Brian C. Hurdis
President
Metavante Image Solutions

Every financial institution is looking for ways to defray costs and generate long-term revenue streams. Fortunately, Check 21 legislation has been a great enabler of both of these goals.

In particular, RDC (remote deposit capture) has proven to be very attractive to both banks and their valued commercial clients. On the operational side, RDC increases back-office efficiencies, while on the treasury side, it means that items clear quickly and provide for improved availability and cash flow, as well as additional revenue opportunities related to new product offerings that incorporate RDC with Internet Banking functions.

As check volumes decline and per unit costs of handling paper items continue to increase, it is absolutely critical for financial institutions to convert paper to electronic formats as quickly and efficiently as possible. Without a doubt, checks and payments are rapidly converging. This means that institutions must implement technology solutions that allow them to employ the most timely and least-cost routing decisions. At Metavante’s Image Solutions division, we have turnkey solutions from our five operating divisions – Distributed Capture (including Merchant, Branch, Teller and ATM), Remittance, Document Management, Image/Item Processing, and Endpoint Exchange – that can solve any size institution’s check and electronic payment needs.

Changes in regulation, technology and economics are fueling an evolution in payments. The Payments industry has evolved as separately siloed systems and there is currently a drive toward convergence to foster a radically different payments environment of the future. This integration of payment technologies across the enterprise is the true technology change that is forthcoming in the industry.

This evolution will spark demand for payments warehouse technology that focuses on straight-through processing and allows the secure routing of payment instructions to the appropriate outbound electronic payment network channels. This is an enterprise-wide issue focused on implementing an architecture that optimizes business processes for any payments type, customer segment, entry channel or settlement mechanism.

Going forward, senior management teams must devote more time and effort to developing a comprehensive, over-arching payments strategy – one that converges all types of payments – checks, debit, credit, ACH, bill payment and more. Here at Metavante, we are dedicated to helping financial institutions implement payment strategies that positively impact their product offerings, fee income and profitability for the long-term.

Tom Berdan
Vice President, Product Management
Harland Financial Solutions

Whether they are trying to meet short-term or long-term goals, the basic organizational goals still apply: institutions must improve operational efficiencies, deliver new products and services efficiently, and constantly monitor their risk and security. With respect to risk, we continue to see a growing trend for institutions to outsource their technology services, so that they can focus on delivering their core competency, serving their customers and work on attracting new ones.

Both front-line staff and back-office employees need a core system that is easy to use if they want to provide efficient service to their customers. A platform that has CRM/business intelligence built-in supports this objective. Our Phoenix System™ not only helps customer-facing employees with their sales and servicing requirements, but also features a customer contact management system that enables all employees to understand the service requirements of the customer. Additionally, the Phoenix System includes an intuitive dashboard which contains reporting and real-time key performance indicators for senior managers. Our goal is to extend CRM throughout the institution, making it applicable to every employee who needs it.

The small business market is now one of the fastest growing target markets today, for both traditional banks and other institutions expanding their lines of business. Small business customers demand the same services that were traditionally provided only to larger businesses. Harland Financial Solutions is committed to expanding its products and services for this market and is addressing these unique needs by helping its clients’ customers. We have incorporated cash management products, including ACH, wires, and PositivePay into our core Phoenix System, and created straight-through processing capabilities with the Microsoft .NET Framework and our Cavion Internet banking products. The integrated straight-through processing approach minimizes the ‘silos’ of redundant information by creating efficient workflows that allow institutions to deliver excellent service to their customers.

Many institutions are looking to expand their offerings and provide services such as trust, investment, and insurance. To help them integrate these services, which may include connectivity to other applications, we developed a Web services and XML middle tier, called PhoenixXM, which will enable institutions to seamlessly integrate their critical customer information into our Phoenix System CRM. The Phoenix System provides one view of the customer to help institutions meet customer demands by providing products and services in a more personalized manner – with greater efficiency and at a lower cost.

• Edward Woods, Senior Analyst – Banking, Celent, LLC
• John Macaluso, CTO, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Marketing, Fiserv CBS Worldwide
• Michael D. Nicastro, Senior Vice President – Marketing and Product Management, Open Solutions Inc.
• Brian C. Hurdis, President, Metavante Image Solutions
• Tom Berdan, Vice President, Product Management, Harland Financial Solutions
• Steve Buchberger, Senior Vice President – Payment Solutions, WAUSAU
• Kirk Herrington, President and Founder, GaleForce Solutions Inc.
  
• Greg Haislip, Managing Director – Banking, Microsoft Corporation
  
• Kevin H. Connelly, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Financial Services Group, Trintech, Inc.
• Paul Citarella, Executive Vice President, Alogent Corporation
  
• David Hampton, Managing Director, Financial Business Solutions, Getronics