Regional US Bank Goes Digital to Enhance The Customer Experience and Unlock Huge Cost Savings

This bank is making it quicker and easier for customers to open new accounts and apply for credit products with Kofax TotalAgility®. By enabling teams in branches to capture key documents at the first point of contact with customers, the bank will accelerate time-to-approval for key transactions and save millions of dollars by eliminating the need to ship huge volumes of paper—boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The rise of digital technologies has fundamentally changed consumer behaviors and demands. Today’s banking customers expect faster, more accurate and more efficient service than ever before—any time and across every channel. And they will not hesitate to switch providers if these expectations are not met.

As this regional US bank looked to boost its appeal to customers with more flexible and convenient banking services, it realized that it needed to modernize back-end systems to support the new approach. The aim was to move away from paper-heavy processes and embrace automated, digitized ways of working—helping the bank to run faster and leaner, in turn boosting customer service and competitiveness.

As a first step, the bank targeted in-branch banking for a major overhaul. In the past, when customers came into a branch location to open a new account or apply for a credit card, loan or another product, they had to fill out long paper applications and supply supporting documentation. Staff then sent the files via courier to a central scanning center for processing.

A spokesperson stated: “We have more than 1,200 branch locations, and with each of them shipping huge amounts of paper files to the scanning center, it added up to millions of dollars in annual courier costs. What’s more, it could take days and sometimes weeks for paper documents to be received and processed at the scanning center, meaning that customers often faced a long wait between initial application and account opening or approval of their credit card or loan application. To reduce cycle times and operational costs, we decided to overhaul our end-to-end document capture and management processes.”

A longstanding Kofax customer, the bank had been using Kofax Capture™ to underpin document capture processes at its central scanning hub for many years. It initially considered introducing Kofax Front Office Server™ to extend existing Kofax Capture capabilities to in-branch teams, until Kofax proposed a different approach.

“We had some discussions with the Kofax team, and they convinced us that Kofax TotalAgility offered a better fit for our needs,” recalled the spokesperson. “Not only did the solution address our immediate requirement to improve in-branch document processing, it seemed to be an ideal platform for supporting our longer-term strategy to offer more dynamic, omni-channel services. We really appreciated the fact that Kofax went the extra mile to understand our requirements and deliver a solution that will grow with us well into the future.” The bank will take advantage of TotalAgility to support a new multi-channel approach to content capture and management.

The bank plans to decentralize document scanning and give branch teams the ability to initiate the capture process at the very first point of contact with customers.

Staff will use multi-function printers (MFPs) to scan customer documents as they are received, then harness TotalAgility to automatically extract key information from the newly digitized data and link it to the bank’s core electronic content repository. In addition, TotalAgility will provide a central point of control for processing documents received over every channel of engagement, from MFPs to email, fax and web applications, making it easier for teams behind the scenes to work with information.

Once the transition to the decentralized way of working is complete, the bank plans to introduce Kofax Analytics for TotalAgility to its scanning operations team for a clear overview of the new document capture processes, as well as review and validation activities.

The spokesperson noted: “By tracking key metrics, such as time taken to process specific document types, we will be able to better understand how teams are executing different business processes, as well as spot any bottlenecks in our operations. With this insight, we can make targeted improvements to drive highly efficient document capture and processing and ensure the highest levels of service to our customers.”

By equipping customer-facing teams in branch with near-instant access to electronic information, the bank will empower its people to work faster and more productively than ever before.

“Staff will no longer have to wait for key documents to be shipped and processed off-site and will be able to submit all the relevant customer information at the first point of contact, with greater speed and accuracy,” said the spokesperson.

“What’s more, multi-channel capture capabilities will allow us to bring together content from multiple sources in one place. For instance, if a customer completes a mortgage application in branch, then sends supporting documentation via email, staff will be able to view the complete set of content in one location, thanks to Kofax TotalAgility. This means that employees will no longer have to hunt through separate source systems to gather all the information related to a single application, saving them time and ensuring that they do not overlook key documents.”

Embracing a digitized, decentralized approach to customer onboarding will enable the bank to deliver more responsive service to customers and deliver all-important cost savings.

The spokesperson explained: “By eliminating the delays caused by shipping and scanning paper documents off-site, we will dramatically accelerate time-to-approval for key customer transactions, including new account, credit card and loan applications—boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty. At the same time, we expect to save millions of dollars previously spent on shipping paper, freeing up valuable funds for investment in new digital services.”

Looking even further ahead, the bank plans to take advantage of powerful e-signature and mobile capabilities offered by the TotalAgility platform to support the launch of modern and dynamic digital banking services.

The spokesperson concluded: “By offering customers more convenient ways to bank, we can shape a richer, more personalized customer experience, regardless of whether they choose to engage with us in branch, online or via a mobile device. This will strengthen customer engagement and loyalty, helping to sharpen our competitiveness and bolster our market share.”