Paperless Banking – The Dream is Real
By Joe Trafton, Senior Vice
President, COCC
Decades have passed
since the financial press proclaimed
that a “Checkless Society” was close at
hand. Check 21, image statements,
computer output to laser disk (COLD),
and document scanning brought banking’s
paperless dream closer to reality. But
business complexity and regulation have
continued to inflate the paper monster,
making bankers wonder if paperless
banking would always remain a dream.
Today the news is that paperless banking
is alive and possible – not just for
super-regional institutions with
bottomless technology budgets, but for
community banks who have the vision and
desire to move the paper mountain.
Essential components for success with
paperless banking involve several next
generation technologies:
|
 |
|
-
Document management to
collect, organize and locate the statements,
account applications, loan portfolios,
notices, receipts, signature cards and
appraisals generated by the daily business
of banking.
-
E-Signature to keep the
bank’s applications and forms all
electronic. Most of these documents are
electronic already, but they get printed for
signature and then scanned into the document
archive. E-Signature stops the paper
madness.
-
Robust communications and
security so that bank-wide, everyone who
needs access to documents gets access, no
matter if they’re in the office or at a
customer location. This works well for
off-site loan originators and auditors who
are often given access to an originator’s or
auditor’s ‘folder.’
-
Check image capture
(branch or teller), remote deposit capture,
and image ATMs to convert paper checks into
images at the point of origin. Paper never
leaves the bank.
-
Online account opening,
maintenance, bill payment, and more to
prevent paper from entering any banking
process.
Do any of these technologies
sound like ‘plug and play’? Of course not.
Inserting technologies this deeply into a bank’s
operations provides an opportunity for the bank
to thoroughly review its workflows, information
needs, and security.
Why? Because paperless banking’s real
contribution to bank efficiency lies in managing
paperless business processes and establishing
best practices.
Paperless banking opens the door to automating
time-consuming processes, such as account
opening, archiving, search, and access,
Employees will cut the time spent searching for
paper documents by 95% or more. Executed forms
are available within minutes of e-Signature.
Every search is documented for audit purposes.
Technology investments at this level should
include custom installation services coupled
with training and workflow design. This will
ensure that bank staff understand how paperless
banking can raise efficiency bank-wide. It can
also be a catalyst for employees to discover new
ways to generate savings with paperless
technologies.
One of the most important generators of
paperless banking savings is customer adoption.
With e-Statement adoption hovering at 20-25%
nationwide and remote deposit capture at 1% of
all U.S. businesses, there is a lot more room
for growth in paperless banking.
Banks might consider selling paperless banking
technologies to consumers and small businesses
as a gateway to efficiency as well as a ‘Go
Green’ product. Consumers who use e-Statements
can find their transactions more quickly and
eliminate filing cabinets in their houses. Small
businesses that use remote deposit can save
thousands of dollars each year by reducing the
time needed to prepare and verify deposits as
well as drive to and from the bank.
When community banks and their customers see the
savings available from paperless banking,
adoption will certainly rise above the current
disappointing levels. We will save a great deal
of money while preventing tons of carbon from
entering the atmosphere each year. That’s a
dream worth making real for everyone.
|
