When Academy Bank first considered outsourcing its item processing, it anticipated a challenging and uncertain journey. However, partnering with Fiserv transformed the experience, delivering both anticipated and unexpected benefits—ranging from a streamlined training process to a significant reduction in client impact errors.
In a PaymentsJournal podcast, several members of the Academy team—including CIO Shannon Gilley, Executive Vice President & Director of Deposit Operations Margaret Bosley, and Item Processing Assistant Manager Dionne Green—discussed the challenges that outsourcing presented and how the new system has changed how they operate. They spoke with Candace Burleson, Implementations Analyst at Fiserv, and James Wester, Co-Head of Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research.
A Legacy of Problems
As Academy embarked on its outsourcing journey, the bank encountered numerous challenges. The proof team was tasked with monitoring140 branches, overseeing everything from the opening run to the end run. Many branch scanners were nearing the end of their lifespan, and perhaps most concerning, the physical tickets were increasingly contributing to negative client experiences.
“One of the biggest challenges for us was that we were the frontline of support for all of the branches,” said Green. “We had over 140 branches that we were balancing daily, with just eight full-time employees that divided all of those runs. If there were any connectivity issues when the branches were trying to open up their runs or any issues related to the scanner, we were the front line of support.”
The Academy team had a single dedicated resource that was responsible for custom scripting. If there were any issues or incidents with that individual, there was no contingency plan in place.
Balancing was an issue because of all of the manual or physical tickets being run at the branch level. The team had to wait for batches to close at the end of the day and often were forced to double their efforts by handwriting tickets and manually inputting them into the teller system. The manual processes also resulted in errors affecting client accounts.
The branches were saddled with hardware that was near the end of its life and was in bad need of standardization. The different types of printers across the branches resulted in a continual need for additional software or logins.
Increased Efficiencies
Once outsourcing was in place, Academy found several efficiencies on its end. The proof team was reduced by two full-time employees who had been handling keying and balancing proof work. Additionally, Academy had been relying on an external provider for keying assistance when short-staffed, at a cost of $600 to $800 per month. This expense was completely eliminated.
“It was always difficult for us to maintain eight FTEs for this department,” said Green. “When folks get into banking, they expect bankers’ hours. These were not bankers’ hours. Because of the different time zones that we support, our balancers would have to work until 8:00pm and 9:00pm, and sometimes on Saturday.”
The efficiency gains were significant. With fewer client-impact errors at both the branch and operations levels, the time spent correcting those errors dropped to just five to seven person-hours a week.
Branches were able to shift their focus to sales, while the proof team redirected its efforts toward more critical functions, such as receiving training to identify check deposit fraud.
“Our goal,” said Gilley. “is to focus on our clients, making sure that we are working on the products and services that are meaningful to those clients every single day. Moving that technology to our software provider has really freed us up in order to focus on the more important things.”
An Involved Process
Outsourcing can initially seem challenging and expensive. But the costs of keeping everything in-house can often be even higher.
“Don’t underestimate your current costs when you look at everything involved with your in-house process,” said Bosley. “Don’t underestimate those costs, because you are going to see significant savings in areas that maybe you didn’t even expect to.”
At the same time, banks should be transparent with their employees about the process. While it will be a journey, understanding the long-term benefits will make it worthwhile for everyone involved.
