This week’s blog is from one of our exhibitors and 5 in Twenty speakers, Paraglide Ai:
AI agents in collections are AI agents that run the full debtor conversation, chasing overdue invoices, reading and answering customer replies, handling queries and disputes, and following up until the invoice is paid. Unlike rule-based reminder tools, they manage collections as a two-way exchange rather than a one-way sequence of emails.
Most collections software sends templated reminders on a schedule and stops there. The moment a customer replies with a question, a dispute, or a promise to pay, the work returns to the AR team. AI agents from solutions like Paraglide close that gap: they send personalised reminders, read and handle the replies, and follow up in the existing thread with full context, rather than treating every message as a new one.
Key takeaways
- Legacy tools send templated payment reminders; AI-native solutions like Paraglide send personalised reminders, handle the replies, and follow up in the existing thread with context.
- Reminders rarely fail because they were not sent; they fail because the reply that followed went unanswered.
- Paraglide’s Collections Agent runs end-to-end collections conversations and contributes to an average 34% DSO reduction and a 75% cut in manual AR work.
- The difference between generations of tools is whether the software chases or actually collects.
What AI Agents Do in Collections
AI agents in collections take on the repetitive, conversation-heavy work of chasing payment across a large customer base. Rather than firing a fixed reminder cadence, an agent adjusts to how each customer responds.
A collections agent typically:
- Sends outreach on overdue and upcoming invoices, tailored to the account.
- Reads inbound replies and understands what the customer is asking or committing to.
- Answers straightforward queries directly, using live account data.
- Logs promises to pay and follows up on the agreed date.
- Captures disputes and routes them to an AR specialist with full context.
- Continues the thread until the invoice is resolved, without losing history.
The work that stalls collections is rarely the first reminder. It is the reply that follows, the query that needs a statement, and the follow-up that no one has time to send. Agents handle that middle layer.
Why Reminders Alone Do Not Get Invoices Paid
Reminders start a conversation; they do not finish one. When a customer receives a chase, a large share reply rather than pay, with a query, a dispute, a request for a revised invoice, or a promise to pay on a future date. Each reply is a fork in the process, and each one blocks payment until someone responds.
Rule-based tools automate only the outbound half of this. They send reminders faster and to more accounts, which increases the volume of replies without adding any capacity to handle them. The AR team ends up managing an inbox of responses generated by the automation itself.
AI agents are suited to collections because they can read the reply, understand the intent, retrieve the relevant data, and respond, so the conversation keeps moving instead of stalling in a shared inbox.
| Step in the collections conversation | Legacy reminder tools | Paraglide |
| Reminder | Templated, sent on a fixed schedule | Personalised to the account |
| Customer reply | Returned to the AR team | Read and handled by the agent |
| Follow-up | New message, no history | Sent in the existing thread with full context |
How AI Agents Differ From Rule-Based Collections Tools
Collections tooling falls into three generations, and the difference is what happens once a customer replies.
| Generation | Approach | Handling of customer replies |
| Gen 1 (legacy / RPA) | Deterministic, pre-LLM reminder automation | Left to the AR team |
| Gen 2 (SaaS) | Rule-based reminder workflows and dashboards | Left to the AR team, or templated at best |
| Gen 3 (AI-native, e.g. Paraglide) | AI agents that run two-way conversations | Read, answered, and followed up by the agent, with escalation for complex cases |
Rule-based tools follow a fixed cadence. AI agents follow the customer. In collections, where the reply almost always decides whether and when payment lands, that distinction determines whether a tool chases invoices or collects them.
How AI-Native Differs From Pre-AI Solutions
An AI-native collections platform is built around agents from the ground up, rather than adding AI features on top of a rule-based reminder engine. Paraglide was designed this way from the start: the agent is the product, not a layer bolted onto an older workflow.
The practical difference shows up in what the tool hands back to the AR team. Pre-AI solutions produce a to-do list. They surface a worklist of overdue accounts, unread replies, and follow-ups due, then leave a person to work through each item. The software organises the chasing; the team still does it.
