Document Imaging Effort Reduces Paper, Eliminates Courier Service, Increases Member Service
By W.B. King
Published by Credit Union Journal on December 1, 2014
Reprinted with permission
SAN DIEGO, Calif. —In late 2013, Cabrillo CU had a goal of reducing paper-based processes by 30%. By adopting a comprehensive document imaging and enterprise content management (ECM) solution that milestone was surpassed, which allowed employees to build stronger member relations.
The $210 million CU with 25,000 members and five branches had been struggling with large quantities of paper, expensive inter-branch courier services and cumbersome manual processing of loan documents.
As a result, MSRs, tellers and loan officers were spending excessive amounts of time processing transactions, which impeded their ability to work with members.
“This overabundance of paper and lack of automation in processing had resulted in a significant backlog, requiring interim storage,” said Cabrillo CU’s Chief Technology Officer Frankie Duenas.
Duenas explained that Cabrillo was housing an entire room full of paper with a fulltime employee who was dedicated to processing. “In order to support delayed, centralized scanning, we had a complicated quality assurance process that increased total paper usage and delayed processing still further,” he said.
Early in 2014, Cabrillo CU adopted Bluepoint Solutions ECM solution, FASTdocs 5, which scanned documents at the point-of-origination and replaced on-site document archiving and with digital archives accessible throughout the branch network. Additionally, it minimized paper for processing and document archiving. The digital offering also reduced interbranch courier service while eliminating related manual processes.
Big Challenge
“One of the biggest challenges facing credit unions today is a rapidly aging assemblage of legacy systems,” said Bluepoint’s Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Tilbury. “For Cabrillo, effective communication between the core, document imaging and e-signature systems was essential to effectively servicing member requests and expanding loan growth.”
Within the first six months of using the solution, Cabrillo reports significant operational and service improvements. There has been a 40% reduction in overall paper usage, a 50% reduction in daily work for e-signed documents and 100% decrease in related courier services.
An ancillary benefit is that 20% of employee time has been diverted to member-facing services, and that is a key to member satisfaction.
“The combination of internal process changes and the addition of modern technology is an ideal strategy,” said Duenas. “Cabrillo can now focus on implementing additional member service offerings such as a new member onboarding solution, business development and improving self-service channels.”