Global business process outsourcing (BPO) and credit-lifecycle management company Nutun is readying its agentic artificial intelligence (AI) debt collector Zoey for global deployment in November.
This, after the South African operations served as an innovation sandbox to develop the automated tool, revealed Hans Zachar, Nutun group CTIO and CEO-designate.
Yesterday, Nutun and industry body Business Process Enabling South Africa hosted media at the company’s office in Sandton, Johannesburg.
The engagement sought to showcase how BPO operators like Nutun, which service UK and US clients, are shifting toward a hybrid model between AI and human agents.
Nutun is the renamed Transaction Capital, which comprised of We Buy Cars, SA Taxi and Transaction Capital Risk Services.
The company is now focused on debt collections, with a current primary client base of tier one US/UK banks, retailers, utilities (water and power), as well as emerging fintech and AI industry verticals.
Nutun’s modernised backend systems manage the customer journey for 25 million to 30 million accounts. Part of this ecosystem is Zoey, its voice AI chatbot unveiled in June, which is designed to handle collections processes such as payment plans and reminders, Zachar said.
“Zoey is augmenting the current workforce, not replacing it,” he stated. “Collections is very much about the economic viability of engaging with the customer. By starting to put AI in that channel…it’s a complementary service to our normal collections assistance. We’re finding that when you combine the human and AI, it’s significantly better than each one on their own.”
He explained that since June, the combination of human interaction with AI has resulted in collection outcomes that are 20% to 50% better than using either alone.
“The humans are handling the complex conversations; the AI and the digital channels are handling the simplest stuff. This [Zoey] is something that we’re launching internationally into the US and into the UK.
“The intent there is that if we can deploy the technology stack, the AI, into global organisations, the call centre operators come with. We’re looking to bring jobs to South Africa, but by providing a technology-driven complex service into foreign markets. I think that’s largely how we see the future of the BPO industry.”
Agentic AI debt collector Zoey verifies a customer’s identity, negotiates a payment arrangement and concludes it without a human agent on the line, drawing on Nutun’s behavioural and credit data built up over years of collections work.
The system predicts how likely a customer is to pay and how much they can realistically afford, then adjusts its tone and approach accordingly in real-time. When a call needs a human touch, such as a complex arrangement, Zoey hands it to a live agent along with a full summary, so the customer doesn’t have to repeat themselves.
Stephen de Blanche, chief client and operations officer at Nutun, added that Zoey will launch in the UK in November, followed by a US launch approximately three months later around February 2027.
He added that customers often feel more comfortable making “promises to pay” via Zoey because it reduces the emotional embarrassment associated with debt collection handled by humans. He clarified that customers are aware Zoey is a bot when speaking to the automated tool.
De Blanche also highlighted that technology optimises talent management through improved recruitment, upskilling and quality assurance at scale.
Transition to hybrid model
The shift to AI has begun to shape jobs in contact centres, and global lenders like the Commonwealth Bank of Australia have reportedly already slashed jobs from its chat support service as it deployed AI into its systems.
Despite concerns regarding AI replacing human roles, global data indicates the BPO sector will continue to grow through to 2030, regardless of technology advancements.
Zachar explained that Nutun is transitioning to a technology-driven BPO model focused on complex case management and AI-augmented services.
He noted that AI and automation are not new, adding that digitisation has been happening for some time. “The net effect of digitisation in AI means that more of the simple stuff is done across digital channels, and the more complex stuff add a need to talk to a human.
“AI is having an impact globally on every industry, and our clients’ industries are not immune to that. The idea that agents are being directly replaced by AI voice agents, we’re not seeing it, but what we are seeing is a continued trend towards digitisation.
“A lot of where AI is starting to play is reducing those instances where someone had to contact the contact centre – whether it’s capturing a beta reading for our utilities provider, or having a chatbot conversation in terms of credit card delivery.”
The BPO sector, sometimes referred to as global business services, has been identified as the green shoot that can help overcome South Africa’s unemployment challenges, with the sector targeting 500 000 new jobs by 2030.
Zachar noted South Africa’s BPO advantage is the country’s competitive-edge that is enabled by stable infrastructure, good connectivity and political stability, making the country a favourite offshore BPO destination.
“We’re problem-solvers, we’re innovative and we bring ourselves to work. We don’t typically follow the script all the time, which is what you want in a contact centre.
“You want the human element to come through, and just that resilience and that innovative South African culture is what’s coming through and what’s 100% required when you're facing increasingly complex work.
“That’s proving to be our secret sauce in South Africa, probably higher than in the other global destinations.”
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