Nextel Partners to Use PAR3 to Automate Collections

May 10, 2005

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

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