A Perfect Storm: Banking meltdown, consumer credit crunch, and changing consumer communication preferences create a need for changeThe current financial crisis is being felt by creditors and consumers alike. Soaring costs, the ongoing credit crunch and the rise in consumer debt have consumers underwater. While at the same time, the growing trend towards mobile communications has made traditional contact methods obsolete, forcing creditors to re-examine their collections strategies. Text messaging has proven to be a successful channel for reaching debtors quickly and cost effectively. Early corporate adopters of text messaging have increased response rates and accelerated collections. In this webinar, we will discuss how to incorporate text messaging into your existing collections strategy. Join Mercator Advisory Group and SoundBite Communications to learn: - Why text messaging adds value to collection activity
- Real campaign strategies used for different types and stages of debt
- How progressive banks are increasing response rates and dollars collected using a multi-channel strategy
- How text messaging can complement and dramatically enhance your existing collections strategy
- Best practices for implementing a text messaging campaign for collections
- Technology limitations and regulatory concerns surrounding text messaging
- What Free-to-End-User (FTEU) text messaging is, why it’s critical, and how to know if your current vendor can supply it.
Exclusive Offer: Webinar attendees receive a complimentary whitepaper, “Collections in Turbulent Times: The Value of Text Messaging in Collections”, authored by Mercator Advisory Group.
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| PRESENTERS: |  George Peabody
Director of Emerging Technologies, Mercator Advisory Group, Inc.
George Peabody provides strategic and tactical consulting to Mercator’s members and clients as well as project management for bespoke consulting engagements. Over his nearly 25 year career in the IT industry, George has held senior leadership positions in software development, marketing, project management, market research and operations. He has also managed government relations activities and served on the board of directors of multiple private businesses and major non-profits.
His background includes five years of product management with Wang Laboratories, founder roles at startups RapidNet and DigiFlite, as well as extensive market research and consulting experience with other startups including CoThrive and early stage payment industry firms. He has built payment-enabled websites for on-demand training. At Boston’s Aberdeen Group, he was Vice President of its telecommunications practice, where he led a team of 20 consultants and analysts providing research and market positioning services to Global 2000 firms and startups. |  Alan Berrey
Vice President of Text and Mobile Messaging, SoundBite Communications
Alan Berrey works with SoundBite’s clients and prospects on how to optimize campaign results by incorporating text messaging into their overall customer communications strategies. He is a frequent speaker at collections industry conferences and has considerable domain expertise in mobile messaging. Alan is the founder and CEO of Mobile Collect, a mobile communications solutions provider and pioneer in Free-to-End User (FTEU) text messaging, which was acquired by SoundBite in February 2008.
Prior to creating Mobile Collect, Alan worked as Vice President of Strategy for a global leader in text message processing. He also spent ten years developing mission critical Internet applications for several global consumer brands. Alan served as a communications Sergeant in the US Army, 75th Airborne Ranger Regiment. He earned a BS in Computer Science from Brigham Young University and a MS in Business from Carnegie Mellon University. |  Jay Reilly
Director of Solutions Consulting, SoundBite Communications
Jay has successfully managed hundreds of campaigns and frequently advises clients on customer contact strategies and best practices. Jay has expertise in designing and deploying a wide range of customer service, collections and marketing programs for financial institutions, credit grantors, and telecommunications companies. Prior to joining SoundBite, Jay was a Group Product Manager for Finnish Telecommunications Company Sonera Zed. During this time he oversaw the implementation of SMS and WAP products with major US carriers as well as acted as a WAP product consultant for other global divisions of the company. | | MODERATOR: |  Mark Friedman
Chief Marketing Officer, SoundBite Communications
As the Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer, Mark leads SoundBite’s expansion into new markets and product offerings. Mark has more than 20 years’ experience in a range of marketing, sales and business development positions with leading companies such as IBM, Lotus Development, Epoch Systems/EMC and Dragon Systems. Most recently, Mark served as CEO of Peppercoin, a provider of card-based merchant loyalty programs that was acquired by Chockstone, Inc. in April 2007. |
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About Mercator Advisory Group
Mercator Advisory Group is the leading, independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments industry. It delivers pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help its clients uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs. Mercator's clients range from the world’s largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, and associations to leading technology providers. For more information, visit www.MercatorAdvisoryGroup.com.
About SoundBite Communications, Inc.
SoundBite Communications provides on-demand, integrated multi-channel communications solutions that enable clients to achieve superior business results. Building on its foundation as a leading provider of automated voice messaging services, SoundBite offers integrated voice, text and email messaging solutions that help clients deliver the right message, to the right customer, using the right channel, at the right time. Organizations in industries such as collections, financial services, retail, telecom and media, and utilities rely on the SoundBite Intelligent Communications Platform to send over a billion messages annually for collections, customer care, and sales and marketing applications. For more information, visit www.SoundBite.com. |