Swiss Rail's goal was clear: to increase sales of annual passes by reaching out to new customer segments. To get there, it had to develop a completely new system where customers could pay by monthly bill. The company decided to outsource these operations to Intrum Justitia and its partner yellowworld.

Swiss railroads in general - and Swiss Rail in particular - is known for its high standards, extensive reach and reliability. To strengthen its position as a leading transport company, stateowned Swiss Rail decided to look at new opportunities. Surveys showed that certain customers wanted to buy annual passes, but that it was too expensive to pay a year in advance.

The solution was to develop and launch a completely new system where customers could buy annual passes but pay monthly.

"Since we helped introduce the new system, Swiss Rail has reached its goal," says Gerhard Schwab, president of yellowworld. "It has raised sales by reaching out to new customers. Quality is high, and the company isn't taking any credit risk, since Intrum Justitia guarantees the payment."

Together with yellowworld, Intrum Justitia has set up a system whereby orders are registered by yellowworld, then a credit check is done by Intrum Justitia. When a customer is approved, Swiss Rail sends out the annual pass and yellowworld takes care of billing and receivables. Intrum Justitia guarantees all invoices, so it will pay Swiss Rail if an invoice is overdue and goes to collection, which is handled by Intrum Justitia as well.

"Because Intrum Justitia quickly makes contact with customers who don't pay, it can often help to resolve fi nancial problems in time. In the process, Swiss Rail can keep them as customers," adds Gerhard Schwab.