ASCENT: Carmel Sees Uptick in A/R Management Services

Carmel Solutions Inc. (Booth 700), a provider of back-office management products and services for the telecom market, reported an increase in usage of its private-branded A/R management services over the last 12 months.

"Revenue from our A/R management group has doubled over the last year," says company president James Hansen. "Credit and collection services have always been a mainstay at Carmel Solutions, but we haven’t seen this kind of growth since the early 1990s."

Kathy Hansen, the vice president in charge of the collections group, explains, "In the current telecom capital crunch, it has never been more important for resellers to efficiently and cost effectively collect the money owed to them."

Carmel Solutions, she says, is able to lower the average of days outstanding and increase cash flow within 60 days of being on the job.

Among the services offered are telephone prompting on all past-due accounts; follow-up written correspondence, when necessary; documentation and resolution of disputes and conflicts; review and adjustment of credit and collection policies; negative credit reporting on nonpayers; and lawsuit or collection agency preparation. All correspondence on behalf of the carrier is done it its name.

Pricing is dependent on the level of service and ranges from $800 per month to $8,000 per month.

Carmel Solutions has provided A/R management services to the telecom industry since 1989. The Federal U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California recently retained the company to perform billing and collection services for bankrupt telecom resellers in liquidation. The contract is expected to extend throughout the year of 2003.