TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / <strong>April</strong> <strong>2024</strong> / PAGE 28
CREDIT MANAGEMENT PASSING TIME A new digital platform could help transform the death notification process. BY LES CLISBY THERE was some interesting research recently that sought to define the true cost of dying. An annual report from the insurance provider SunLife suggested that costs had reached a record high: funeral costs have risen by 4.7 percent while the overall ‘cost of dying’ has reached more than £9,500. Such surveys tend to focus on the comparatively narrow lens of a funeral. But what of the costs before the funeral? The costs, for example, of notifying creditors and service providers (the utilities, telecoms companies, subscription providers etc)? The cost of sourcing and sending multiple copies of death certificates and other paperwork to notify that a death has occurred? And what about the emotional cost that comes from the frustration often felt while being interrogated by seemingly unsympathetic call centre operators who are themselves frustrated at having to spend time on calls for which they may have received little training and can only devote limited time? It was with this in mind that The Estate Registry developed NotifyNow, delivered in collaboration with Phillips & Cohen Associates, and winner of the <strong>2024</strong> British <strong>Credit</strong> Award for Technology Development. NotifyNOW is a digital, self-serve notification tool that provides bereaved family members, executors, or personal representatives with a free and easy way to notify utility companies, banks, insurance companies, subscription service providers and other similar organisations that a friend or family member has died. Most such organisations face the same challenge, but all tackle the <strong>issue</strong> in different ways. E.ON Next, for example, was specifically concerned that its process was far too manual and offered little in the way of innovation. Implementing NotifyNOW was the start of an exclusive partnership that fits with the company’s customer-centric approach. With E.ON.Next, the platform can be accessed through a link embedded on its website, thus freeing up significant volumes of call time into its customer service centre. Once the form is completed, and the relevant information and documents (e.g proof of death) are uploaded, the task is complete and no other action is needed. Tracey Smith, Third Party Commercial Manager at E.ON Next, was a key driver behind the platform’s introduction: “We’ve worked with PCA for more than 15 years and they have supported us and our customers in many ways, not least the training our staff to better manage customers at what is an extremely emotional and difficult time,” she explains. “NotifyNOW is another way in which we are trying to help our customers by making the process of passing on essential information to us as easy and convenient as possible.” Nick Cherry, Chief Operating Officer at PCA, says that the intricate administrative protocols that the bereaved must navigate following the loss of a loved one is a burden on their emotional state: “While we know just how important it is for the people whose job it is to help them to be compassionate, we also know that technology can play a significant part in reducing this burden and reducing some of the unwelcome stress that comes with a bereavement. “For E.ON Next customers, representatives of the bereaved no longer have to contact a call centre or speak to anyone in person if they don't wish to. People can simply go online and fill out the form at a time that is convenient to them outside of office hours, 24/7, without requiring any personal interaction unless they actively seek it.” NotifyNOW and E.ON Next continue to work on the findings reported by the UK Commission on Bereavement, which highlighted the need for better solutions to support individuals through bereavement. Almost two out of three (61 percent) adult respondents have difficulties with at least one practical or administrative task following a death. Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / <strong>April</strong> <strong>2024</strong> / PAGE 29