The UK’s largest High Court enforcement agency, Shergroup, has
pioneered a wave of new technological advancements that are
designed to lead to increased knowledge on debtors, higher
collection rates and a wealth of information for the credit control
industry.
The company has invested heavily in a series of new functional
websites, all accessible via www.shergroup.net,
which enable both debtors and creditors to view the online
management of their cases.
The system, called Sherpa, means that clients such as local
authorities or businesses, can track who has paid their debts and
see amounts owing, thereby enabling Shergroup’s enforcement agents
– who act as ‘superbailiffs’ – to reclaim any outstanding debt.
To support this service, the company has developed a unique
information service, available to the entire HM Courts Service,
which allows them to track what vehicles are owned by debtors, by
allowing authorised access of the DVLA’s computer system. If a
vehicle needs to be seized to pay off a debt, ownership can be
verified.
Shergroup Chief Executive Claire Sandbrook explained: “Our aim
is to bring the role of debt collection into the 21st century,
recognising the importance of providing easy-to-understand
information to both our clients and to the people who owe them
money.
“There’s a world of difference between people who can’t pay and
those who won’t pay and we have been working hard to raise the
profile of the hard work undertaken by our enforcement agents in
ensuring that people who are owed money receive what is rightly
theirs.”
Shergroup – which employs around 100 people and has offices in
Braintree, London and Delhi – is now about to introduce a text
message reminder to debtors, informing them when their next payment
is due.
David Asker, Shergroup’s chief information technology officer,
said: “Picking up the phone and telling someone they owe money can
often be confrontational, whereas a quick text reminder is just
like looking at your calendar.
“The message will give them the option of clicking on a link
that takes them to Shergroup’s payment website or they can follow
the contact details and pay in the traditional way.”
Shergroup is also equipping its enforcement officers, who work
for its debt collection division Sherforce, with Blackberry PDAs,
which will include satellite navigation that directs them to the
next job, while informing head office of their whereabouts.
Claire Sandbrook added: “The jobs allocated that day are
downloaded into the handset and the most cost and time-effective
route is mapped out, ensuring that the most urgent jobs are tackled
first using the best travel route.
“The Blackberries will also allow the enforcement officer to
write and file their reports following a visit to the debtor. This
information can then be passed on immediately to the client.”
Although tracing its origins as a law firm back 350 years,
Shergroup – formerly known as Burchell and Ruston – has always been
closely connected with the High Sheriffs of London. In 2004, a new
Act of Parliament substantially changed the role of Sheriffs,
empowering Shergroup to execute writs in all counties of England
& Wales.
As such, it was called on by the Department of Constitutional
Affairs to build a central register of High Court judgments before
the Act came into force, resulting in the Sheriffs Lodgment Centre
system (SLC), built in just three months with I.T. partners in
India.
Through the SLC court users can use a range of services to
enforce court judgments and can access this through the SLC’s
online portal where users are given step-by-step advice to obtain
the result they want.
The company prides itself on always being at the forefront of
new technology, with key managers able to work from home since the
1990s, using remote access via ISDN2e lines and latterly using
Internet VPN connections.
Its Braintree and London offices benefit from leased line links
to a Canary Wharf data centre, with a cheap-to-administer WAN and
Mitel VoIP telephone system.
All of this is utilised by Shergroup’s various divisions,
including Sherbond, which specialises in recovery of land and
evictions and has a follow-up service called Shercurity, which
secures sites where evictions have taken place preventing
squatters, or protesters from entering the land or property
again.
As for the future, Chief Executive Sandbrook is now focusing on
incorporating audio and video guides into her websites, delivering
information to podcast subscribers, bringing the credit control
industry into a new era.
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