INTEGRATED BANKING SOFTWARE INCREASES PRODUCTIVITY

AVON, Conn. MARCH, 2004 — Banks and credit unions have been downloading files and manually updating spreadsheets for so long that no one remembers when they started or can imagine how they’ll go away. Scott Hodgins, a banking systems consultant with Cornerstone Advisors, says, “The single biggest issue in our core selection processes is integration. And second place is a distant second. Many mid-sized banks and large credit unions are becoming weary of the responsibility of integrating the many disparate systems that they have purchased.”

Now enter COCC, a Connecticut-based data processing service for community banks and credit unions, that claims to have overcome the integration hurdle with “open” systems. COCC is the only service bureau to have migrated its 115 clients to the system, and the only one to have integrated its Oracle® financial application with its open account processing system. “As a result, our client institutions no longer download or update anything,” according to Joseph Lockwood, COCC’s Chief Technology Officer. “The time and cost savings are truly eye-opening.”

The download and manual update processes drive many financial institutions’ most important back room function: balancing. Back office staff spend an enormous amount of time downloading information, updating systems, and manually re-entering data into stand-alone spreadsheets to compare checking, loan, debit card and ATM activity against figures that have been posted to the general ledger. These figures ultimately drive the institution’s board and regulatory reporting.

“Typical back room processes provide opportunities for inaccuracy,” said Mark Shaw, COCC’s First Vice President – Client Support. “By automating these processes, financial institutions stand to save significant amounts of time, and increase their accuracy as well their ability to control their numbers.”

Shaw explained that integrating the account processing, financials, EFT and reporting systems does far more than automate balancing. “System integration offers the opportunity for a financial institution to challenge its procedures and build on the new technical efficiencies,” said Shaw.

Since the system was implemented at $900 million-asset People’s Bank in Holyoke, Mass., the institution’s finance department has been able to downsize by one full time employee, according to controller Molly Keegan. With automated updates to Investment, ALM, Profitability, and other systems, and reports from these systems available via on-line archives, “anyone in the institution with appropriate access can view their reports first thing in the morning,” Keegan observed. “That has precipitated positive changes in overall performance.”

Furthermore, the Central Reports archive automates record retention, eliminating the added tasks of scanning and storing reports for historical purposes.

COCC’s Lockwood adds that integration also simplifies system upgrades. “Because we run all the software from our data center, we simply install the new version here. Our clients leave the office on one version at night and return to an upgraded system the next morning. It’s allowing bankers to be bankers again.”

The integrated financial system offers additional reporting functions. Not only can the institution apply its colors and logo to the printed reports, it can also support live reporting at meetings where management presents information on a PC and drills down on any total for full detail on every transaction that contributes to the total. The interface to these functions is the highly familiar Microsoft Excel.

“The key to all this functionality is a common Oracle® base and open architecture,” said Lockwood. “The financials and account processing systems are written in the same language, so everything fits and less custom code is needed. That’s why we chose Oracle® to begin with. In addition, Oracle® makes it easy to accept information from non-Oracle® systems, such as eBanking, Investments and Asset/Liability Management.”