FAIRMONT, W.Va. — In an effort to reduce the time and energy spent on cash management orders and deposits to the Federal Reserve System, Fairmont Federal Credit Union sought an automated solution.
"Our staff relied on manual tracking of cash positions and orders to the Fed," noted Beth Bilotta, vice president of Branch Operations for Fairmont Federal Credit Union. "Our primary cash management objective was to simplify our operations. C³ Financial reduced our cash ordering process time by providing accurate order guidance for our vault tellers."
Bilotta refers to CetoLogic and its C³ Financial solution, a web-based cash forecasting and management analytic software. Since adopting the solution in 2008, the $202-million credit union, with 35,572 members and 139 full-time employees, has realized incremental benefits.
Streamlining Operations with FedLine
According to statistics provided by CetoLogic, cash managers, on average, spend approximately 45 to 60 minutes per week tracking and managing coin and currency decisions. Since implementation of the solution to its eight branches and two office locations, Fairmont FCU spends a total of 11 to 20 minutes per week.
"By incorporating C³ Financial's file extract feature as part of its cash management process, Fairmont Federal Credit Union has increased efficiencies for the credit union's staff," said David Austin, vice president of CetoLogic. "As financial institutions continue to leverage technology to gain efficiencies, automation of processes and third-party integrations are vital to accomplishing these goals."
As a cloud-based solution, Austin explained that credit unions don't need to purchase a license or any new hardware. The vendor provides a centralized and secure location to house data and facilitate the management of branch, ATM and vault cash.
To this end, ATM managers and branch personnel can access a dashboard through an Internet browser, which provides a streamlined understanding of up-to-date cash needs and trends.
Serving over 1,500 financial institutions and retail organizations in the U.S. and Canada, Austin noted that institutions typically increase cash inventory by two to three times its member growth without the use of the solution.
Fairmont FCU recently participated in a CetoLogic survey with staff citing that the leading benefit of the solution is FedLine. Austin explained that this file extract feature for FedCash Services allows users to log into FedLine Web and upload CetoLogic's extract file for a "quick and convenient method to order cash from the Federal Reserve Bank."
This same file is extracted and exported from C³ Financial, which removes all possible entry errors from copying orders and deposits from the solution to FedLine Web.
"C³ Financial's ability to batch all of our branches' orders into one file for upload to FedLine Web has been a significant process improvement for us," said Bilotta.
