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Medical Practice Management Information

Prevention and Rehabilitation of Substance Abuse – How and Why?

Substance abuse prevention and rehabilitation have become more of a problem in recent years. Our team recently discussed this important topic with an occupational therapist, Johanna Matsetela, and tried to understand the issue in more detail. Our purpose in this discussion was also to see how one can seek help if this is a problem that you or a loved one is struggling with.

Prevention and Rehabilitation of Substance Abuse - How and Why?

Firstly, we need to consider the term “substance use disorders”, which is used in mental health instead of substance abuse. This has been used since the fifth edition of the DSM 5. The DSM 5 is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It’s commonly described as an individual who regularly uses substances or drugs as a substance abuser, an addict or an alcoholic. However, research has discovered that all these words can be damaging and stigmatising. So that’s preventing individuals from seeking help and receiving care without prejudice.

So for a long time now, mental health professionals have long argued that labelling an individual as a substance abuser defines a whole person by their condition. However, when an individual is said to have a substance use disorder, it is understood that they have a medical problem that does not define the entire person. According to the DSM five that I mentioned, substance use disorder is a problematic pattern of using substances that often results in impairment in daily life. These patterns of substance use may cause problems with health, and they may cause problems with relationships, work or school. In a nutshell, substance use disorder can also lead to risky behaviours, legal issues, physical harm, or even death. So from an occupational perspective, in a nutshell, substance use disorder presents a dysfunction in occupations.

Substance Abuse Counsellor or Occupational Therapist?

A counsellor or psychologist would be needed for anything related to the prevention and rehabilitation of substance abuse. However, we were not clear on how an occupational therapist would help a patient struggling with substance abuse.

When a client presents with a substance use disorder, you first would want to assess as an occupational therapist to evaluate the extent of impairment in occupation due to substances. This can be done by having an interview with a client to find out about their occupational history, the patterns, what they used to enjoy doing, what kind of occupations have been affected, and what they would like to go back to. And then another one would be another role that we assume would be that of implementing treatment. Now that facilitates engagement in previously valid or enjoyed occupations because, with substance abuse, there is this preoccupation with the substance. All these other occupations that an individual used to enjoy and love doing somehow fall back.

We would help discover new routines and habits that will bring about fulfilment and improve quality of life. And then another role would assume that of an educator. That will facilitate understanding the condition of the client and the family members through psychoeducation. That will be just explaining to the family what the condition is, their role, how they can assist, and so forth, and then also discussing and identifying the adverse effects of substance patterns in a client’s life. Another role as well would be that of advocacy. So now, that will be to advocate for comprehensive substance use disorder programmes or influence policies or legislature to prevent and reduce substance use disorders.

In terms of substance abuse prevention and rehabilitation, since substance use is a chronically relapsing condition, we expect clients to relapse at some point. So once they do relapse, we then come in to reevaluate as well, looking at the behaviour patterns that may have been involved in the person relaxing. So now that we’ll be building on new behaviour patterns and assisting the service user, that’s what we call them; instead of addicts, the service user fills the void with activities which are most likely to produce a feeling of happiness and fulfilment.

Substance Abuse Prevention and Rehabilitation :: Substance Abuse During the Pandemic

People never stopped using substances during the pandemic. Unfortunately, they always had ways of getting it, which is part of the criteria that they have some symptoms of substance use disorders. What we saw during that time was that we had a lot of referrals from shelters who were experiencing withdrawal symptoms because they could not get the substance anymore from the streets and wherever they were. There was a high rate of referrals and a high rate of withdrawal symptoms, and we had to speed up admissions. During the pandemic, we had a highest admission rate than usual. The practitioners were not seeing treatment-seeking behaviour, but the patients often just needed to get rid of the withdrawal symptoms. After they had access to a detoxification unit and the medication, they wanted to leave the hospital. As with any medical treatment, if a client wants to go and if they refuse treatment, the practitioners have to comply with this request.

Substance Abuse Among Youth

South Africa, as with most countries, has a substance abuse problem. There is a need for a lot of awareness and prevention campaigns. People take substances, especially from a young age, but they don’t know the consequences they will face. They discover when there are relationship issues, family issues, you know, schoolwork, when it starts affecting their relationships or participation in community engagements, then that’s when there’s, they start seeing that things have spiralled out of control. Yeah, so we try to educate on know what you are taking, especially with the teens, you know, they just take substances and only realise at the latest age that it had inevitable consequences.

