Interview: R. Fred Houston, CEO of Columbia Ultimate

A. I am in a much better position to understand the challenges faced by collection agencies, which led us to develop as an example, Collector Talk. Collection agencies need to continually train their collectors and they need to be aware of compliance changes. At the ACA, I've participated in PDMS programs and continue to attend ACA classes, get involved in the committees and contribute a significant amount of time to the organization.

A. Technology has made a huge difference but at times we focus too much on technology for the sake of technology and not enough on the needs of businesses and their clients. While we have embraced the technology to serve our clients, the business world today is very much driven by the MIS staff, with the technical team driving decisions for the business rather than buying software for business reasons and having the software support the business.

We also suffer from information pollution. There is plethora of database solutions but our industry still struggles with making it work effectively to get the right information we need. We put more investment in spending on data that doesn't help speed up or enhance the recovery process.

The agency or collector really needs to understand "can they pay; can't they pay - will they pay or won't they pay." There needs to be accurate contact information but so much other information is unnecessary.

Data scrubbing is critical. There is a science of the right information in the hands of the right collector providing them the right contact that leads to the right resolution.

A. Having the right software that supports your business strategy and is flexible and feature-rich to accommodate various market compliance needs such as medical, utilities and litigation can make a significant difference in productivity and overall success of your organization. The wrong software can be extremely costly and ineffective.