Chicago gave us a lot to talk about.
CINC Up 2026 brought together some of the smartest people in community association management for a week centered on growth, technology, connection, and a question that came up again and again: How do we use AI and automation to make the work better without losing the people behind it?
For TechCollect, that question is at the center of what we’re building.
We came to CINC Up ready to talk about the future of collections, technology adoption, and what actually belongs in a modern management company’s tech stack. We left with new ideas, great conversations, stronger relationships, and one very big announcement about what’s next.
Oh, and somebody left $500 richer.
A Big Announcement: TechCollect Is Coming to Cephai Skills
One of the biggest moments of CINC Up for us was announcing TechCollect’s full integration into Cephai Skills.
The direction of the industry is clear: technology works best when it becomes part of the systems and workflows teams already use—not another disconnected platform employees have to remember to log into.
That idea came up throughout the week, including in our session on the Triple Bottom Line, where we challenged attendees to evaluate technology through three lenses: People, Profit, and Purpose. Does it keep people in control? Does it work across the platform instead of creating another disconnected system? And does it make the work less tedious and more meaningful?
Bringing TechCollect into Cephai Skills is the next step in delivering on exactly that vision.
It means more intelligence where teams already work, less context switching, and an even more connected approach to identifying and resolving delinquency before it becomes a legal problem.
Rethinking Collections Before They Become Collections
Our Friday breakout, “Beyond Collections: Rethinking Delinquency Resolution with Intelligence and Empathy,” focused on a fundamental shift happening across the industry.
For years, delinquency has often followed a fairly predictable path:
Balance → Letter → Letter → Attorney.
But two homeowners with the same $1,200 balance may be facing completely different circumstances. One forgot to update autopay. Another may not understand the notice. Someone else may have lost a job or experienced a major medical event.
Intelligent pre-collections gives management companies the ability to consider more than the balance alone—account history, communication history, timing, homeowner behavior, policy, channel, and response—to determine the next best action.
And starting earlier doesn’t mean being more aggressive.
In fact, earlier communication can mean smaller balances, fewer accumulated fees, more payment options, fewer manager escalations, fewer surprises, and more time to find a resolution before legal action becomes necessary.
That matters even more as states across the country continue increasing notice requirements, expanding homeowner protections, and pushing legal escalation later in the process.
The conversation is changing from “How efficiently can we send an account to collections?” to “How intelligently can we prevent it from getting there?”
That is a much more interesting problem to solve.
Building Technology People Will Actually Use
Technology only delivers value when people adopt it.
That was the focus of another Friday session, “Technology People Will Actually Use: Reducing Friction Without Losing the Human Touch,” moderated by CINC Systems’ Jeff Dunn with TechCollect founder Gar Liebler.
The framework was simple:
Value + Trust > Friction.
People will tolerate some friction when they understand why a tool matters and trust what is happening behind it.
For homeowners, that might mean clearly seeing how a platform helps them stay informed, communicate, participate in their community, or make payments.
For community managers and accounting teams, value may come from having better financial insight when talking to a Board. Trust comes from knowing the data is grounded in the information already inside their management software.
TechCollect was the proof point for what this can look like in practice.
Rather than waiting for delinquency notices, collector referrals, ledger reconciliation, and eventual legal escalation, pre-collections can reach homeowners through their preferred channels, at better times, with flexible paths to resolution and clear, empathetic communication.
And the numbers make the case: the presentation highlighted 90%+ recovered before attorney escalation, 2.4X faster recovery of past-due assessments, $3.60 in additional revenue per door, and a 90%+ reduction in legal expenses.
People. Profit. Purpose.
We also joined CINC leaders and RowCal CEO Jake Christenson for “The Triple Bottom Line: What Belongs in Your Stack?”
Moderated by Melissa Libner, the panel included CINC CPO Ashley Berensohn, CTO Duri Chitayat, Gar Liebler of TechCollect, and Christenson.
The conversation challenged a premise that is becoming increasingly important as AI tools multiply:
Simply “having AI” is not a differentiator anymore.
The better question is whether the technology actually improves the business.
Does it help the people using it?
Does it create measurable economic value?
Does it support the larger purpose of the organization?
The session distilled that idea into one phrase we’ll be carrying with us long after CINC Up:
Less tedious. More meaningful.
That should be the goal of AI—not technology for technology’s sake, but technology that gives people more time to do the work that requires judgment, creativity, empathy, and relationships.
And Yes, We Gave Away $500
Not every CINC Up highlight required a breakout session.
We invited attendees to stop by TechCollect, hear what we were announcing, and enter for a chance to walk away with $500 cash.
Someone did.
We’re always happy to talk pre-collections, automation, AI, and delinquency strategy—but handing somebody five hundred dollars certainly made for a pretty good booth conversation too.
The Best Part Was Still the People
For all the discussion about AI, data, automation, and what comes next, the most consistent takeaway from CINC Up had very little to do with software.
It was the people.
Clients meeting partners in person. Remote teams finally getting into the same room. Old friends reconnecting. Competitors trading ideas. Leaders openly talking about what’s working, what isn’t, and what the industry needs to start, stop, and keep doing.
That spirit came through again and again in the post-event conversations we saw: excitement about new technology, yes, but even more appreciation for the community behind it.
That matters.
Because community association management is ultimately a business built around communities—and the technology supporting it should strengthen those relationships rather than get in their way.
Now Comes the Important Part
A conference can give you ideas.
What matters is what happens when everyone gets home.
For TechCollect, CINC Up reinforced where we believe the industry is headed: earlier intervention instead of later escalation, intelligence paired with empathy, connected technology instead of disconnected tools, and automation that gives people time back rather than taking people out of the process.
Our integration into Cephai Skills is another step toward that future.
The conversations in Chicago made one thing very clear: this industry is ready to evolve.
So are we.
Until next time, CINC Up.
Want to see what pre-collections can look like inside your operation? Let’s chat.
