TCN hosts its first UK lunch and learn event attended by key representatives in the credit and collections industry
UK, London/Midlands – July 25, 2023 – TCN, Inc., hosts its first UK networking and education event for users of technology in the credit and collections industry.
The event held at The Holiday Inn in Leamington Spa last month, was supported by industry partners and the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM), with which TCN has recently become a corporate partner.
‘Better outcomes for your business and customers through technology,’ was hosted by TCN, a global provider of a comprehensive cloud-based call centre platform for enterprises, contact centres, BPOs, and collection agencies.
TCN also announced new integrated solutions partnerships in the UK with DebtStream and Debtrak, which also supported the event. Round table discussion topics were moderated by Luke Sculthorp, Head of Strategic Relationships at CICM. Kerry Sherman, Vice President and Co-Founder of TCN also flew in from the US for the event and Adrian Stefan, Director of Sales in the EU came from the EU head office in Bucharest, Romania.
Delegates from a range of collection industry sectors including collection agencies, legal recoveries, enforcement, BPO’s, leasing and more, were all in attendance.
These delegates were invited to hear from the three partner companies, network, ‘lunch and learn,’ and to discuss two main topics.
- Understanding the challenges resulting from tighter regulations, combined with a worsening economic outlook, and the part technology can play in mitigating those pressures.
- Technology deployment, procurement, and usage best practices to maximize efficiency and achieve best mutual outcomes for consumers and companies.
Introducing the first topic, Luke Sculthorp, from CICM said: “The economy and inflation aren’t moving if we compare ourselves to other economic areas such as the US. There are no increases in taxation, it’s going to affect your customers and it’s going to become more challenging.
“How do we see technology and technical innovation affecting the collection sector?”
Delegates discussed consistency of customer journey, and giving the consumer a choice over their preferred communication channel as well as confusion over consumer duty and how to navigate their customer’s differing views of what consumer duty is while giving consumers a ‘fair deal.’
For topic two, discussion led to not wanting technology to become bolt on after bolt on and to ensure it works effectively without becoming too complex. They also discussed how the procurement process should be individualised for companies and ensure all levels of the business are onboard and understand how it can benefit customers while ensuring the clients know how to properly use the technology at their disposal.
Opening the event and introducing the partnership, Spencer Taylor, Regional Head, Sales and Operations UK & Eire at TCN, said: “There are many issues facing the UK economy currently, a lot of people are also finding themselves in debt for the first time. So today, we want to discuss how technology can help, as well as the procurement and implementation processes and how systems can integrate together to deliver more than the sum of their component parts.
“As suppliers it’s incumbent on us to help clients and create the best solutions that help drive cost savings and efficiencies. These three technologies are an example of how we can work together with other suppliers in an integrated way and they fit well together for credit collections/BPO’s, becoming a ‘super-platform’.”
TCN has two decades of experience building contact centre systems, based in the cloud from day one. With over 2000 clients worldwide across most continents, handling billions of calls a day, global data centres and offices worldwide we provide unrivalled support and service wherever our users are located.
Martin O’Donnell, CPO, and Co-Founder DebtSteam said: “We used self-service platforms in other roles and realised there was a change within the industry and to build your own platform takes a lot of time and resource.
“So, we have created an out of the box platform which can be integrated into any CRM – it’s all driven dynamically, for personalised journeys using individuals data. Together, the three platforms, offer a seamless end to end collections journey, it’s collections made digital.”
Mark Jones, Director Request Computing, said: “Request Computing implements and supports Debtrak in the UK, Europe and USA. Debtrak was established in 2010 and the platform has been deployed extensively worldwide boasting credit providers, banks, government agencies, collection agencies and BPO’s amongst its clients.
“The CRM product and the functionality within it is very powerful, intuitive and accessible.
Spencer added: “More than 80% of our work as technology partners is consultancy. We give you the tools and you can do the configuration work, or we can do it for you. If you have a client coming on board and need assistance with explaining the technology you’re using and its benefits to your client you ask your tech provider. You’ll find we will be very happy to help and we can answer all the questions about the technology, its features, benefits to your client and integrations, we are part of your team.”
Delegates at the event also raised £165 for the debt charity Step Change, which was match funded by TCN, with a total of £330 being donated.
Michael Jewitt from Oriel Collections was the lucky recipient of the £250 Virgin Experience Days gifted by TCN at the event last week.
TCN is planning its next lunch and learn event in autumn this year. Check out the website and TCN on LinkedIn for further details.
For more information about TCN, visit tcn.com or call TCN UK on +44 (0) 800-088-5089
Media Contact:
TCN UK & Europe
Catherine Buckley
Phone: 07967 581205
Email: catherinebuckleypr@gmail.com