Q1 2026 BUYER'S GUIDE

Virtual Agents in U.S. Consumer Collections

A data-driven assessment of what’s real, what’s hype, and how to pilot safely and successfully.

Download the full report
Includes the White Paper + RFP Starter (Excel)

Virtual agents are now ready to dramatically improve collections performance.

The question is how to get started and what capabilities are necessary in choosing a virtual agent partner. This guide provides a practical, decision-ready framework for evaluating vendors and separating signal from noise

WHAT YOU'LL GET

Inside the Q1 2026 Guide

Readiness Framework

How to know if you're ready to pilot—and what to consider before you start.

Vendor Landscape

A Practical framework for identifying production-ready vendors.

Evaluation Criteria

The technical factors that drive success—or failure—in real-world, regulated production environments.

Compliance & Risk

What compliant deployment requires, and how to manage the new risks of virtual agents.

Pilot-to-Production Roadmap

A phased rollout designed to help teams build the case for a go / no-go decision.

Bonus RFP Starter (Excel)

A cut-and-paste requirements template teams can share directly with vendors.

“We invested hundreds of hours compiling this analysis to offer what we believe is the most practical, vendor-neutral reference currently available, designed to support concrete planning and informed execution.”

Scott Hamilton
ARM Tech Advisors,
Authors of the guide

Bonus: RFP-Ready Requirements Sheet (Excel)

Writing requirements from scratch can be daunting. This starter provides a proven baseline you can tailor and send immediately, built around the factors that actually determine production success in collections: latency, guardrails, compliance workflows, auditability, security, and monitoring