Hyland Software's Document Management Blog

In Pursuit of Paperless Servicing

// May 17th, 2013 // No Comments » // Financial Services, Lending // Michelle Harbinak Shapiro

Any lender will tell you the most paper-intensive department within their organization is servicing. This rang loud and clear at the recent National Mortgage News Servicing Conference.

Everyone there agreed that automation advancements on the origination side of the house have made a paper-intensive process somewhat easier. But at the end of the day, 200-plus-page paper loan files have to be delivered to servicing for maintenance and storage. It’s up to the servicing department to ensure the documents aren’t lost and are stored in the correct loan file.

Not an easy task.

At the conference, I spoke about how enterprise content management (ECM) – also called document management – alleviates these pains by converting mountains of paper and files into electronic images stored in an easily searchable and indexed format. This prevents documents from being misplaced and allows them you to share them internally, as well as with investors and other service providers.

Save Some Dough

With document management, you streamline operations by scanning all documents contained in – and associated with – a loan file into a central database. For many servicers, files are typically printed out and stored as a hard copy in an off-site storage facility. Document management systems create the ability to store files in a secure electronic database, allowing your employees to access them immediately. The paperless environment eliminates the need to print and store multiple copies of loan files, which adds up to significant cost savings.

Many servicing organizations who attended the conference have production offices located throughout the country, and the influx of documents and files to their servicing departments is staggering. In addition, servicing departments receive document and file requests from production staff for research and market information. Without ECM, someone visits the storage facility, physically retrieves the needed document, makes a copy and then ships or couriers the copy to the production office.

By storing files electronically, the production staff has access to all closed loan files through the document management database, eliminating much of an institution’s storage and shipping expenditures.

Reduce Risk

If they don’t image loan files, servicers run the risk of information and documents getting lost in the shuffle. To mitigate this risk, institutions can use document management to set up an indexing strategy and automatically attach keywords, or metadata, to all documents and files. Indexing enhances “findability” because it ensures everything is saved correctly using agreed-upon search terms, such as loan number or borrower last name.

Storing business-critical data on paper also leaves firms vulnerable to data theft, natural disasters or misplaced documents. This creates the need for multiple copies of loan files. Not only is this “back-up” system inefficient, it also makes theft much easier. If you have three to four copies of a loan file, will you notice if one goes missing?

Probably not. 

As many attendees shared, the largest pain point for any successful servicing operation is how to manage the volume of documents and files the lending process creates. With document management, servicers of all sizes are able to capture, store and manage documents in a way that suits their individual business needs, ensures greater document security and increases efficiency. That’s a goal everyone at the conference agreed is worth pursuing.

Go Green, Become More Effective with Document Management

// May 14th, 2013 // No Comments » // Financial Services // Michelle Harbinak Shapiro

The recent annual celebrations and educational efforts supporting Earth Day show the fight for a clean environment continues. While you may have a forward-thinking environmental policy, is that enough when you repeatedly print out extensive loan packages and transport them 200 miles to headquarters?

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That’s where document management, or enterprise content management (ECM), software comes in. The most obvious benefit of document management is that it decreases your dependency on paper. But it also offers numerous other benefits, including:

• Automating document retention
• Simplifying records management
• Responding to audit requests and legal concerns without hesitation
• Safeguarding sensitive customer, member or employee data

There are three key ways document management helps you achieve these goals while lessening your impact on the environment.

1. Reducing paper use        

Deploying document management software dramatically reduces your reliance on paper. You simply scan all incoming paper mail, invoices and other documents. Your document management solution immediately archives the scanned information as digital images – like emails – in an easily accessible central location. Users then file, search, annotate, share and process these documents without ever reverting back to physical paper.

By moving to a more paperless office environment, you eliminate archive rooms, filing cabinets and storage areas. This helps cut costs like heating and cooling those storage rooms. And by reducing your reliance on paper, you take a proactive approach to disaster recovery.

