EXPLORING THE USE OF AI SOFTWARE FOR THE IA GROUP

The IA Group (www.iagroup.com) is founded in 1978 and their core business is debt collection and legal consultancy for export credit insurance companies. With 100 international employees they work worldwide. The key customer value of IA Group is the specialist knowledge of the industry, local legislation and regulations, case law, culture in many countries with native-speaking employees.

This knowledge is in the minds of the employees. But to some extend also recorded in a fragmented manner in the existing CRM System and emails. The central question of this research project is if and to which extent the data in the CRM system and emails can lead to a knowledge management system.

Approximately 90% of the turnover is collection (recovery) work on a no cure - no pay basis. This concerns about 3.500 files annually.

INTRODUCTION business processes at IA Group

The implementation of a common collection (recovery) project is standardized in a work instruction with three phases:

1. Fact-finding (investigation)

2. Negotiation with the debtor

3. Implementation of the agreement

Communication with customers takes place by email in the English language. Emails are manually placed in the CRM system. IA Group sends approximately 75,000 emails annually and emails from recent years have been saved.

There are also a lot of telephone calls with the customer, often in the local language. A brief conversation report in English is also recorded in the CRM system.

The current workflow is automated to a limited extent. Data is entered manually in CRM. The current system does provide warnings for delivery times. The team manager controls the progress.

To a limited extent, common email texts have been recorded in templates. However, these are not yet intelligent, such as adding customer-related data.

The IA Group uses SUGAR CRM (https://www.sugarcrm.com/uk/?utm_source=google.com&utm_medium=organic), Power BI (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform) and Microsoft Office in the Cloud (Outlook)

QUESTION

IA Group is currently considering the following opportunities for the application of automation and AI:

1.     Smart text generator for emails, based on previous emails sent

2.     Automated recording in CRM system of customer communications, at least emails.

3.     Customized wizard with tips and tricks (pitfalls, instructions per country).

4.     Smart automated advice based on a self-learning system

RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

The research project concerns a feasibility study into the use of AI software for the IA Group. The central question of this project is if and to which extend the data in the CRM system (including emails) can lead to a knowledge management system.

A possible structure of the project is:

1. Analysis of the current collection (recovery) processes. For example through interviews with users. Aspects to be considered are current satisfaction, frequency of use, time spent, chance of error, required prior knowledge, opportunities for errors and improvements.

2. Determining those (sub)processes that are eligible for automation and/or use of artificial intelligence. Program of requirements and wishes.

3. Inventory of longlist of automation options (software).

4. Research into the feasibility of the chosen options, such as quality, cost-benefits (business case), chance of errors and other risks, opportunities for extra customer value, etc.

5. Conclusions and recommendations.