Nextel Partners to Use PAR3 to Automate Collections

Last night I received an announcement from PAR3 Communications that Nextel Partners will be using PAR3's automated customer communications solution in its collections efforts. PAR3's press release is available on TMCnet at:

Nextel Partners Selects PAR3 for Automated Customer Communications

Nextel Partners is a separate company from Nextel Communications but closely allied by ownership and licensing arrangements. Nextel Partners offers Nextel digital wireless solutions in a number of mid-sized and rural markets.

Here's how PAR3 describes the solution it is providing for Nextel Partners:

"With PAR3, Nextel Partners delivers fully interactive voice notifications that enable customers to take immediate action on their account. Customers can promise to pay, confirm a prior payment, pay directly from within the notification with a credit card or check, or transfer to a customer service agent for additional information. If a customer chooses to speak to an agent, the PAR3 solution connects the customer to the contact center, complete with a “whisper” message that provides the agent with incoming call details to ensure service levels remain high."

How does this approach to collections go over with customers? I imagine it depends what time of day the robot calls and how easy it is to get it to shut up, but Denis Pombriant, managing director of Beagle Research Group, makes this interesting comment: “Using an automated system to make the initial contact, and in many cases, the entire interaction, can reduce the stigma associated with a collection call. The evidence suggests that consumers are responding well to this approach ...."

AB -- 5/10/05