You can also do more with less by using electronic document workflow to automate manual and paper-based processes. Instead of wading through tons of emails, searching through desks or waiting for documents to eventually make their way to you through interoffice mail, workflow automatically routes them to the appropriate people. It also alerts stakeholders that work has moved forward and is ready for the next step, speeding up processes like loan originations.

2. Eliminating printing and photocopying

Printing and photocopying are expensive and environmentally unfriendly processes. By using document management, you cut the amount of printing and photocopying required to run your business. It enables users to view, edit and share documents with colleagues in an entirely digital format. You take care of all the tasks that used to require users to print or photocopy documents in digital form.

No more printer cartridges; no more photocopy repair calls for help.

3. Cutting down on couriers

Not only are couriers costly, they add days to the lending approval process and they aren’t environmentally friendly. Courier and mail services that transport documents and lending packages between branches are an often overlooked environmental impact of paper-based processes. Adopting a truly paperless office cuts the pollution caused when you use courier trucks.

You can make a real difference. When you reduce your use of paper, you increase your speed and accuracy while you cut costs. The planet – and your customers and members – will thank you.

During core switch, credit union’s document management solution evolves with it

// May 1st, 2013 // No Comments » // Credit Unions, Financial Services // Michelle Harbinak Shapiro

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Whether it’s due to limited workflow functionality or an inability to integrate well with other systems, switching cores is a growing trend in the credit union industry. With more consumers looking at financial options than ever before, the systems you rely on every day need to be able to communicate. It’s essential that you’re able to answer questions quicker than your competition – especially when you’re switching cores. 

Read on to learn how Orion Federal Credit Union leveraged the flexibility of its document management solution to enable communication when it switched its core system to Corelation’s Keystone.

1.       Decrease paper dependency so employees easily find information

With loan originations on the increase and new members signing up, growing credit unions are awash in paper. That’s the primary reason why Orion turned to document management – also called enterprise content management (ECM). Now, instead of filing paper, member service representatives scan documents as they receive them. Information is also immediately ingested from branch locations, making it instantly available while kick-starting processes automatically.

Going paperless not only sped processes, it also enabled the Memphis-area credit union to save money on storage and shipping. Instead of relying on costly couriers, everything is easily available in one centrally-located database. And with electronic document workflow automatically forwarding documents and information through processes, Orion gains even more speed and accuracy – giving it a competitive advantage.

2.       Integrate to tie systems together

However, for document management to help decrease costs while increasing productivity, it needs to play well others. That’s one of the big reasons why Orion stuck with its document management solution. With an annual software update that gives it the ability to easily integrate with almost any application, it allows Orion to tie systems together so they communicate and share information.

For example, before using document management, if a member visited a different branch than where his or her signature card was on file, Orion employees had to make phone calls to get copies faxed over. That wasn’t providing superior service, nor was it projecting trust to members.

Sound familiar?

With a document management solution working in the background, member service representatives now retrieve documents and information without leaving familiar applications. All it takes is a mouse-click. The increased speed and ease of the process makes employees more productive and members more satisfied. Integrating its core banking platform with OnBase empowers Orion employees to instantly find information – so they focus on members instead of searching through file cabinets and desks.

3.       Capitalize on flexibility, now and in the future

Another important aspect of integrating a document management solution with other applications is how well it does so without custom coding. That gives you the flexibility to expand the solution on your own – according to your needs and budgets – so it evolves with you. The solution should also be flexible enough so you can implement it departmentally or enterprise-wide. You should also be able to deploy it on-premises or in the cloud – saving on infrastructure costs and letting your IT department focus elsewhere.

With millions of consumers looking for banking options, you need to be able to trust that your systems are optimized so you focus on your members. As cores continue to mature and lure credit unions to switch, you need to make sure you have a platform that will enable your systems to communicate. Using a flexible solution is the key to success.

