How innovative thinking can turn data processing risks into business opportunities

Data, it’s everywhere isn’t it?! Every time I pick up a newspaper or surf the web I can’t seem to avoid stories about data (albeit usually about something going wrong or getting lost!).

The amount of data created or exchanged in the world has grown exponentially over the past decade. In fact, 90% of all the data in the world has been generated over the last two years! **
So it’s hardly surprising that the systems and processes to manage that data have to continually adapt to keep up with demand.

It’s no different in the debt industry. As TDX has grown over the past few years, so has the amount of data that our operations teams have to process - a great thing for any business, but a nightmare if we were to get it wrong. We have extremely high standards regarding the ways in which we treat our clients’ data, after all, their data represents people’s lives.

Our TIX (The Insolvency Exchange) operation manages 20,000 accounts on a monthly basis to complete account balance validation, commonly known as the Proof of Debt (POD) process, for our clients. Traditionally we have exchanged this data with clients on spread sheets via email, but we’ve always thought that there had to be a better way to achieve this data exchange, so we put our thinking caps on and came up with a new product.

Proof Of Debt Online (PODO) takes advantage of our existing portal technology and allows our clients to complete the POD process through an online interface. Not only is this a revolution for TIX and our clients, but it also represents a step change in the IVA industry for data exchange.

We launched PODO in July 2013 and now have seven clients using the platform. Since then our own data, as well as client feedback, has told us that PODO improves:

1.  Speed: PODO is twice as fast as using spread sheets (no surprises there!)

2.  Security: less people have access to the data now, as the client uploads it to the portal themselves, and this enhances security

3.  Flexibility: as PODO prioritises work based on which balances need confirming most urgently, and gives a better view of all work outstanding, colleagues can be utilised more effectively

4.  Data integrity: this has improved significantly, and with PODO allowing instant access to quality assure data that has been entered by an individual user, mistakes can be spotted and fed back quickly and effectively

5.  Treating Customers Fairly (TCF): data is transmitted much faster (no waiting for a spread sheet to come through) via the portal and so clients are able to mark accounts as insolvent much sooner, therefore removing them from collections queues and ensuring confirmed balances are accurate

6. Performance data: PODO captures data by individual user, allowing 'super users' to have a plethora of data on team performance

We’re delighted with PODO’s performance. What started out as a way of improving data security and streamlining processes, has been achieved with imagination and innovation and has created a platform that will fundamentally change the way data is exchanged for TIX clients.

By Richard Payne, Head of Operations, TDX Group.
See more about PODO here.


** http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130522085217.htm