-AI first for South Staffs Water-

Birmingham, UK – 18 October 2018 – South Staffs Water has selected Rimilia’s artificial intelligence (AI) based credit management software, Rimilia Alloc8 Collect.

South Staffs Water (incorporating Cambridge Water) supplies high-quality drinking water to around 1.6 million people in its two areas of supply. South Staffs Water supplies to approximately 1.3m people over 1,500 square km in the West Midlands, South Staffordshire, South Derbyshire, North Warwickshire and North Worcestershire areas and Cambridge Water supplies to 319,000 people over an area of 730km2 around the city of Cambridge.

The utility’s household customers have some of the lowest water bills in England and Wales, and receive the highest levels of customer service, as measured by the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat).

As part of an ambitious, innovative and creative approach to delivering its long-term plans, South Staffs Water will implement the new AI-driven collections management system to proactively identify and support customers who are at risk of falling behind with their water bill payments.

This will enable the company, which has a reputation for providing outstanding customer service and working closely with the communities it serves, in tailoring help and support for customers in a way that best suits their personal circumstances, recognising that they demand individuality, flexibility and choice.

Rimilia’s AI-powered, self-learning engine is a key part of this. It provides real-time customer data and dynamic collection strategies that will enable South Staffs Water to understand even more about its customers and prevent them from falling into water debt. For those who unfortunately fall into debt, this new system will help the team to treat customers as individuals – which South Staffs Water’s customer research shows, is exactly what customers now expect.

Phil Newland, managing director of South Staffs Water said: “We have a reputation for our commitment to high-quality water, our community involvement, customer service and great value for money. We are constantly looking for the best new and innovative technologies which allow us to deliver our vision. This means treating each customer fairly and using rich insight and data so we can work with every individual in a way that is appropriate to their situation.”

Newland continued: “Rimilia’s Alloc8 Collect system will give us real-time visibility and data to develop more personalised interactions with our customers. We were deeply impressed by how Rimilia’s team understood our business and the nuances of water collections management. Its Alloc8 Collect system is smart, sophisticated collections management software that we think will deliver real benefits for our customers.”

Steve Richardson, co-founder and CCO of Rimilia, added: “We are proud to be working with a utility company that is as innovative and customer focused as South Staffs Water. Fair and tailored collections management is fundamental to South Staffs Water and its customers and we look forward to seeing the impact that intelligent, dynamic software and strategies makes to its 1.7 million customers.”

About Rimilia
Founded in 2008, Rimilia provides intelligent, automated financial solutions to dramatically improve cash allocation, remittance services and credit collection processes.

Harnessing machine learning, predictive analysis and artificial intelligence, Rimilia enables businesses to resolve unaccounted payments, gain transparency of transactions and apply valuable predictive insight and dynamic decision-making into payment processes.

Rimilia’s Alloc8 software automates the manually-intensive process of matching payments with expected receivables with auto-matching rates up to 94%, dramatically improving the quality and speed of cash allocation and revenue recognition.

Rimilia’s head office is in Bromsgrove. It also has offices in Richmond, Virginia in the United States. Its customers include Adecco UK, Avis, Biffa Waste Services, Hitachi, TalkTalk, Santander and Wesco Aircraft.

Twitter: @rimilia

Press contact: Hazel Butters|hazel.butters@rimilia.com|UK: +44 208 123 2195|US: +1 1 617 530 0500