More and more, business leaders turning to mobile to stay connected; make decisions

// April 8th, 2013 // No Comments » // Cloud Computing, Document Management, Enterprise content management, Financial Services, Government, Healthcare, Higher Education, Insurance, IT, Mobile // Gabriel Baird

Put mobile in the pocket of your decision makers

What do business leaders and their teenage children have in common? In most cases, it’s not the belief that the greatest singer of all time is Justin Bieber.Both young people and decision makers, however, are together in leading the Internet migration from the desktop to mobile devices.The Washington Post reported recently that a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found about 25  percent of the nation’s youth connect to the Internet primarily using mobile devices.The study doesn’t provide data on adults. However, social contact manager Gist, which Research in Motion acquired in 2011, has an excellent infographic about “The Mobile Workstyle.” The graphic shows that 87 percent of IT managers have handed out mobile devices and that mobile access climbed 36 percent between 2009 and 2010.The number of workers going mobile continues to climb. That’s obvious in any airport where business travelers are glued to their handheld devices, answering emails and making business decisions from the concourse.

Critical business information needs to get into the hands of the right people at the right time. In today’s global marketplace, the right people are often on the road. This often creates bottlenecks in workflows until those road warriors can take action. Your ECM vendor provides access to documents from anywhere allowing decision makers to – for instance – review, approve or deny requests.

At Hyland, we’ve seen the trend accelerate since leading the ECM industry into the mobile frontier. Hundreds of our customers are using mobile modules for OnBase to access and act on key documents using their Android phones, Blackberries, Windows phones, iPads and iPhones.

“We’re constantly extending OnBase features so our customers can evolve their solutions in lockstep with the latest devices and get even more and better results,” said Bill Filion, vice president of development for Hyland Software.

The Pew report has prompted talking heads on TV to raise concerns about teens connecting to the Internet without adult supervision. Certainly, music snobs are just as concerned about adults using the Internet to watch performances by Bieber.

Stop the March of Document Madness

// April 3rd, 2013 // No Comments » // Credit Unions, Document Management, Enterprise content management, Financial Services // Michelle Harbinak Shapiro

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While March Madness might be heaven for college basketball fans, credit unions are the ones really racking up the points. In 2012, they reported record earnings, according to SNL Financial. In fact, the industry recorded a 34 percent jump in net income over 2011. That’s a statistic that would even make Duke proud.

However, along with growth in earnings, new memberships and loan applications comes increased paper use. That also means increases in the costs to store, ship and print all that paper. Meanwhile, simple tasks – like retrieving a document or a file – become exponentially harder and more time consuming. Eventually, paper either becomes an issue for a thriving credit union or management uses technology to ease the burden.

Your key sixth player: ECM
That’s where a document management system saves the day. Document management – also called enterprise content management (ECM) – enables credit unions to decrease their dependency on paper to:

• Cut costs
• Increase productivity
• Reduce risks

When considering any IT project, the biggest concerns are how much it will cost to implement and how big of a disruption it will cause. You need to balance the cost of the project with the operational savings and efficiencies you’ll gain. Like any clutch sixth player, the right document management solution works in the background – supporting your systems and users in more ways than they’ll ever know.

A winning game plan: Get faster and more accurate to improve service 
Centralizing documents and information is key to providing winning member service. With an all-star document management solution, you streamline operations by scanning all documents contained in and associated with a member file – or even a loan application – into one central system where they’re immediately accessible to the entire organization. It also easily integrates with other core systems, keeping users working in programs they’re familiar with and sharing information across platforms. With fast access to more information in their familiar applications, employees quickly answer member questions.

Document management also gives employees the ability to attach notes to documents within the member file to track information and provide additional member knowledge to better serve them.

Moving to a paperless environment eliminates the need to print and store multiple copies of loan files and drastically reduces shipping needs among geographically dispersed branches. This provides significant cost savings as well as protection from disaster, theft or loss. It also gives your credit union the ability to answer prospective and current member questions faster than your competition.

Adding further speed, agility and accuracy to the team, automatic indexing decreases the risk of human error when naming files, increasing the ability to find them across the enterprise. And with electronic document workflow automatically forwarding documents through processes, you optimize communication among employees and between branches.

A strong defense
The best defense is a strong offense. Storing member data on paper leaves your credit union vulnerable to data theft or natural disasters. If you don’t image paper documents like loan files, you run the risk of information being difficult to find or even lost.

