Bank forced to go paperless sees immediate benefits

June 14, 2013

When Great Western, a South Dakota bank, acquired a financial institution that had a digital imaging system, it realized that it too would have to make the switch to an electronic records system. To do this, an article in Bank Tech explained that it would take more than just a few changes and tools, and that the bank would need to implement all new practices and systems into its operations.

Because the company had branches in seven states, it was important that information be both secure and digital to be able to communicate between the banks. In addition to moving to a new Enterprise Content Management System that the banks they were acquiring used, officials of Great Western Bank began using e-signatures to help employees continue to use digital-only documents, and utilized resources of third-party businesses, such as document scanning services, to make the transition quickly.

The benefits of going digital were seen nearly immediately. The bank was able to save more than $30,000 in the first month alone, and have also seen stronger fraud protection and more efficiency by having all documents electronic.

“Generally speaking, new technology is looked at somewhat skeptically by a bank’s internal team, but by demonstrating the clear cost and time savings to our bankers, they are seeing how it makes their lives easier,” Patrick Koster and Tim Houdek of Great Western Bank said in an article. “This is helping them move past the acceptance curve much faster. Overall culture shifts in a bank are easier when the benefits are obvious and immediate.”

Tab Service Company is a Chicago based company with over 53 years of experience as a data processing service provider helping our clients realize the benefits of going digital. We provide business with outsourcing solutions for document scanning services, data entry services and mailing/lettershop services.  As a SOC2-approved organization, we apply industry-best practices to our approach with clients.