Advise

Collections and recoveries technology advice, before you invest.

Your technology is ageing, arrears are rising, and everyone has a view on what technology or AI to buy or build. Before you commit, we help you work out what you need, and whether to optimise, buy or build.

5.3x

More likely to capture true enterprise value when organisations align strategy and operating models before they deploy technology.

Source: McKinsey & Company, enterprise AI and technology transformation research
Engie UK
“arum did a fantastic job of guiding the business through our pre-discovery phase which has set us in very good stead for delivery. The experience in the team really shone through during workshops.”
Engie UK

Before you invest

The best technology decisions are made before anyone writes a requirement.

Collections technology advice is independent guidance on what you have, what you need and whether to optimise, buy or build.

It usually starts with a trigger. A contract is up for renewal. The board wants progress. Someone has seen a product that promises to fix everything. Going straight to market feels like the fastest route.

Good advice slows you down just enough to get it right. You find out whether your current technology can still do the job, what it'll need to do in future, and what the right route will cost, before you sign anything.

That's what protects the investment later: technology that solves the right requirement, at a price that's been tested, on a delivery plan the business believes in.

How it works

Five steps from requirement to specification.

Every step leaves you with something you can act on, with or without us.

  1. Assess

    Understand how your operation and technology work today and where the friction is.

  2. Define

    Turn today's needs and tomorrow's into clear technology, AI and data requirements.

  3. Decide

    Choose between optimise, buy and build, on evidence.

  4. Roadmap

    Set the priorities, sequence, investment and route to delivery.

  5. Specify or procure

    If you build, we write the specification. If you buy, we take you into vendor selection, pricing and contracting.

AI

Where AI will make the biggest difference.

Every board is asking about AI. We help you answer with a plan rather than a pilot.

We start by checking whether your data, processes and management information can support a model. Then we separate the uses that will change a collections outcome from the ones that will automate an existing process.

Then we help you choose the right partner, judged on capability, explainability, operational fit and regulatory alignment, and agree who owns each AI-influenced outcome before it reaches a customer.

arum's approach to AI in collections and recoveries

Your operation

Technology only pays back if the operation around it is built to perform.

So our advice covers both the technology and the operation around it. We look at how your operating model should work in future, whether accountability is clear, how you measure performance and how to get more from the same cost.

What you get

Clear answers you can take to the board.

  • A clear view of whether your current technology is fit for purpose
  • Current and future requirements for technology, AI and data
  • An evidence-led decision to optimise, buy or build
  • A roadmap with clear priorities and sequencing
  • A realistic view of cost, timescales and delivery risk
  • A build specification, or a clear route into procurement

Case study

42 recommendations in two weeks.

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council wanted to collect more council tax and business rates while continuing to treat residents fairly, and needed to tell apart the people who can pay from those who are struggling.

Over two weeks we assessed segmentation and analytics, performance information, operational execution, organisation and culture, and technology, then set out a plan the council could deliver in six months.

42

Recommendations from a two-week assessment, all deliverable within six months

Read the case study

Why arum

Advice from people who know your sector from the inside.

A specialism, not a sideline

We specialise. It's all we do. Collections and recoveries has been our only focus since 1998, so we know how the technology, the operation and the regulation fit together.

We know the market

We track the technologies, specialist tools and AI products available. Marketplace by arum lists 191 vendors.

We'll tell you to keep what you have

We don't resell technology. If the right answer is to optimise what you already have, that's what we'll recommend.

FAQs

What people ask before they start

What happens in a technology assessment?
We start with what your organisation needs to achieve, now and in future. We test your current technology against that, find the gaps and recommend what to keep, optimise, replace, buy or build.
Can you tell us what's available on the market?
Yes. We map the relevant solutions against your requirements, including specialist and AI products you may not have come across.
If building is the right answer, can you help?
Yes. We design the solution and write the technology specification.
Do you only advise?
No. You can use us for one stage or all of them. The same team can take you through procurement, implementation, rescue and optimisation, or hand over a clear plan for your own people to deliver.

Let's talk.

Thirty minutes with one of our senior experts. Bring the decision you're facing and we'll tell you what we'd do.
General enquiry
  • AtlantaAtlanta Financial Center, 3343 Peachtree Rd NE, Suite 145, Atlanta, GA 30326
  • London1 Lyric Square, London W6 0NB
  • Sydney97-99 Bathurst St, Suite 1087, Ground Floor, Sydney NSW 2000