William Meany is on the phone from Melbourne, Australia. In a few hours he will board a plane for Hong Kong, crossing the dateline in reverse - so Wednesday becomes Tuesday - and he will have a 23-hour gain to spread the word about ASSET Inc. to yet another audience.

For the past five years, ASSET Inc. has been exporting its debt recovery systems around the globe. As a result, sales and profits have soared more than 500%, with revenues rocketing to $105-million from $20-million.Perhaps even more impressive is that aptly named ASSET has retained every client it started with in 1978. It always has demonstrated two key differentiators that set it appart from competitors.

First, is the practice of treating debt-challenged customers with dignity and respect. "Accounts don't borrow money, people do," says Mr. Meany, ASSET's president."Being nice gets attention, co-operation, and results."Second, is its focus on technology. ASSET developed its first Web application in 1995, well before most people had even heard of the Internet. "Most collection systems are set up to collect on the account level," Mr. Meany says.

"Our system identifies you as a customer and allows all of your accounts to be consolidated providing for more visible and efficient operational management and better customer attention." As a result, ASSET stands alone in having collection technologies in place at each of Canada's big five banks.

It also stands tall in its commitment to employees and the greater community. Company sponsored retreats, daily inhouse gourmet lunches and a Bright Idea program all work toward motivating and keeping an innovative team. ASSET also sets aside a percentage of its operating budget to support about 30 charities.The goal is to unleash ASSET's winning ways on the world. We recognize the same issues we identified in Canada exist all over the world," Mr. Meany says. "We intend to capitalize on that in other markets."