CHICAGO — Is the glass half-full or is it half-empty? That is a question that a lot of people are here to answer this week at ACA International’s annual convention. There are plenty of opportunities for companies in the industry to be very excited about, just as there are trends and dynamics that may make collecting debts more challenging. If the mood on Day One of the convention was any indication, most of the people here are looking forward to what this industry is going to be able to do in the years to come.
The opportunities that advancements in technology are providing companies in the ARM industry are unprecedented. The access to advanced tools and platforms to help make collecting debt more efficient have never been so widely accessible to companies of all shapes and sizes. Conversations were occurring throughout the exhibit hall by companies looking to learn about the newest updates and developments that can help them collect more with less.
The convention also kicked off with a keynote address from Jon Gordon on the power of positive leadership that served as a perfect pre-game speech for those in attendance at the event.
While there are still plenty of challenges for the industry on the horizon — consolidation, increased regulatory scrutiny, and compressed margins, to name but a few — most of those were dismissed by attendees as being less significant than all the positive things the industry has going for it right now. As proof, today’s sessions focus on helping collector improve their digital collection efforts, talk about the power of artificial intelligence, and how to boost revenue.
Conferences and events are a great opportunity to take the temperature of the ARM industry. Listening to the conversations in hallways and at receptions serves as a great barometer for how people are feeling about the state of collections. And, in recent years some of those events have felt like a wake or a joint therapy session, but the mood so far at ACA’s convention is definitely more optimistic.