Harm Reduction with Substance Abuse

The ultimate goal is sobriety, especially with our clients who use substances. Some would want to find ways to still use substances, so the concept of harm reduction is essential since it can help patients who are not yet ready to stop using substances. This would allow them to still be functional in life. An example of harm reduction would be to give clean needles to substance service users who inject themselves. This will enable them to try and prevent more harm from transmitting other conditions, other medical conditions, or chronic conditions like HIV. Harm reduction is a safer way of doing it as opposed to just seizing the substance completely because one can experience withdrawal symptoms. This allows the body to adjust and then enables the patient to eventually get to a stage where the patient doesn’t want it anymore.

Substance Abuse Prevention and Rehabilitation :: Overcoming Substance Abuse

You need to first look at why people use substances in the first place, or need substance abuse prevention and rehabilitation in general. Then you can come up with ways to help try and prevent that. For example, some of the factors that play a role in the development of substance use would involve the environment (where the person lives), the availability of drugs, the attitude towards drugs, peer pressure, as well as issues with family neglect, and issues of poverty and so forth. 

An occupational therapist can work with clients on constructive occupational patterns, where the patient replaces certain destructive habits with productive activities that give one fulfilment and contentment. Individuals who resort to substance use may often feel lonely, sad, and bored. So the goal is to create a meaningful life for the patient. There is also the issue of the genetic makeup that people tend to underestimate. There is also an issue of mental health and substance-induced psychosis. 

Other ways of overcoming substance abuse are prioritising social participation and finding healthier options to induce endorphins, such as going to the gym and socialising with friends. These goals should help the patient to overcome substance abuse, and help them to experience a better quality of life.

Substance Abuse Prevention and Rehabilitation :: Further Resources

In this article, we referenced much of the information from the Moulding Health Episode that we had with Johanna Matsetela, an Occupational Therapist based in South Africa. If you would like to watch the full episode, we included it for you here.

We also had the following amazing Google Review from Johanna, which you can view below.

Substance abuse prevention and rehabilitation - a Google Review from Johanna Matsetela

Substance Abuse Prevention and Rehabilitation :: Looking for Help from a Healthcare Practitioner

Based on working with many healthcare practitioners over many years, we can connect you to a relevant healthcare practitioner if you need assistance with substance abuse prevention and rehabilitation. Enter your details below and you’ll receive confirmation from our team and the relevant healthcare practitioner within one working day.

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Revenue Management Software :: IsoEvolve vs Xero

Most businesses believe that the best way to bring in revenue is through new sales. While this is an okay philosophy it is as important to be paid for all invoices sent. In this article, we will be comparing the revenue management options of IsoEvolve and Xero.

The collection of debts is also vital when it comes to managing the revenue for your business. Debt collection is however a challenging and time-consuming endeavour. If your business accepts payments in forms other than cash. You need to set up debt collection practices to avoid cash flow issues. No matter the size of your accounts department, investing in software can reduce the employee input needed to manage invoicing and overdue payments.

Revenue Management :: Features

Customer Relationship Management.

The ability to manage all your client interactions in a single place is important. A good CRM solution will assist you by giving you a complete picture of the contact activity and history. You need to be able to view contact information, history of invoices, payments, bills, notes and emails.

Both Xero and IsoEvolve have built-in CRM systems allowing the user to have full access to the complete client history. The ability to connect your email to your CRM ensures that clients know where the message has come from. This is important for maintaining relationships with new and existing clients.

Invoicing and Billing

The most basic use of billing is to keep a record of all sales that happen within the business. You can create invoices using tools like Excel or Word, while these may be free, and easy to access. The cheapest option is not always the best for your business. Free templates aren’t professional and can b hard to customize. One small change causes the entire format to scramble. And you end up wasting time creating invoices rather than managing your business.

That is why most businesses opt to use accounting or invoicing software to automate the process of invoicing. With invoicing software all you have to do is upload your company information to the software, customise the template with your brand info and you are ready to invoice.

