Huntington Bank Uses New Software to Enhance Collections Effort.(from CenterForce Technologies Inc.,)(Brief Article)

Huntington Bank here has increased the productivity of two of its collections call centers by purchasing Optimizer software from CenterForce Technologies Inc., Bethesda, Md.

The call centers, located in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, collect consumer loans, including home equity, installment, automotive loans. Leasing also is handled by the centers. Both of the call centers, in which the Optimizer is in use, have approximately 100 employees each and handle about 12,000 calls per day combined.

The Optimizer software works in conjunction with the predictive dialers of the call centers, estimating the best times for the predictive dialers to call borrowers based on prior call results histories, according to Marlene Rosati, director of marketing at CenterForce. "Our system, with its Smart Learn database, keeps a history of the call results of every attempt for each account, whether it got through to a person or not, whether it was the right person, whether there was no answer, or if it was a machine," she said.

"Each predictive dialer has a disposition key, and once the live person picks up the phone, the dialer will connect the call to the agent, who will determine whether it's the right or wrong person," Ms. Rosati said. "The key benefit comes in productivity, with the ability to reach a decision-maker ...