton Keynes was seeing how specialist providers are working together to bring AI into collections. There were some really interesting examples across voice AI, vulnerability identification, customer routing, and adviser support, with businesses recognising where someone else’s expertise could add value to their own.

I like this approach. When it comes to AI, collections organisations have different challenges, different priorities and, of course, different technology already in place. Being able to bring together the capabilities that address those needs gives them more choice about how they improve their operation and the experience they provide to customers.

Some of the case studies that were presented at the Forum were also close examples of what is often described as Coopetition: Working together where there is mutual value, while accepting that there may be areas where you are competing for your clients business. It was encouraging to see, and I believe there is plenty of room for more of this in our industry.

One thing the forum prompted me to reflect on was the critical role the collections platform plays in supporting all of this. It wasn’t an explicit part of the discussion, which is understandable, but I do think it is worth considering what a platform needs to provide if clients are to get the full benefit of the partner ecosystem.

A well-functioning collections platform brings together the account information, treatment strategies, workflows, and controls that enable specialist services to work effectively within the operation.

A service that identifies a customer’s support needs becomes much more useful when that information changes their treatment. An AI conversation that results in an arrangement needs to update the account, influence subsequent activity and make the outcome visible to anyone else dealing with that customer.

The platform provides the operational continuity that allows each partner’s contribution to carry through into effective collections performance, great customer experience and, ultimately delivering the right customer outcomes.

For me, this is a key fundamental of the ecosystem opportunity. A strong collections platform gives clients a dependable base from which to introduce specialist capabilities and make them work together. So, what should we expect that platform to provide? I would focus on these three areas.

1. Make it straightforward for partners to connect and operate reliably

An ecosystem needs a collections platform that makes it practical to introduce specialist services and keep them working as the operation develops. Secure, well-documented APIs should allow partners to retrieve information, return outcomes, and carry out permitted actions, supported by testing environments and reusable connectors.

Timing and reliability matter. If a customer has paid, the service about to contact them needs to know. If an update fails, there needs to be a clear recovery process in place. Clients should also be able to introduce or replace a partner without rebuilding their core collections processes. This gives them the flexibility to develop their ecosystem as their needs change.

2. Bring together reliable data and make it useful across the ecosystem

Data came up repeatedly during the forum: its quality, how it is shared and the value organisations derive from it. For me, this deserves particular attention when bringing specialist services into a collections operation.

We know how much difference the right information makes to a collections conversation. Knowing the arrears position and days past due is only the starting point.

A broken promise to pay, repeated failed arrangements, a pending debt-advice referral or a recent loss of income may each call for a very different next action. Relevant information may also come from outside the organisation, through an affordability assessment, a credit reference agency or a service sharing a customer’s support needs.

The collections platform needs to bring together, or provide controlled access to, the information relevant to the task. There should be clarity about where it came from, when it was updated and whether it is a confirmed fact or an inference requiring review. Missing, stale or conflicting information needs to be visible too.

The amount of data required will depend on the use case. Each partner needs enough reliable information to perform its role, with clear limits on what it can access and how that information can be used.

The exchange should also enrich the operation. New information and useful outcomes generated by a partner need to be captured and made available for subsequent treatment and analysis. That helps clients build a fuller understanding of their customers and retain the value created across the ecosystem.

3. Turn partner activity into coordinated and controlled collections action

Consider a customer who completes an affordability assessment through a specialist provider and agrees a repayment plan. What happens to the next scheduled contact? Can the adviser see what has been agreed? Does the customer’s self-service account show the same position?

The collections platform needs to carry that outcome into the ongoing operation, updating the account and adjusting subsequent treatment. Its workflows and controls should coordinate activity across services and channels, enforce the limits of what each partner can do, and bring in an adviser when needed.

It should also ensure that outcomes are measurable and the corresponding results visible. Are more customers maintaining their arrangements? Are handovers working better? Is the cost of resolving an account improving? Connecting partner activity to these outcomes allows collections leaders to understand where the ecosystem is adding value and what needs to change.

Summary

I came away from the forum positive about the expertise being brought into collections and the willingness of providers to work together. For those of us providing collections platforms, that creates a clear responsibility to make those relationships work in practice.

Some capabilities will sit within the platform; others will come from specialist partners or the client’s own teams. I think clients should be able to choose the combination that works for them, confident that the information, controls, and processes will support it.

If you are considering your next AI or technology investment, ensure that you clearly identify the challenge that you are trying to solve and then work through this use case with your platform provider and the specialist vendor involved.

• What information will be shared?

• What can the service do?

• How will the outcome affect the next interaction?

• And how will you know it has helped?

That conversation should tell you a great deal about how well the proposed ecosystem will work for your operation and your customers.