Xero has built-in invoicing features that allow you to create, edit and send invoices directly from your software to the client. Once the invoice is generated and sent, it is added to the client CRM so that you can track it.

IsoEvolve also has built-in invoicing features but tops that off with the ability to generate an invoice directly from the appointment in its built-in diary. This saves time and ensures that the correct invoice for the appointment type is sent. This works beautifully for healthcare practitioners and financial managers. Once the invoice is generated and sent, it is added to the clients’ profile so that you always have access to it.

Manage Payments Received

Once you have sent the invoice to your client, the next step is payment management. As you can imagine this involves capturing payments and allocating them to the invoice. In this day and age where proof of payment notifications can be manipulated. The best way to do this is to reconcile your bank statement. Or to offer direct online payments from your invoice.

In this aspect accounting software like Xero is superior to IsoEvolve. Xero has integrations with online payment gateways. This allows you to add a pay now button on the invoice. Making it easier for the client to pay you instantly. Xero also offers bank feeds, where it is checking your bank account daily and capturing the transactions. While this is efficient you do still need to reconcile the payments against this invoice. But at least you don’t have to go through the bank statement manually.

With IsoEvolve, you can upload your bank statement to the software and it will pull the transactions. Then it will match the payment reference to the client/ invoice reference and allocate the payment.

Manage Quotes

In many businesses, you need to be able to send a quote to a client. Once a quote has been sent who tracks it. To make sure the client gives the go-ahead within your stipulated timeframe. This is normally managed by the business owner or perhaps an office assistant. With software, you can quickly and easily manage quotes.

With Xero, you can easily prepare and send professional quotes to your clients. The client has the option to accept the quote directly with the integrated accept button. You can then mark the quote as accepted or record it as declined and why. The accepted quote can then be converted into an invoice and sent back to the client for payment.

With IsoEvolve you can prepare a professional quote and send it to your clients in a few clicks. The quote can then be stored in the CRM while it is awaiting approval. The approved quote is then converted into an invoice.

Revenue Management :: Debt collection

Debt collection is vital for the cash flow of any business. Making sure that a business collects on all invoices is important. But it is equally important to maintain good customer relations. It can be aggravating for a customer to receive a payment reminder notice before their invoice is due. It is just as damaging to a customer relationship if the company generates an invoice with mistakes.

Automating the collection process minimizes human errors in the payment tracking process. Your company will be less likely to generate duplicate invoices or misapply customer payments. Debt and payment tracking software collects all relevant information about customer accounts. So that nothing important is lost in translation between different employees working on the same accounts.

While Xero has amazing invoicing, billing and payment features it is first and foremost an accounting software. This means that it does not have built-in debt collection features. When it comes to revenue management we cannot forget debt collection and this is where Xero falls short.

IsoEvolve on the other hand has built-in debt collection functionality. This ensures that the software is tracking every invoice. From the time the invoice is sent the software tracks the payment terms. If the payment terms are exceeded the collections process kicks. This process is based on the rules and terms set by the business owner.

Conclusion

One of the most critical aspects of a company’s cash flow management and long-term sustainability is how effectively it collects on customer debts. Debt collection does not always get the attention and analysis that it deserves. You cannot manage a business’s revenue if you do not take debt collection into account.

While Xero is a powerful tool it is aimed at the accounting market rather than revenue management. Xero would work well with a separate debt collection software while IsoEvolve is a one-stop-shop. IsoEvolve has both accounting and debt collection features that allow it to handle the revenue management for a business. Using IsoEvolve can help a company reduce bad debt write-offs, collect money faster, increase efficiency and economy, improve profitability and maintain good relationships with customers. 

At the end of the day, we firmly believe that revenue management software is vital for any private practice or business. Do your homework and pick the option that would best suit your needs. Remember that a great revenue management solution should help you to keep everything where it should be. And give you the business owner time to actually focus on what you do best, which is running your business.

For more information on Xero click here

For more information on IsoEvolve click here

Practice Management Solutions :: IsoEvolve vs Panacea 7

Running a private practice is not easy, on top of seeing patients there is also the practice administration that needs to be taken into account. Your diary can be full but if you are not billing your clients you are running at a loss. Over the years several companies have created software solutions to help with this. In this article, we will be looking at the practice management solutions offered by two of the top developers in South Africa.

