Identify hardship earlier. Deliver better outcomes.

Hardship volumes are up, but old playbooks haven't changed. The challenge isn't recognising hardship exists - it's having the capability to respond at scale.

Hardship has become a permanent operating challenge

Financial stress is affecting more Australians. Organisations are expected to do more, document more and demonstrate better customer outcomes than ever before.

77%

of Australians report financial stress
Source: Finder, 2026

9 in 10

say cost-of-living pressures have worsened
Source: NHSAC, 2025

~50%

of income absorbed by mortgage repayments among stressed households
Source: Youi Survey, 2025–26

Reactive hardship is now a liability — regulatory, commercial and reputational.

AFCA investigations continue to expose gaps in hardship identification, customer support and documentation. As hardship demand grows, those gaps become harder to hide.

Regulatory exposure

Proactive identification and documented support are becoming baseline expectations across sectors.

Operational strain

Hardship demand is increasing faster than manual processes can scale, creating inconsistency and compliance risk.

Customer attrition

Customers who feel unsupported are more likely to complain, disengage or abandon repayment plans, impacting both reputation and retention.

The strongest hardship operations identify vulnerability before customers self-identify.

By the time a customer declares hardship, the opportunity to intervene may already have been missed.

Kairos is Firstsource's AI operating system, drawing on 7,000+ behavioural segments, 250+ event tags and 100% AI-powered call review. It encodes 25 years of hardship and collections expertise into real-time guidance, helping teams identify vulnerability earlier, support customers consistently and improve outcomes over time.

Predict

Identify emerging hardship through behavioural, transactional and life-event signals.

Engage

Guide agents through complex hardship conversations with real-time coaching and compliance support.

Resolve

Create sustainable outcomes that are documented, compliant and measurable.

End-to-end hardship management. Your operation. Our expertise.

Predict. Engage. Resolve. is more than a framework. It's how we operate hardship programs every day—combining specialist teams, structured processes and embedded intelligence to deliver better customer and business outcomes.

Hardship assessment

Structured, empathetic assessments that identify vulnerability early and gather only what's needed to determine the right support pathway.

Vulnerability identification at first contact
Capacity-to-pay assessments and affordability modelling
AFCA-compliant documentation
Culturally safe pathways for First Nations and CALD customers

Payment plan management

We establish, maintain and review arrangements proactively—before plans fail or customers fall behind.

Arrangement setting aligned to affordability
Proactive milestone reviews
Empathy-first broken arrangement re-engagement
Automated written notices with compliant record-keeping

Reporting and governance

Reporting built for operational leaders, risk teams and executives—providing visibility into both customer outcomes and compliance performance.

Volume and outcome dashboards
Arrangement success and break rates
Compliance and quality reporting
NPS, complaint rates and repeat-contact tracking

Specialist hardship teams

Dedicated hardship professionals trained in vulnerability, hardship management and sector-specific obligations.

Sector-trained: banking, utilities, telecommunications and insurance
AI-powered and human quality assurance on every interaction
Domestic violence and complex vulnerability escalation pathways
White-labelled delivery in your brand

Financial Hardship Management Australia | Hardship Readiness Assessment

From Distress Signals to Resolution: A Telecom Hardship Success Story

One major Australian telecommunications provider needed to improve hardship identification, strengthen compliance and create a clearer pathway from distress to resolution.

Challenges

Inconsistent hardship identification across agent cohorts
Compliance risk from undocumented conversations
No clear pathway from distress signal to arrangement

Results

35.9 NPS | 83% Customer Resolution Rate | 81% Financial Hardship Accuracy | 2.5% Reduction in Repeat Contacts

Proven in high-volume customer environments

25 Years | 41M Customers | 300M Outreach | 3,000+ Specialists

Why Firstsource

Built for first-party relationships: Every interaction happens in your brand, protecting customer trust during moments that matter most.
Intelligence embedded into operations: Kairos combines 25 years of hardship and collections expertise with AI-powered coaching, quality assurance and continuous learning.
Outcome-led accountability: We measure success through sustainable arrangements, customer experience and long-term resolution—not activity metrics.
Proven sector expertise: Deep experience across banking, utilities, telecommunications and insurance environments.
Design. Build. Operate. : Operating model design, technology enablement and managed delivery under one partner.

Book Your Hardship Readiness Assessment

A focused session with our Australian hardship specialists to review your current approach, identify gaps and explore opportunities to strengthen outcomes.

You'll receive:

A benchmark against sector peers on identification and resolution rates
Gap assessment against AFCA 2026 and your sector’s code
Opportunities to improve identification, engagement and resolution
A clear view of what a managed hardship capability could look like for you