Compliance is necessary for public accountability, but managing it is costly. According to the Credit Union National Association’s Newswatch, 17 major federal laws affecting credit unions were introduced between mid-2009 and early 2010; the banking landscape is similar. This year’s legislative agenda promises a continued stream of changes. Each will bring unique directives, but institutional needs remain unchanged: document control, process control, and cost-efficient compliance.

Why Compliance is Expensive
Governance requires extensive documentation.  Each time financial institutions add products and services, new laws emerge to regulate them.  Mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring further complicate governance. Typically, changes demand new policies, forms, and procedures, altering how data is collected and processed. Each demands procedural re-training and meticulous oversight.

Compliance:  Balancing Control with Cost-efficiency
Controlling how documents are accessed and used is vital for compliance, but in paper and mixed-media environments it’s time consuming.  Digital environments can help institutions achieve cost efficiency and compliance, but only when access to business-critical information is centralized, secure, and controlled. 

Electronic environments improve accuracy, increase security, eliminate redundancy, and expedite processing.  Smart equipment like high-speed scanners and form processing software automate data entry, capturing information quickly and accurately. Yet without an overarching strategy, ungoverned document silos emerge, hindering efficient search. 

Electronic capture streamlines data entry costs and lays the foundation for information usefulness.  When you add web-based electronic document management (EDM) and business process management (BPM) and integrate them with essential business systems, you create a single, strong foundation for document control, process control, and cost-efficient compliance.

1. Document control
EDM institutionalizes governance, specifying who can access and manipulate information, contingent on employee roles and job requirements.  Technology assumes the compliance burden, ensuring individuals only interact with files according to an institution’s rules.

Thorough data classification, layered security, configurable search and central access to pertinent information end redundancy, save time & reduce errors.  Capturing documents into a central, web-accessible repository regulates access throughout the document lifecycle, wherever and whenever files are needed.  When customers open accounts or apply for loans – or workers process mortgages, credit applications, or investment forms – access to relevant, accurate information is quick and sure.

 2. Process control
Process  control - managing how employees process tasks and what they can do with the documents they need to complete tasks - is equally essential to compliance.  Browser-based workflow ensures all employees follow procedures and process tasks correctly, wherever they are. An automated BPM solution means: 

• The movement of information can be automated between branch offices, ensuring
• Transactions are handled consistently;
• Real-time reports can be generated;
• Turnaround and cycle times are shorter;
• Service improves. 

Digital processing standardizes internal controls, ensuring process consistency.  Compliance officers can easily compare documented policies to process execution. 

As process consistency increases, administrative costs also decrease.  Rather than wasting time prioritizing tasks, chasing signatures or approvals, or reviewing procedures to ensure compliance, knowledge workers proceed with confidence and can turn their attention to areas demanding human engagement. 

Using control to achieve cost efficiency
Opening new accounts, originating loans, processing mortgages, and managing investments are expensive services. Managing voluminous documentation and communications requires manpower. 

Electronic processing dramatically reduces overhead. Indexing information (such as document type and due date) can drive task distribution to appropriate work queues. Documents sequentially follow approval hierarchies; files can be migrated to long-term storage using retention dates; and more. Administrative savings of 15 – 50 % within one year are typical.

Equipping the mobile office
Business mobility demands are making browser-based solutions essential, providing additional opportunities for sales. Browser-based, rules-driven access to files and work means equipping IT administrators, managers, and employees with their preferred digital devices (laptops, PDAs, digital signature pads, portable scanners, and more) so they can keep work moving.  Workers can manage information and work appropriately, 24/7; system administrators can monitor systems, reconfigure settings, and provide support without unnecessary trips to the office, eliminating downtime.

Policies are followed regardless of employee location. Transactional audit trails provide the transparency that auditors and courts demand. Secure desktop access to the right information, whenever it’s needed, is a huge step toward cost control. Using BPM software to automate the labyrinth of processes that drive business forward exponentially increases efficiency. Automating replicable processes saves precious resources.  Instead of chasing information and monitoring everyday processes, employees focus on being productive, confident their work is compliant.

Lower your clients’ up-front investment

1. Hardware
A weak economy, tighter cash flow, and stricter lending rules have made financing hardware difficult for some institutions. Leasing is a cost-effective alternative for small branches to finance needed equipment. It may initially produce less revenue for you than direct purchases, but equipment, supplies, and service contracts ensure a steady revenue stream.

2. Software
Software as a Service (Saas) is software’s version of leasing, but security concerns and the inability to access data can arise if a vendor’s business fails. Outright purchases require greater up-front investment, but should ensure data ownership. Similarly, subscription pricing models address security of ownership, but without the up-front costs. Understand what you’re getting.  A fair price for a sound solution is better than a cheaper price for the wrong one.

3. Services
Services revenue can be considerable, depending on needs. As clients become more cost efficient, they envision new ways to use their solution. They may need services for systems integration, document and process analysis, training, equipment servicing, data migration, or disaster recovery planning. Your can grow your revenue by: 

• Understanding their everyday processes and business challenges;
• Knowing how hardware and software work together to address those challenges;
• Meeting expectations and delivering ROI within a reasonable timeframe.

Solution-based selling requires expertise and experience. Get help when you need it. Know your capabilities and your limitations.

Make compliance easier
Compliance isn’t optional. As regulatory complexity increases, you can help clients tremendously by partnering with vendors to offer solutions that will make their jobs easier. There are many chances to garner a steady revenue stream. Earn customers’ respect, loyalty, and future business by providing exactly what they need.

Laurel Sanders is the director of public relations and communications for Optical Image Technology.  For information about the company’s award-winning suite of DocFinity software, visit www.docfinity.com