Datamax’s Panacea 7 and Kitrin’s IsoEvolve software have both been designed with the practitioner in mind. While Datamax has been around for longer, Kitrin was one of the first to offer a fully cloud-based practice management solution. Both companies chose to power their solutions using MySQL due to its stability, scalability and cost-effectiveness. While the frontend user interfaces may differ the engine that powers both solutions are world-class.

Installation Requirements

Although Panacea is cutting edge, it’s .net-based application does require up-to-date hardware and software to operate at its full potential. While IsoEvolve is completely cloud-based therefore there are no hardware requirements to install.

Practice Management Solutions :: Features

Membership Validation

The single most important factor in getting medical aid claims paid quickly is the accuracy of data. I know that sounds obvious, but the reality is that many claims are rejected due to inaccurate details being supplied. Claims are assessed by computers and they require 100% accuracy. Inaccurate claims are delayed or rejected because they need human intervention. The most common cause for delay is an incorrect date of birth or dependent code.

Both Panacea and IsoEvolve will automatically verify the membership details of medical aid patients that you capture. This will allow you to identify incorrect information before you submit the claims. Saving time and hassle with unnecessary calls to the medical aid to correct the claim.

Electronic Claims Submission

One of the most important things in your practice is billing timeously to ensure that your claims reach the medical aid in time for the next payment run. The easiest way to do that would be through eClaims which is simply an invoice that is sent to the medical aid electronically. Electronic claims are processed faster than paper claims as they go straight into the claims processing pool. And do not still need to be manually entered into the scheme’s processing pool.

These claims, therefore, hit the scheme immediately and are processed faster, resulting in a better cash flow for the practice. EG: A claim sent via EDI on a Saturday afternoon will be processed for payment on the following week’s payment run. But a claim sent via email on the same day will only be processed for payment the week thereafter. 

Both IsoEvolve and Panacea offer eClaims. These claims are submitted through a switching house and therefore there is a fee per claim. This fee is normally a percentage of the value of the claim however both IsoEvolve and Panacea offer a flat rate per claim.

Remittance Advices

Medical aids assess claims on a daily basis, but they only make payments to providers on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. During the payment cycle, the medical aid compiles a remittance advice to reconcile the payment against the claim. This remittance advice is then sent to you via email or post.

When you receive the remittance you then need to capture the information onto your practice management software. It is very important when capturing this information that each payment is correctly allocated against the original claim transaction. As you can imagine, capturing a remittance is time-consuming, it can be laborious and is open to inaccuracies.

IsoEvolve solves this by allowing you to upload the remittance advice to the system and it will generate and allocate the payments to the original claim transaction. Panacea offers an electronic Remittance Advise service. The advantage of ERA is that the system will allocate the payments without you having to upload the remittance. The benefit of the ERA is that you know when a remittance has been received. And are notified in the event of a problem or short payment.

Practice Management Solutions :: Appointment Scheduling

As a healthcare practitioner, you need to ensure that your appointments are booked and that your clients are reminded of their appointments. Traditionally a client would call in and you or your practice manager would book the appointment.

Panacea offers a comprehensive diary that is designed to be a portal to your daily functions. It is a great starting point and it represents a checklist of tasks that must be completed. At a glance, you can see whether a patient has received a reminder if the account has been set up and most importantly if an invoice has been sent.

IsoEvolve takes the appointment scheduling to a new level. With Isoevolve, your client has the ability to book an appointment online based on your availability. This option also allows for an intake form to be sent to the client if it is their first appointment. Saving yourself and your practice manager the step of sending the form via email. The intake details are automatically entered into your system and a file is opened for the client.

With IsoEvolve, you can at a glance see the status of any appointment and book personal appointments meaning that you only have one diary to manage.

Multiple Communication Channels.

Being able to communicate with your clients is vital. Multiple communication channels allow you to ensure that a client can’t say they missed your notification. You need to have a system that allows you to use various communication methods. Email or SMS notifications, the possibility of WhatsApp notifications, and even E-statement functionalities. Each of these increases the probability that you can get communication to your client. Many businesses perform these actions outside of any billing or practice management software. And this often results in disastrous consequences for the simple reason that you have no control over the communication that is being sent.

