Past-Due Account Management
You can now see that an account is behind in their payments, and has been included in your customer information system's collections process so you can assess the situation and determine next steps, such as contacting the customer.
Past due account management begins with a critical insight on the Account 360 Overview tab, which enables you to quickly determine what percent of the account is behind. You can use this information to determine if this is a narrow or widespread problem at the account. You then navigate to the Debt Summary drawer to view additional details about the debt, including:
- Total amount in collections
- Last payment amount and date
- Credit rating
- Amount in collections
- Minimum due to end collections
- Scheduled payments for any contributing billing accounts
Additionally, you can create and manage collections service requests, which can help orchestrate standard procedures like making a personal call to the customer or sending an email copy of a bill to the customer. Unresolved service requests related to collections will appear in the Debt Summary drawer so you can quickly review a summary of the service request and take next steps.
When you have visibility into accounts that have fallen behind, you have a greater opportunity to engage with your account, verify contact and billing information, and connect with your customer, which can lead to increased customer satisfaction and revenue recognition.
Past-due and collections processes often lack efficiency, proactiveness, sensitivity, and strategic focus. Key account managers face numerous challenges in their efforts to manage past-due accounts effectively, such as:
- Limited visibility and tracking: Key account managers often struggle to gain real-time visibility into past-due accounts, balances, scheduled payments, and payment histories.
- Inefficient communication channels: Key account managers are typically dependent on someone in their organization informing them of a problem and their channels to interact with customers regarding past due accounts may be inadequate. These channels might not facilitate timely and effective communication, which can lead to delays in resolving payment disputes and can extend the past-due period.
- Manual and time-consuming processes: Key account managers are burdened with manual and time-consuming tasks related to managing past-due accounts. These tasks include data discovery, requesting invoices, following up on overdue payments, and reconciling discrepancies, all of which can hinder productivity and prevent them from focusing on value-added activities.
The past-due account management features address these concerns.
Steps to Enable
To enable this feature, complete these steps:
- Enable the View Account Debt insight type user action.
- Define the service request category used for collections service requests using profile options.
See the "Insight Type User Actions" and "Setting Profile Options" topics in the Configure Utility Details chapter of the Implementing Customer Experience for Utilities Guide.