Credit Unions Aggressive In ECM Deployments

According to a comprehensive survey of banks and credit unions conducted by Cornerstone Advisors, Inc., the first quarter of 2008 shows that credit unions have embraced ECM more fully than banks. Of those institutions surveyed, 77 percent of credit unions responded that they had implemented an ECM solution, as compared to 55 percent of banks.

Although success stories and mature vendor offerings are prevalent within the industry, many financial institutions have either yet to adopt an ECM system or have not utilized their system to its fullest potential. According to Cornerstone Advisors' findings, "When asked to rate ‘the level of adoption, acceptance, utilization, integration and mastery' of installed ECM solutions, on a scale of 1 to 5, banks responded with an average score of 3.5 and credit unions 3.7."

"The limited nature of many ECM implementations, or the lack thereof, prevents financial institutions from fully realizing the operational benefits of ECM," said Michael Croal, senior director at Cornerstone Advisors. "An ECM system's true strength lies in its ability to be deployed in every department of an organization and provide significant improvements in efficiency, as well as remarkable reductions in costs."

Electronic storage of signature cards and promissory notes are two areas that are most commonly thought of when considering where ECM could benefit an institution the most. However, ECM systems can provide significant benefits in areas throughout a financial institution, including, but not limited to, consumer lending, mortgage loans, check processing, commercial lending, human resources and trust.

"In the tightening financial market, it is imperative for financial institutions to ‘squeeze the waste' out of their organization, and nothing is more costly to a financial institution than wasted time and resources," said Jason King, director of financial services for Hyland Software, which co-sponsored the study. "Through ECM systems like OnBase, banks and credit unions of all sizes are able eliminate paper, and its associated costs, and provide real-time access to documents, data and workflows across the enterprise."

SOURCE: TAWPI