IsoEvolve and Panacea have both built communication channels into their software. This ensures that you can send appointment reminders etc to your clients. You have the ability to customize the messages that are sent for certain functions as well as the ability to send free-format email or SMS notifications.

Benefit Checkers.

The ability to check if a client has funds available on their medical aid before the appointment. Allows you to ensure that the patient is aware that their scheme will not make payment before the appointment. This ensures that a payment plan can be agreed on before you see the client and removes the need to wait for a remittance.

Panacea allows for a quick and simple check on whether the patient has funds available for day to day expenses. In general, it queries whether the client still has medical savings available for the appointment.

IsoEvolve also has a benefits checker where you can select the therapy type that you will be billing for and check with the scheme if there are funds available to cover the invoice amount.

Practice Management Solutions :: Software Updates

No matter what solution you are using for your practice management solution you need to ensure that you are up to date with the latest version. When software ages it slows down which can have a negative effect on your business.

Panacea checks your software daily to see if a newer version is available and will offer to install it for you. While IsoEvolve is cloud-based meaning that all updates are automatically applied to your software without the need for installation resulting in no downtime.

Revenue Management

While having the ability to invoice and allocate payments is vital it is even more important to know what happens to an invoice once it is sent. Companies around the world are always focused on brining in more revenue through sales or appointments. However making sure that debts are collected is more challenging and time-consuming. A company needs to ensure that it can maximize the debts it actually collects by automating the collections process.

Panacea, at this stage, does not have an integrated collections function which means that your practice manager has to manually follow up on overdue accounts. Whereas Isoevolve has an integrated debt collection function that will send notices to overdue accounts based on your payment terms. This solution ensures that a full follow up process is done on each account that is overdue.

One of the major reasons companies have to write debt off is that they simply lingered too long. And regular follow-ups were not done on the account. Businesses sometimes have a hard time keeping up with payment due dates and collection activities. Because their practice management software does not allow for this.

Clinical Notes and Reports

As a healthcare practitioners, you need to be able to store your clinical notes safely. There are many software options out there that offer clinical notes. But having an integrated solution saves you time and money.

IsoEvolve has a fully integrated notes section, that allows you to add a note directly to the client’s file. Notes or reports can be shared with your client or kept private for just the practitioner to see. This functionality allows you to make notes right after the appointment or to go back and see the history of the client’s progress without having to log into a different system.

The ability to share notes with your client means that you do not have to send a separate email to the client with your finding or report. You draft it once, publish it to the client’s file and share it.

Conclusion

While both Panacea and IsoEvolve are top in their industry there are some clear distinctions that bring Isoevolve out on top. If you are looking for a complete practice management solution that takes care of not just the practice admin but also the practice growth then IsoEvolve is the option for you. If you are looking for a practice management software that will allow you to bill your clients and manage your diary then Panacea is definitely an option for you.

At the end of the day, we firmly believe that practice management software is vital for any private practice. Do your homework and pick the option that would best suit your practice needs. Remember that a great practice management solution should help you to keep everything where it should be. And give you the business owner time to actually focus on what you do best, which is running your business. Having software means that you can also manage your workflow, you can see what your staff has been doing, have notices gone out, have follow-ups been done, and you are no longer reliant on word of mouth or corrupted data.

For more information on Panacea click here

To book a demo of the IsoEvolve software, please click here

Bookem vs IsoEvolve – Which makes more sense for my business?

Many businesses are looking for options on how to turn their operations into paperless solutions. Going paperless saves space and ensures that your client or patient information is stored safely. This ensures that you remain POPI compliant.

So let’s delve in and take an in-depth look at both software offers.

Bookem Paperless Business Solution.

Online booking platform::

With Bookem you have a personalized link that you can embed in your website or social media that will allow clients to book appointments online. This is a time saver and means that your admin team does not have to spend time making appointments.

You can set your hours, set maximum and minimum booking times before an appointment to ensure that you have time between sessions. You can take booking requests or have automatic confirmations.

