Part 1: Revolutionizing Deposits Automation: How Unify is Leading the Charge in Modernizing Item Processing
The race to transform payment systems is in full swing across the banking industry, with modernization projects taking center stage. Institutions are reimagining how they process and manage transactions to keep up with today’s fast-paced, digital-first world. Leading the charge in optimization efforts is Unify, Alogent’s cutting-edge platform for check payment processing.
To dive deeper into how Unify is addressing the challenges faced by today’s financial institutions, we sat down with Ashish Bhatia, Alogent’s VP of Product Management for Payments, to explore the platform’s standout features, its benefits, and how Unify is shaping the future of payment processing in a rapidly evolving landscape.
In this first part of our Q&A series, Ashish shares insights on Unify's real-time processing capabilities, fraud prevention measures, and how the platform is tailored to meet the needs of both financial institutions and their account holders.
What features make Unify stand out from other item processing solutions in the market?
Unify offers a unique approach to check processing by utilizing a single API that powers all Day 1 and Day 2 channels—teller, back office, mobile, ATM, and other remote channels —while leveraging a centralized database. This structure eliminates the need for multiple lines of business platforms and data silos while ensuring consistent user experiences across all capture points. Unify’s real-time image and data validation capabilities streamline workflows, speed up deposit processing, and mitigate fraud risks across all deposit channels.
What are the benefits to processing at a transactional level with Unify, and how does it compare in efficiency and speed with traditional batch methods?
Processing at the transactional level with Unify enables financial institutions to decision items in real-time at the point of capture. This ensures quicker fund availability, consistent user experiences, reduced fraud risks, and greater operational efficiency. With Unify’s transactional approach, each deposit is immediately verified and processed as it is received, allowing errors or discrepancies to be flagged instantly. Backlogs and the risk of widespread delays are eliminated by processing items on a rolling basis, ensuring that any issues are addressed right at the point of capture. For those institutions that still require a batch approach, Unify addresses this need, though benefits and modernization of a transaction level approach are beneficial to both account holders and their bank or credit union.
How is Unify designed to scale with a growing account holder base and increasing transaction volumes?
Unify is designed to scale effortlessly – both up or down – as users and transaction volumes change. Its cloud-native, thin-client architecture allows banks and credit unions to expand their operations without the need for significant hardware upgrades or extensive reconfigurations. As transaction volumes fluctuate, Unify can easily accommodate increased demand by adding more servers or workstations to ensure performance remains consistent and reliable.
In addition, Unify is built with a modular design, allowing institutions to scale specific functionalities as needed, in addition to ensure the solution remains online during periods of updates and testing within different business areas.
With evolving fraud tactics in the banking industry, how is Unify staying ahead in identifying and mitigating emerging check fraud trends?
With the rise in fraud, Unify employs sophisticated fraud detection tools and real-time transaction monitoring to stay ahead. The platform integrates auto-decisioning to streamline processing across both full- and self-service deposit channels, while also pinpointing anomalies in transaction patterns and behavior. By leveraging AI-driven capabilities and a consortium of financial institution data, Unify examines over 30 fields for potential fraud, significantly reducing the need for manual checks and lowering fraud risk.
Central to Unify’s fraud mitigation efforts is its account holder scoring model, which creates a comprehensive profile based on transaction history, deposit behavior, and data from industry lists like OFAC. This model enables institutions to evaluate the risks associated with individual transactions and users more effectively, leading to more tailored services and enhanced fraud detection.
What measures does Unify implement to mitigate risks associated with remote deposits, such as duplicate checks?
Unify addresses the risk of duplicate checks through its real-time image and data validation engine. Whether deposited at an ATM, through mobile remote deposit, or at a teller line, each check is scanned and compared to images archived in a centralized database to flag duplicates before downstream workflows are enacted. Unify also uses auto-decisioning to assess each transaction in real-time. Its holistic, synchronized approach ensures that all deposit channels are treated the same, where all deposits made remotely are reviewed and processed in the same way as those made in-branch.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this blog series coming soon.
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