FRISCO, Texas -
Yet, increasingly, going paperless is less an oddity and more of a standard business practice.
"We offer many paperless processes in the lending side that minimize the amount of paper in a loan," noted IntegraSys Product Manager Dan Urscheler. "On the back end, we offer electronic imaging to store documents, which allows the credit union to recycle the paper and free up storage space."
Harland Financial Services' David McConney agreed. "Check imaging is an area of business that allows us to store information for a member and can be leveraged to really reduce paper," he observed. "Better management of data offers a great opportunity to diminish the reams and reams of paper a credit union produces."
The challenge, suggested IntegraSys SVP-Strategy and Offerings Development Sara Brooks, can be in justifying the expense of "going green."
"Imaging offers a significant efficiency boost while eliminating waste, so it shows immediate benefit," she offered. "The important thing is having end-to-end processes, so as many steps as possible can be done electronically such as online applications, e-statements, electronic signature capture, and other steps that avoid printing out paper. The imaging process allows institutions to get there pretty economically today. As the technology becomes more affordable, more institutions will adopt it."
Another green platform, she noted, is electronic statement presentment. While credit unions move to e-statements for the financial advantage of not having to pay postage, it is also environmentally friendly.
But there's yet another green aspect to image capture, suggested Bancography President Steven Reider-it also cuts down on the need for vehicles on the road to deliver all that paper.
"When you think about the number of daily trips a business must make on this account, you can see how merchant capture and ATM capture takes vehicle miles off the road."