Appointment reminders ::

Appointment confirmations, surveys or follow-up notifications are easy to create or customise. You’re in complete control of the tone and nature of your automated communications – SMS and/or email.

Invoicing ::

Bookem knows who is being invoiced and can also know why, so invoices get sensibly populated with information that usually takes unnecessary time or effort, such as date of birth or medical aid details.

Online Payments ::

Let clients book and pay online for instant confirmation upon payment.

Or invoice at any stage after a booking is made and let clients pay online directly from their invoices or online payment links; payments are reconciled automatically.

Bookem supports SnapScan, Payfast and PayPal payments with automatic payment allocations.

Two-way communication ::

Clients can reply to automated messages such as SMS or email reminders or confirmations. You can again reply to these messages or send manual messages. This can be useful for last-minute comms before an appointment, such as a quick note to say that appointments are running 10 minutes late.

All outgoing and incoming messages are stored against a client’s profile in their Messages tab.

IsoEvolve Paperless Business Solution

Online booking platform::

IsoEvolve offers a unique link that can be added to your website or social media to allow clients to book their own appointments. This is a time saver and means that your admin team does not have to spend time making appointments.

You have the ability to set maximum and minimum appointments for the day, as well as wait times between appointments. The ability to set personal appointments so that you can manage your diary from one application.

Appointment Reminders::

IsoEvolve will send automated appointment reminders to clients 24 hours before the appointment. This helps to reduce the number of missed appointments. Reminders can be sent via email or SMS or both.

Invoicing ::

Invoices can be generated directly from the appointment. This way invoices get sensibly populated with information that usually takes unnecessary time or effort, such as date of birth or medical aid details. As the invoices are generated from the appointment IsoEvolve knows what codes need to be invoiced based on the therapy type selected for the appointment.

Two-way communication ::

Clients can reply to automated messages such as SMS or email reminders or confirmations. You can again reply to these messages or send manual messages. This can be useful for last-minute comms before an appointment, such as a quick note to say that appointments are running 10 minutes late.

All outgoing and incoming messages are stored against a client’s profile in their Messages tab.

Unpaid Account Management ::

IsoEvolve tracks all unpaid accounts and based on your settings will send automated notifications to clients regarding the status of their accounts. This saves yourself or your admin team a lot of time on the overdue account follow up process.

Intuitive Dashboards ::

You have live access to your dashboard which shows a variety of information that is vital to your business. With IsoEvolve at a quick glance you can see the total value of your bad debt book, value of invoices generated for the month, total appointments, total payments received as well as the number of new clients.

Conclusion

Both offerings have some great features and can be used for any size business to save time and paper. There are a lot of similarities and at the end of the day it will come down to your choice as to which would be a better fit for your business.

For more information on Bookem click here
For more information of IsoEvolve click here

Does Debt Collection Software Make Sense for Your Business

Every business no matter how big or small at some point has to contend with overdue or unpaid accounts. This is not to say that they don’t have a proven invoicing or follow up process. It is more a sign of the times.

The last few years have taught us that people and businesses do not have as much disposable income as they used to have. This has seen a steep rise in late payments on accounts and non-payment of bills.

As business owners, we do have to understand the economics of the time. However, we also have the fundamental right to collect funds that are due to us.

Why use debt collection software

The biggest question that we often get asked is how do we go about collecting funds without alienating our clients or ruining our client business relationships. The most effective way to collect these funds would be to have a debt collection software or accounting software. These have processes in place that will help you to follow up on overdue or delinquent accounts. We’ve seen many small businesses that use either Excel or Word as their accounting program. Struggle on a month to month basis to keep track of the accounts that are overdue. Some businesses have fantastic invoicing software which ensures that they know when their invoices have gone out. However every month they have to draw a report on their accounts ageing or overdue accounts.

Using Excel, Word or reports pulled from software is not the worst way to collect or follow up on overdue accounts but it is very time-consuming. If you are a small business, a one-man show or a business that doesn’t have a large administration team. You need to find ways of managing overdue accounts that are not time-consuming. And ensures that your team is able to follow up effectively and quickly on all accounts that are overdue.

Where debt collection software comes in.

