CBE Group Optimizes Use of Speech Analytics

CBE Group, a leader in the debt collection industry, recently announced continued success and new enhancements to its use of CallMiner speech analytics software. The recent software upgrade strengthens CBE’s investment in speech analytics and positions the company to deliver even more value in its account receivable management solutions. The long-term impact of the upgrade will be seen through increased performance and compliance.

For CBE, the integration and application of speech analytics has been vital to its ability to proactively ensure compliance, pinpoint training opportunities and monitor trends – all without the time-intensive task of listening to recorded calls.  For clients, the payoff is significant.  Not only does the system offer a valuable resource, but it spawns greater compliance, efficiency and, ultimately, performance.

Recent Speech Analytic Success Stories

• Just recently, a major client’s internal analysis of decreased payment and reconnect patterns caused them to suspect reductions in unemployment benefits as the cause. CBE aided their analysis by reviewing 61,000 calls since the beginning of the year. No significant change in the frequency of “unemployment” mentioned during calls with their consumers allowed them to evaluate other theories.

• For the collection industry, tax season presents an opportunity for increased performance that is highly leveraged by specialized training and strategies.  Using speech analytics, CBE found that tax-related words and phrases were mentioned two to four times more often during tax season.  This has a direct correlation to a 9.6% increase in collection revenues during the same time frame.

• After seeing a negative trend in certain areas of performance within a particular team of employees, CBE turned to speech analytics.  It allowed CBE to quickly identify specific factors contributing to the trend, determine the root causes, and then implement a fast plan for improvement.  Continued trending showed a 299% improvement in just seven months.

• A recent policy change affected the order in which certain disclaimers are stated during a phone call.  Now, with speech analytic capabilities, CBE can measure compliance with the change through a custom tracking element within CallMiner.  With continual trend monitoring, CBE can now proactively pinpoint individuals or teams that can benefit from additional training. It is anticipated that this proactive measurement will reduce the time to implement the change by 200%.

• After a client’s competitive analysis metrics were released, CBE implemented corresponding, custom speech analytic measurements. Not only was CBE able to inspect what was expected, but it provided the ability to proactively influence trends. Scorecard performance improved from an average of 89.6% over three quarters to a recent 98.4%.

Key Upgrade Features

With CallMiner’s latest upgrade, benefits of the system increased significantly. Key features include:

• Custom point value assignment of acoustic measurements Score builder tool allows CBE to weight criteria in a way that pinpoints analysis and training on high-priority goals like compliance and performance.

• Improved representation of search results Enhanced user-friendly format with improved graphics, drill-down capabilities, export features, tag clouds and criteria-based sorting enhances the users’ ability to analyze scores and see trends.

• Agent-level analysis options Supervisors now have the capability to analyze scored calls, make comparisons, identify trends and drill down to specific details, allowing them to learn from their success and be proactive about individual improvement.

“At CBE, we continue to make investments in speech analytics technology as well as the internal processes to institutionalize and extract value with our dedicated associates. The speech analytics platform has become a powerful tool for our associates and clients. Its comprehensive and transparent approach to measured feedback leads to improved results in all aspects of quality, compliance, performance and problem solving through data,” said Chad Benson, CBE’s Senior Vice President and COO. “Our commitment to protecting our client’s brand starts with engaging and empowering all of our associates with positive and constructive development feedback.  The new tools and enhancements from CallMiner allow for the process to take place at a much deeper level.”

CallMiner Eureka speech analytics software allows CBE to extract meaningful business intelligence from recorded calls and complete quality assurance and compliance reviews on every collection call made. CallMiner utilizes indicators of stress, excess silence or other signs which may reveal calls where additional collector training can promote an outcome that is optimal for the collector, consumer and CBE’s clients.

CBE will continue to announce other proactive, corporate debt collection initiatives that support the company’s mission of Defining the future of debt collection®.

CBE has been in the accounts receivable management business since 1933 and currently employs nearly 1,000 people in four locations nationwide. Its corporate headquarters is located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, with additional facilities in West Des Moines, Iowa and Overland Park, Kansas. CBE serves a variety of industries including healthcare, utilities, satellite, telecommunications, financial services, education and government.