With document management, you ensure a high level of security with passwords and document access based on user rights. The system tracks all activities providing file security and employee accountability. It also creates audit trails that help comply with regulations and make it easy to prepare for audits. And since data is stored electronically with secure backups, credit unions always have access to important information.

The final shot
The biggest challenge for any servicing operation that wants to be a champion is how to manage the massive volume of documents and files the lending process creates. Through the use of document management, credit unions of all sizes are able to image, store, manage and access electronic documents in a way that suits the individual business need, ensuring greater security and increased efficiencies.

Watching college hoops in March is a lot more fun than jumping through hoops to find what you need to do your job. Look into document management to ensure everyone on your team is playing to their fullest potential.

‘Trick out’ your core with ECM: Give your core processing system the enhancements it needs

// March 21st, 2013 // No Comments » // Document Management, Enterprise content management, Financial Services, Workflow // Michelle Harbinak Shapiro

Core banking providers have been taking over the headlines lately. It reminds me of how the geniuses at Cornerstone Advisors effectively used pop culture to urge financial institutions to overhaul their cores in their infamous “Pimp My Core” GonzoBanker article.

For those of you who gave up on MTV when it stopped playing videos, “Pimp My Ride” was a show that would, during each episode, take a car in poor condition, restore it and customize it. Really trick it out, so to speak.

With document management – also called enterprise content management (ECM) – you can do much the same with your core.

To remain competitive and provide better service, you need to enhance your core processing system with instant access to documents and information. This is at the heart of what document management does from a transactional content processing perspective.

When it comes to “tricking out your core” and selecting the right ancillary applications for your organization – document imaging, electronic workflow, electronic signatures, etc. – the focus should be on efficiency and execution.

Make information flow through your organization
The lifeblood of every financial institution is its information. Using a document management system gives you one single reference point to consult across departments, locations and processes. This makes it easier and more satisfying for customers and members to do business with you, because information is instantly available to employees from a central location with a few mouse-clicks.

Like a car with flat tires, your financial services organization should also consider implementing electronic workflow to speed processes. Within the industry, there is growing demand for workflow technology to automate the manual tasks that take employees’ attention away from your main focus – customers and members. Workflow solutions allow you to slash back office operations tasks like managing loan refinances and account changes, increasing your speed and accuracy while decreasing costs. They also enforce business processes to keep records management consistent and stay in compliance.

When making any technology selection, it’s important to take a close look at the viability of the vendor you select, especially for document
management. Is the vendor core agnostic? Can it work with any loan origination system? Does the solution integrate with your accounting software? Will the solution provide you with capabilities and services that will enable you to continue to evolve for the years to come?

As you take a closer look at enhancing your core, remember it’s not about being flashy. It’s about staying competitive and providing the service your customers and members deserve while partnering with a vendor who will remain stable and independent regardless of acquisitions in the core banking space. That’s the trick.

Super Ready for the Next Super Storm

// February 28th, 2013 // No Comments » // Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Back Office, Credit Unions, Document Management, Enterprise content management, Financial Services, Human Resources // Michelle Harbinak Shapiro

Hurricane Sandy. You don’t have to be located on the East Coast to shudder at the thought of it.

That’s why a well thought-out document management strategy is a key part of planning for your financial institution’s operations to continue when faced with a devastating storm, natural disaster or emergency. Unfortunately, there’s no designated “disaster season” which you can prepare for like a run up to college basketball’s March Madness. Depending on location, tornado season runs from March through August. Hurricane season spans June through November. Wildfire and flood seasons vary by state.

Is your organization ready? Will customer and member information be safe? And accessible?

Disaster preparedness and business continuity plans are especially important for financial institutions because they house public assets and information. When developing an effective disaster recovery plan, keep in mind paper is inefficient and inherently susceptible to damage. Relying on paper as a record for important documentation leaves your institution vulnerable.

Especially during a disaster, when the risk of your paper documents becoming damaged, lost or inaccessible increases dramatically.

