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Property management software company Colleen has added voice-based interaction to its artificial intelligence rent collection solution, nine months after its initial launch, according to an April 4 press release.
Colleen Voice is believed to be an industry first, a conversational experience originating from property management software that can contact tenants to inquire about late rent, fees, specific amounts and other critical lease terms. Because the AI learns from the property’s lease and operational data, it can also contact residents about renewals, terminations and even continue to call move-outs for delinquent funds retrieval. The idea is to lend as human an experience as possible to the existing automation.
“The multifamily industry is fraught with far too many chatbots that are limited by transactional, robotic responses,” said Itamar Roth, CEO of Colleen, in the press release. “These antiquated interactions are individualized, not personalized, making it particularly challenging for property owners and managers to effectively leverage AI for sensitive, complex financial conversations.”
Tracking down late payments, coordinating specific collection amounts, transfer methods and other minutiae has long been a time-consuming and notable industry-wide irritant. The growing acceptance of AI in consumer-facing commercial experiences should allow Colleen’s voice outreach a broader landing pad.
The software, a large language model that’s fed internal operations data, contextualizes and personalizes each interaction. It consumes lease data, payment histories and other characteristics of the individual’s financial activity to begin an automated sequence of outreach. The AI has been fed by thousands of resident interactions.
In a December 2023 press release, Colleen stated its AI reduces the rate of unpaid rent by 40 percent. The latest release said that number has increased to 50 percent.
“Speed is especially key in recovery as the chances of collecting drop 16 percent every 30 days an account remains delinquent, with larger balances dropping even more from 40 percent to a mere 5 percent recovery rate,” Roth said at the time.
Colleen can also converse with residents about payment plans, dates and payment methods, the company said.
The company’s software can be implemented across large portfolios or scaled down to assist those managing single family rentals, student housing and commercial properties.
