A Business Improvement Team Revamps Collections

When collection costs topped $30 million on $1 billion in revenue, one Northeastern utility created a business process improvement (BPI) project team to thoroughly review the collections process and make recommendations for improvement. The eight-person team was composed of both management and union employees and included representatives from Collections, Information Systems, Finance, Call Center, and field operations.

Meeting behind closed doors virtually full-time for 22 weeks, the team's first goal was to create a process vision, which was: "To create a proactive, cost-effective process designed to reduce write-offs through a consistent and targeted approach by evaluating customer credit risk and performing timely collections." Also . . .

• What motto the team developed and what it's four elements are
• What the composition was of the focus groups they created
• The three major flaws in their existing collections process uncovered by the focus groups
• The key recommendations of the focus groups, and how they implemented them.
• The three components of their Credit Matrix Redesign (a new scoring system)
• The key recommendations and solutions, including their high-risk collection and special needs teams

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