Data helps manage debt. Digitalization is changing the work of debt advisors, says David Borges from People in Need

January 26, 2026

Debt advisory is not only about empathy and personal conversations. When an organization works with thousands of clients each year, data quality, processes, and tools become critical. David Borges, Financial Analyst at People in Need, a major Czech non-profit organization that provides humanitarian aid and supports human rights, explains in the new Adastra podcast how digitalization helps make debt advisory more effective—and helps advisors dedicate more time to high-quality client work and a more systematic approach to addressing their situations.

“Each case involves dozens of data points—from contracts and interest rates to legal assessments. Without structure and automation, we would drown in it,” says Borges. That is why Člověk v tísni, together with Adastra, built a new solution based on Microsoft Power Platform that unifies data, automates document creation, and significantly reduces errors.

Watch the interview (in Czech):

Listen to the podcast (in Czech):

In the podcast, Borges explains why working with Excel files, Word templates, and shared drives was no longer sustainable, how more than one hundred debt advisors were guided through a change in how they work, and why data quality was one of the biggest challenges. Today, the system automatically generates documents tailored to the client’s specific situation and the legal arguments used, saves advisors time, and allows cases to be tracked consistently across the organization.

The biggest impact, however, comes at a higher level. Thanks to structured data, People in Need can analyze thousands of loan contracts and rely on hard evidence when evaluating lenders or participating in discussions about changes to consumer credit legislation. “Suddenly, we’re not relying on impressions anymore. We have proof,” says Borges.

• How long did development and rollout take?
• Why was the pilot phase crucial for adoption?
• And which processes does organization want to digitalize next—from communication with the Financial Arbiter to court proceedings?

Read the podcast as an interview

(The interview was shortened and edited using ChatGPT)

Ivana Karhanová: Automation, data quality, and working with data are not limited to commercial organizations. Today, I’d like to share a strong story from People in Need, which worked together with Adastra on a solution for people struggling with debt. The new solution runs on Power Platform. The result is a project that has gained the trust of internal users, is scalable—and most importantly, helps people who are unable to deal with problematic loans on their own. My guest in the studio today is David Borges, Financial Analyst at People in Need. Welcome.

David Borges: Thank you for the invitation.

Ivana Karhanová: You were Executive Director for Finance at ČSOB Bank before joining People in Need. What led you to leave that role?

David Borges: I worked in banking for over twenty years and went through many different roles. At some point, I felt it might be worth trying something completely different. I decided to leave finance, although not for long. After about three months, through mutual acquaintances, I found myself at People in Need. It quickly became clear that my experience from banking, whether in finance or process management, was very applicable here as well. It’s still about money, just from the other side of the river.

Ivana Karhanová: People in Need helps individuals dealing with repayment problems, often very serious ones. Could you explain what kinds of situations you address and why digitalization became necessary?

David Borges: Our assistance goes beyond debt alone. In our advisory centers, we help people with housing, employment, health issues, communication with authorities, and sometimes addictions or family problems.

But debt is very often the common thread running through the household. For various reasons—lack of skills or difficult life situations—people get into financial trouble. Because they don’t have access to standard bank products, they turn to lenders who offer loans under much worse conditions. Getting out of that situation is often very difficult. Dozens of debt advisors help thousands of clients every year. At that scale, digital solutions are essential. Otherwise, we would simply drown in the workload.

Ivana Karhanová: Could you describe what the process looks like in practice? What happens between People in Need, the client, and the lender?

David Borges: It always starts with mapping the situation. Many people come to us after struggling for a year or two. They often don’t know how many loans they have, from whom, under what conditions, and frequently don’t have all the contracts or documents. We sit down with them and go through everything. Already at this stage, the need to collect, store, and structure data becomes obvious.

Ivana Karhanová: Collecting and structuring the data.

David Borges: Exactly. Once we understand the situation, we choose a path forward. Sometimes it’s negotiation with the creditor—supporting the client in requesting rescheduling, deferred payments, or consolidation, meaning paying off the worst loans with a better one.

In other cases, that’s no longer possible because the client has been in long-term default. In those situations, we sometimes discover that the loan itself was not granted in accordance with the law. We have the expertise to identify such cases and help the client formulate objections. We assist with negotiations, communication with the Financial Arbiter, or court proceedings. In the most extreme cases—when debts are unmanageable—we help with personal bankruptcy by preparing documentation for the court.

