Client case

Budget Shop Municipality of Delft

Since June 2005, the Delft Budget Shop is using Stratech-SHV. The Budget Shop is part of Social Services, where the bad debt mediation is carried out.

Senior consultant Peter Ruijs has been working now for eight years for the Budget Shop in Delft and sees debt mediation as a fascinating job that requires a lot of insight in human nature. "As a consultant you are the referee who has to have control over the game." Decisions are always taken in accordance with the NVVK Code of Conduct (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Volkskrediet, Dutch social credit organisation). This code leaves little room for flexibility. "A strict code, and rightly so!" says Mr Ruijs.

In the past the Budget Shop used a homemade ‘budget application’, consisting of a database with creditors and clients. "This worked well, but was very limited in scope," says Ruijs. "The system was able to generate reports but not able to compose letters. Also a client tracking system was missing, as well as the possibilities for a digital file.”

With the increase in the number of applications from around 180 per year in the early stages to over 450 per year in the current situation, the need for a specialised application arose.
Important criteria on which suppliers were rated, were according to Ruijs the way the package of requirements was interpreted, delivery conditions, available links, ease of use (e.g. number of transactions for a specific action) and the pricing. The personal attitude and mentality of the software supplier also played a role. Peter Ruijs: "The company should realise that personal relationships are very important. You have to be able to trust each other. The whole proposition made it clear that Stratech was opting for quality", explains Ruijs.

Ruijs also states that Stratech-SHV operates in a pleasant and quick manner. "A big advantage of this system is that files can be reopened. You can easily calculate the repayment capacity and any previous correspondence is instantly available. 

In case you have forgotten to fill in one field, or if you have entered the wrong date, the built-in validation does not allow to create any letters. The appropriate field must first be corrected. This reduced the chance for errors significantly.