Predictive Dialer Firm Looks to Expand its Offerings

Predictive dialer provider Castel Inc., a leading vendor in the accounts receivable management industry, is expanding its service offerings to diversify its business and compete in the customer relationship management space, according to the firm’s CEO.

Beverly, Mass.-based Castel is already a major player in the ARM industry providing predictive dialing solutions under its flagship Castel Connects brand. Castel counts a number of large collectors as clients, including Allied Global Holdings, Capital Management Services, and Creditors Interchange. The company also provides predictive dialing to Wells Fargo and to non-ARM companies like Omaha Steaks.

Nick Kimball, president and CEO of Castel, told insideARM that about 80 percent of his firm’s installed seats are in the ARM industry, around 10,000 seats. “It’s the market where we cut our teeth,” he said. “And it’s obviously a very important market to us.”

Kimball said that he realized being a stand-alone predictive dialing firm was good, but that the focus was a bit too niche. “It’s a slow growth market,” he noted, adding that the buying decision today is not necessarily wrapped around a dialer.

To compete in a market where his customers are looking at bundling analytics, collection software and other services, Kimball said that the firm will be partnering with major ARM software providers to offer their services together.

Castel, as well as other software and technology vendors in the ARM/call center space, groups its services into two major buckets. Customer interaction management includes products and services like dialers, messaging and interactive voice response (IVR). Customer relationship management consists of services like interaction documentation and reference and front-end processing.

As collection agencies grow, whether organically or through acquisition, Kimball thinks there will be more demand for enterprise-level solutions with dialers already included.

But beyond expanding to a CRM-focused firm, Castel is also making incremental upgrades to its already-popular dialer. The company announced in late January that it has released the newest version of Castel Connects.  The new version, 3.0, includes tools to help collectors with local caller ID recognition and improved messaging including IVR. The new release also features tools to help with state and local compliance issues.

“For example, the boroughs of New York City all have different regulations regarding telephone contact,” Kimball explained. “We have a tool that will place restrictions on dialing based on local laws and incorporating many variables like time of day and type of phone number.”