This is where debt collection software does come in. With software, you are able to assign payment terms and assign messages that need to go out. As well as set rules as to what messages go to clients based on times and payment terms that you set. This saves your staff time and in the long run, saves you money. As you are able to chase up on an overdue account far sooner than if you took your once a month three day scour through excel spreadsheets process out of the equation.

This is not to say that every business requires debt collection software. What this article is about is to show that by having the use of debt collection software you can ensure that overdue accounts are collected a lot more efficiently. There is nothing wrong with collecting on overdue accounts yourself. And there’s nothing wrong with being a Jack of all trades when your business is starting out. However, as your unpaid book grows so does the amount of time needed to chase up on each account. And this is when you would start looking at if debt collection software makes sense for you and your business.

Benefits of Debt Collection Software

Some of the key benefits of debt collection software are that will make your unpaid process far smoother irrespective of how big or small your business is.

There is an entire industry built around debt recovery. Therefore an entire industry around debt recovery software and solutions. One of the biggest benefits of debt collection software is that it gives you a clear view of the status of your bad debt book.

1 :: Multiple forms of communication

This is a vital feature in any debt collection software. You need to have a system that allows you to use various communication methods. Email or SMS notifications, the possibility of WhatsApp notifications, and even E-statement functionalities. Each of these increases the probability that you can get communication with the debtor. Many businesses perform these actions outside of any billing or debt collection software. And this often results in disastrous consequences for the simple reason that you have no control over the communication that is being sent.

Remember the more actions performed outside of your debt collection software the more unreliable your data becomes.

2 :: Automated Reminders

The larger your bad debt book is, the more difficult it becomes to manage the volume of reminder messages that need to be sent. These reminder messages in my opinion are often the last line of defence between your debtor making a payment or not. When looking for debt collection software you want to make sure that the system can remind debtors when their payments are due, or notify the debtor when they have not honoured a payment agreement.

3 :: Bulk Actions

Another great feature that you want to look for when you are looking for debt collection software is does the software offer bulk actions?

Bulk actions are an amazing feature that allows you to create bulk documents or notifications. This allows you to contact a larger audience in a shorter period of time. Bulk actions allow you to create things like settlement campaigns or send notices out. With a single action to all accounts in a certain status. These bulk actions allow you to apply intuitive pacing concepts based on the availability of your staff etc.

4 :: Reporting

A really important feature to look for, especially with debt collection software, is reporting. Is the debt collection software you are using or looking to purchase able to give you a definitive report on the status of the accounts. Or dashboards that show you the status of your bad debt book at a glance? What is sitting in 30 days, 60 days, or 120 days? When was the last communication sent out? Are you running campaigns? Is it able to send financial reports to your accounting team for them to work on?

This kind of reporting ensures that you as the owner have your finger on the pulse and can see what is happening at any given time on your bad debt book.

5:: Integrity of Your Data.

Remember the more things happening outside of your debt collection software the more unstable your data is. Good debt recovery software will help to protect the integrity of your data. What this means is that your software should not allow staff to delete information or edit notes. There should be a very clear audit trail on everything that has happened within the software. Vitally important is everything that has happened on an overdue account.

What this does is, ensures the credibility of your data. Should the account be handed over for litigation, you can be assured that your data is credible. And have a full audit trail of absolutely everything, this is a really great way to ensure that everything is above board.

6:: Ease of Use.

The last thing you want is to have debt collection software that is difficult or too technical to use. Or where you’re going to have to send your staff for hours and hours of training. You want to have something that’s very quick to learn, fairly easy to navigate, and is able to adapt fairly quickly.

You don’t want to be sitting with something that’s difficult to use because the moment it’s difficult to use, what’s going to happen is your staff are going to go outside that system again which corrupts the integrity of the data.

Conclusion.

There are a number of decent debt collection software and systems out there. We firmly believe that debt collection software, like billing or accounting software, is vital for a business. Do when looking for a debt collection system or software do your homework.

Remember that great debt collection software helps you to keep everything where it should be and gives you the business owner time to actually focus on what you do best, which is running your business. Having software means that you can also manage your workflow, you can see what your staff has been doing, have notices gone out, have follow-ups been done, and you are no longer reliant on word of mouth or corrupted data.

If you would like some additional information on our IsoEvolve Debt Collection software please click here