AI-native agents do the work. Instead of adding an account to a queue, the agent sends the outreach, reads the reply, answers the query, and books the follow-up. The worklist shrinks because the conversations are being resolved, not because they have been sorted more neatly.
| Capability | Pre-AI solution | AI-native (Paraglide) |
| Built around | A rule engine, with AI added later | Agents, from the ground up |
| Output to the team | A to-do list of accounts to chase | Conversations run and resolved |
| Customer replies | Flagged for a human to answer | Read, answered, or routed with context |
| Role of the AR team | Works through every account | Handles complex cases; agents run the rest |
The result is a shift from software that tells the AR team who to chase to agents that carry out the chasing and the conversation that follows.
How Paraglide Applies AI Agents to Collections
Paraglide is an AI-native O2C platform whose Collections Agent runs end-to-end, two-way collections conversations, including replies and follow-ups. It works from live account data, adapts to how each customer responds, and routes disputes and sensitive cases to an AR specialist with full context assembled.
Because the agent resolves the replies and queries that block payment rather than only sending reminders, the impact shows up in DSO. Paraglide customers reduce DSO by an average of 34%, cut manual AR work by 75%, and reduce credit losses by 24%, with implementation in under ten days.
How to Implement AI Agents in Credit Control
Implementing AI agents in credit control means connecting an agent to your accounting data and finance inbox, defining what it handles automatically, and expanding its scope as it proves reliable. With an AI-native platform such as Paraglide,AI agents can handle 2-way collection conversations; answer billing queries, resolve disputes, chase customers with personalised payment reminders, manage replies and continue to follow up in existing threads..
A practical rollout follows six steps:
- Map the current credit control workflow. Document how reminders, replies, disputes, and escalations are handled today, and which query types consume the most AR time. This defines what the agent should take on first.
- Connect the data sources. Give the agent access to the accounting or ERP system and the finance inbox so it can work from live account balances, invoice data, and full conversation threads rather than a static export.
- Set the escalation rules. Decide what the agent resolves end-to-end and what it routes to an AR specialist, for example disputes, deductions above a value threshold, or high-value accounts. This keeps the team in control of sensitive cases.
- Define outreach tone and cadence. Configure how the agent personalises reminders and follow-ups by account, so outreach reflects the relationship rather than a single fixed template.
- Run in supervised mode first. Start with the agent drafting responses for review, then expand its autonomy on routine query types as accuracy is confirmed. This builds trust before the agent acts unattended.
- Measure and expand. Track DSO, response time, and manual workload against the baseline from step one, then widen the agent’s scope across more query types and accounts.
The sequence matters more than the speed. Starting with a clear map of the workflow and firm escalation rules is what allows an AI-native rollout to reach full coverage quickly without losing oversight of the accounts that need it.
Frequently asked questions
What are AI agents in collections?
AI agents in collections are software agents that run the full debtor conversation: chasing overdue invoices, reading and answering customer replies, handling queries and disputes, and following up until payment. They manage collections as a two-way exchange rather than a fixed sequence of reminders.
How do AI agents in collections reduce DSO?
AI agents reduce DSO by resolving the replies and queries that block payment, such as disputes, statement requests, and promises to pay, instead of only sending reminders. Paraglide customers reduce DSO by an average of 34% through faster resolution of these conversations.
What is the difference between AI agents and automated payment reminders?
Automated reminders send outreach on a fixed schedule and leave every reply to the AR team. AI agents read each reply, understand the intent, retrieve live account data, and respond or follow up, so the collections conversation continues rather than stalling in a shared inbox.
Can AI collections agents handle disputes and promises to pay?
Yes. An AI collections agent logs promises to pay and follows up on the agreed date, and captures disputes and routes them to an AR specialist with full account context. Straightforward queries are answered directly, while complex or sensitive cases are escalated for review.
Summary
AI agents in collections matter because they finish the conversation that a reminder only starts. Rule-based tools automate outbound chasing and leave every reply, dispute, and follow-up to the AR team, which is where collections actually stalls. AI-native platforms such as Paraglide run the two-way conversation end to end, which is why the DSO impact comes from resolution rather than more frequent reminders.
Learn more at paraglide.ai.
Speak to Rasmus and the team at financeSHOWCASE events – find out your nearest venue and. book your FREE tickets today. Just click here
