Twenty-First
Century Associates continually looks for ways to
streamline work processes and welcomes attempts to make
things "just work better."
In
most business processes, the points of friction which
drain the most productivity almost always involve people.
In the case of processes which span the gap between
corporations, the problem is compounded. The most
effective means to address this arrangement is to clearly
define the edge-role of each company with established
checkpoints during the process. In the event of a missed
checkpoint, both sides immediately know the process is
broken and requires attention. Without checkpoints, a
broken process can go for months undetected.
In
the case of Collections, our collectors will post
daily progress and status on all open accounts on a
website accessible to clients. This way both colleagues
can continue doing their collection work, and only connect
when something breaks. This would be the standard
arrangement.
Since
the in-house Collections process spans 30 days or
less, formal checkpoints each week will be arranged for a
Report of progress and outstanding issues. Additional
deliverables such as approval for litigation would figure
into this process. Approvals sent by email would use the Receipt
flag on the message so the requester would know when the
mail was received. This is a standard feature of most
email packages.
Upon
successful in-house or counsel-assisted collection, the
process would require scanning the "check" and
attaching this image to email to be sent from the
collection agent to the cliet, again using Receipt
flag to track progress.
In
the event of non-collection, TFC's collection agent
will file the appropriate closure report that day, again
using the Receipt flag to track progress.
To
manage the process for continual improvement, the client
and TFC can routinely spot-audit these check-points
to ensure compliance.
The
efficiencies resulting from a solid process re-engineering
effort pay huge dividends, freeing employees to be more
productive. This further enhances their contribution.