All of these processes involve multiple phases, actors, and large volumes of data.

Ivana Karhanová: When you talk about data, you mean names of financial institutions, personal data of debtors, product names, interest rates, maturities, and similar information.

David Borges: Exactly, and legal assessments of whether contracts are valid, what is wrong with them, and why. Our ambition was not to digitize the entire process end to end. But one specific area—communication with creditors—was where we really needed support.

Ivana Karhanová: Communication with creditors often meant sending documents—templates that had to be filled with the correct data for each debtor.

David Borges: That’s right. If a loan contract wasn’t concluded properly—for example, if the lender failed to assess the client’s ability to repay—the contract can be invalid under the law. In that case, the lender loses the right to interest or certain fees, although the principal still must be repaid, ideally under reasonable terms. What’s required is assessing the contract, arguing the case legally, referring to legislation or case law, and proposing a solution. We can do this, but a typical client cannot. That’s where we step in.

Ivana Karhanová: You have roughly one hundred debt advisors. Before this project, they worked in different ways like Excel, SharePoint, Word, and data quality was an issue. Adastra helped you build a Power Platform solution that inserts the correct information into documents automatically. Is that accurate?

David Borges: Yes. We weren’t starting from zero. We had methodologies and templates. But they were limited by the tools. Advisors had to make sure they were using the correct Word templates and filling them manually. That sometimes weakened our legal arguments. Data quality was another major issue. Records were incomplete or inconsistent, sometimes not saved at all. From an analytical perspective, working with that data was almost impossible—and very time-consuming.

What Adastra helped us build has three pillars.

• First, a database with a clear logical structure.
• Second, a user-facing application where advisors can enter data, browse cases, and track how they develop.
• Third, a Power Automate layer that generates documents based on logic. As advisors describe the situation, the system creates a document tailored to that specific case.

Ivana Karhanová: How did advisors react when you introduced the new system?

David Borges: At the beginning, there were doubts. Not about the solution itself, but about whether it was necessary. Many advisors said that the core of their work is the conversation with the client. They map the debts and then quickly update a Word document.

Our argument was that because the core work is elsewhere, it doesn’t make sense to spend additional time on tasks a system can handle better. We also showed that errors existed and that onboarding new advisors was unnecessarily difficult. We decided to try it.

Ivana Karhanová: And how quickly did acceptance come?

David Borges: We started with a pilot involving five or six very experienced advisors. Feedback was very positive. We then expanded usage to all branches and rolled the solution out across all debt advisory centers. Each phase confirmed that the solution worked and delivered value. Not everyone is enthusiastic, but the vast majority see the benefit.

Ivana Karhanová: You now have structured data in the background. How are you using it?

David Borges: One of the first examples was incorporating contract data into our Responsible Lending Index. For the first time, we could include the number of problematic contracts per lender. It became clear—based on hard data—which companies repeatedly produce problematic loans, and which do not.

Some findings surprised me. Banks appear only rarely, despite serving most of the market. Some non-bank providers perform much better than expected, while others generated hundreds of problematic contracts within less than a year.

Now we can analyze those contracts and clearly show what is wrong with them. This gives us a strong factual basis, especially as changes to consumer credit legislation are being discussed.

Ivana Karhanová: That clearly strengthens your position.

David Borges: Exactly. It’s hard to argue that this is just our opinion. We have thousands of contracts in structured form to support our claims.

Ivana Karhanová: What comes next?

David Borges: We want to expand the solution beyond communication with creditors. The next step is communication with the Financial Arbiter. Even though the data already exists in our database, much of it is still retyped manually. That’s an obvious opportunity for further automation. Later, there may also be court-related processes. We’re evaluating what makes sense to automate.

Ivana Karhanová: Do you see potential beyond personal finance advisory?

David Borges: We explored offering the solution to other non-profit organizations that work with debtors and cannot afford custom development. The idea is meaningful, especially because legal templates could be updated centrally. There are licensing and infrastructure challenges, so we’re not there yet—but we believe it’s a worthwhile direction.

Ivana Karhanová: David, thank you very much for the conversation.

David Borges: Thank you. And I’d like to thank the Adastra team as well. The collaboration was professional and constructive, and the atmosphere was genuinely positive. It was clear people enjoyed working on a project with real social impact.