That’s where document management – also called enterprise content management (ECM) – helps. Document management solutions strengthen your organization’s disaster recovery and business continuity processes by ensuring you automatically back up and store documents within a protected system. Additionally, you can choose to store all your data in an online data center – which itself should be backed up – giving you access to data from remote locations in the event of a disaster.

Document management prepares you for disaster by:

• Capturing paper as secure electronic documents and content
• Allowing you to access your electronic documents and content during disasters
• Securely storing and protecting your electronic documents and content

Though every financial institution is unique, they should all be able to answer one question: How long can we function without data if our system crashes?

Even if you are not located in a typical “storm zone,” the size and extent of Hurricane Sandy is a stark reminder for every organization to take disaster preparedness seriously. Being prepared for the worst will better enable you to provide consistent service in light of any disruption, such as power outages, snow closures and network failures.

When they find your financial institution has weathered to the storm and is up and running with instant access to data, your staff, customers and members will thank you.

Financial Services Trends From 2012 That Will Affect 2013: Part 2

// December 18th, 2012 // No Comments » // Credit Unions, Document Management, Enterprise content management, Financial Services, IT, Lending, Mobile // Michelle Harbinak Shapiro

As the year draws to a close, it’s the perfect time to take a look at the most important trends we saw in 2012 that will still affect banks, credit unions and lenders in 2013.

This is an exercise we began in our Part 1, where we focused on how adopting enterprise content management (ECM) allows you to embrace information technology by using electronic documents and information instead of paper.

Today we want to take a look at other trends from 2012 that will continue to affect financial organizations in 2013, including:

• Evolving compliance demands
• Utilizing mobile applications
• Continuing growth of new loan originations
• Increasing need for visibility and transparency

Addressing evolving compliance demands

Regulations are here to stay. And with watchdogs like the Consumer Financial Protection Board already making a big splash, the best way to adhere to new regulations is to take a proactive approach.

By leveraging an ECM solution across your organization, you have the tools to ensure consistent record keeping while guaranteeing the right information is available to the right people. It also gives you the ability to automate document retention in a secure system, provide consistent disposition and immediately respond to legal concerns and audit requests. You control document revisions and instantly track changes to records, making traceability a non-issue. And your systems are secure, auditable and flexible enough to quickly adapt to evolving regulations.

Using mobile solutions to keep everyone connected, regardless of location

Mobile is the future. So it’s time to offer your customers or members the services they want, like the ability to access their accounts and make transactions with their phones. While you may have a really nice lobby, unfortunately, many people no longer want to set foot in it. Don’t take it personally, use it as inspiration to make the leap to mobile.

Mobile ECM solutions also help keep business going when employees are out of the office by giving them the ability to:

• Stay connected to documents and information
• Keep processes moving no matter where people are located
• Access transactions to stay current

Managing increasing loan originations

The good news is auto loans are increasing for banks, total loan balances are increasing for credit unions and the home mortgage industry looks poised for a comeback.

The bad news is you have to be able to handle these spikes in business, or people will look for alternatives. With an ECM solution freeing your employees from paper to make faster and more accurate decisions, you can accommodate growth and continue to focus on providing superior customer or member service. And you can take that speed and accuracy to another level by using electronic document workflow to automatically route documents like loan packages through the approval process.

Increasing need for visibility and transparency

Transparency and visibility shouldn’t just be buzz words. Without them, you don’t know how fast things are moving – or not moving. And you can’t provide a clear picture of your situation to external stakeholders.

ECM gives you increased transparency into documents, information and processes. Executives and managers gain improved visibility with a dashboard that presents an overview of critical information in one easy to read screen, so they see how processes are working in real time. Not only does this increase your ability to share information internally and externally, it also helps identify roadblocks and gauges the effectiveness of processes. By measuring key performance indicators and process statistics, management optimizes processes and creates a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Leveraging technology, focusing on customers and members

Technology is great, but it’s a means to an end. And that end is making sure current and prospective customers or members love doing business with you. By using ECM to decrease your reliance on paper, you increase the speed and accuracy of your processes and make information instantly available.

That makes life easier for your employees, better for your customers and members and will set you up for a great 2013!