Isn’t it cool how the legal recoveries industry, despite our small national footprint, wields enormous influence over our credit system’s economic stability? Our positive impact hinges on the integrity of the communication and data transmission pipeline within our ecosystem: collection law firms (Receivers), creditors/debt buyers (Senders), and the VT technology used to place, process, and exchange claims data (Collection-Master, Q-LawE, vExchange).

When Receivers or Senders bypass our data pipeline, you become vulnerable to compliance risks, inefficiencies, increased costs, fractured partnerships, and even economic downswings.

Disruptions to the flow in our pipeline are often caused by an absence of communication, which is also where problems can really sneak up on us. For example, a VT Receiver recently notified us about an issue triggered by a seemingly minor programming change by their Sender. The change resulted in an attorney fee of $0.05. Had the Sender notified their firms in advance, they would have learned that a field designated for attorney fees already exists in Collection-Master.

In this case, a nickel is not just a nickel. Inputting a value in the wrong field threatens the integrity of the data itself along with compliance risks and even the potential for lawsuits. In the meantime, to make things right again, our developers had to drop other projects and modify Collection-Master to accommodate the Sender’s rogue programming.

Our Receivers’ clients often fail to consider the arduous plight of their firms to meet their frequent changes and unrealistic deadlines. When delayed (and secondhand) communication finally reaches Vertican, it ripples into rushed programming, limited QA, and unnecessary stress.

So, my development team and I are grateful to our users who proactively share Sender requirements with us as soon as they are notified. Nevertheless, VT development teams still must work hard to then reprioritize projects so that our Receivers can continue to uphold their clients’ often ad hoc requirements. Timely communication notwithstanding, this also highlights a broader problem: our Receivers’ clients who impose “new” data requirements don’t always know that VT software is already feature-rich with the technology they need to achieve their business goals.

Triple C Principle: Coordination, Collaboration, and Cooperation

Let’s say you want to build a house, so you hire an architect. You also engage several contractors, each responsible for different aspects of the construction. The electrician deviates from the blueprints when installing the wiring. Their seemingly minor oversights go unannounced until the plumbing and HVAC contractors realize they must modify their plans to accommodate the already installed electrical configuration. All that results in delays, increased costs, possible inspection problems, and avoidable stress.

There’s a reason we require blueprints for complex projects. Blueprints ensure coordination, collaboration, and cooperation among the subject matter experts. Ironically, often the experts don’t even meet each other because it’s the blueprints that keep them aligned.

Of course, most projects experience workflow adjustments … all the more reason to always consult the architect who may or may not need to modify the blueprints.

Now, compare this to our firms’ clients making changes to their data records without notifying Vertican. vExchange, Collection-Master, and Q-LawE already contain the blueprints of necessary records and functionalities. When the pipeline changes without our knowledge, it disrupts the entire system and causes preventable complications and inefficiencies.

When our Senders and Receivers use vExchange with the most current version of their VT software, they have everything they need. Our systems are designed to talk to each other and handle complex data with minimal need for modifications. I estimate Vertican – and even a few of our industry counterparts – add new fields less than 10% of the time. That’s a testament to decades of programming comprehensive, complex blueprints by VT’s architects.

Maximizing Sender Data Utilization

I also encourage our vExchange Senders to invest time in their own data and analytics. We have a national Sender that possesses all the key data but only exports subsets to vExchange Analytics, excluding some demographics like street addresses, phone numbers, and employment information. By bringing as much data as possible into their system pipeline, they can perform critical tasks such as checking for duplications and leveraging more information with their master servicers.

So, for both the Senders and the Receivers, the benefits of a complete and well-integrated data pipeline are clear: enhanced accuracy and workflow, and maximized data usage.

Vertican’s robust technology is deeply rooted among the industry’s circle of influence. Senders, Receivers, and Vertican have a downright obligation to support the health of the legal recoveries arena by, at a minimum, applying the 3 Cs. We must work further and harder than ever to improve the quality of the information gathered throughout the collections process to ensure all the data has integrity …. every time.

My team and I continually work to broaden our lines of communication. Yet I find myself reverting back to the same crucial questions for VT valued clients: Why are we still being hampered by incomplete data pipelines and eleventh-hour projects? Isn’t it most sensible to ensure the entire pipeline is intact from the beginning?

While enhancements may occasionally be needed, effective communication and a real understanding of your existing system’s capabilities greatly reduce the need for modifications.

At VT, we’re committed to helping our clients navigate these challenges by encouraging them to ensure their data pipelines are as complete and efficient as possible from the start. There is no party singularly responsible for healthy partnerships. It takes Receiver, Sender, and vendor reciprocity to prevent sloppy workflow and unnecessary complications, and drive better outcomes for everyone involved.

So as VT architects continue to build, innovate, and enhance our software solutions, we invite our clients and clients’ clients to proactively engage with us. Together, we can build a seamless data exchange pipeline that supports the dynamic needs of our fellow industry partners and a healthy collections ecosystem.