Systar - Fifth Third Bank Increasing Visibility into Check and Image Processing
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Fifth Third Bank implemented Systar's Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) platform to gain real-time visibility into its check and image processing performance across multiple locations. This provides (1) a single dashboard view of file delivery and workflow bottlenecks, (2) early detection of issues to reduce financial risk, and (3) optimized staff allocation across sites. The solution helped Fifth Third Bank improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and better meet service level agreements.
Systar - Fifth Third Bank Increasing Visibility into Check and Image Processing
- 1. Fifth Third Bank CUSTOMER CASE STUDY: CUSTOMER PROFILE Increasing Visibility into Check • Headquarters: Cincinnati, OH and Image Process • Industry: Banking For banks and financial institutions, the landscape Mike Beach, vice president of Image Payments, for check processing has undergone a dramatic Fifth Third Bank. • Founded: 1858 transformation in recent years. From a period • • Employees: 21,000 Locations: 1,300 full service banking centers when a universal system was in place for clearing paper checks, the overwhelming majority of checks today are cleared through the electronic “ A monitoring solution to guarantee delivery of image files and system performance is an absolute must for exchange of critical business files often containing the banks that are automating their CHALLENGE thousands of check images. As a result, banks processing environments. have rushed to adopt technology solutions to Increase operational efficiency automate their back office and deposit channels, Mike Beach, vice president of Image Payments, by creating a single, real-time Fifth Third Bank including remote capture and image exchange. ” view of check and image Challenge processing performance. Reduce business risks Financial Exposure associated with undetected While this transition offers the opportunity for With millions of check images in play, failing to errors and workflow bottlenecks. greater efficiency and reduced costs, it presents account for even a single electronic file can have banks with a daunting set of new challenges, a major impact. If a check image file fails during SOLUTION including the need to 1) have full visualization the electronic delivery to a paying bank, Fifth Third of the electronic check image payment process; Bank will not receive credit for those deposited Real-time, end-to-end view 2) manage payment system data originating from items, thereby extending a non-earning asset on of check and image processing dozens of disparate data sources; and 3) gain the bank’s books due to the uncollected funds. performance based on At the same time, Fifth Third Bank has provided visibility into the electronic processing applications BusinessBridge, Systar’s preventing undetected system errors and workflow provisional credit to its customers. Therefore, dis- industry-leading Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) bottlenecks. covery and resolution of the problem is extremely platform. time critical. Consequently, lack of visibility into the These were the challenges facing Cincinnati-based receipt, processing, and validation of these critical BENEFITS Fifth Third Bank, one of the top 20 banks in the U.S. business files results in significant financial expo- by asset size with more than 1,300 full service sure to the bank including additional funding ex- • Anticipate and resolve banking centers, more than 2,300 ATMs and a pense, additional labor from recreation of check issues before business geographic footprint in 12 states extending from image files, and increased risk of duplicate files. impact Michigan to Florida. Fifth Third Bank processes 70 • Reduced financial to 90 million inbound checks for deposit per month, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) exposure and SLA Risk and another 45 to 50 million outbound check images Like many leading institutions, Fifth Third Bank is sent for collection. A single electronic file gener- committed to delivering consistent and reliable • Optimized staff allocation service to its customers, enabling them to depend on ated by Fifth Third Bank could, during peak days, • Increased operational contain as many as 25,000 check images worth the service for delivery to their customers or to meet efficiency millions or even billions of dollars. Fifth Third Bank their own business needs. may process over 5,000 files daily from its various Multiple deposit channels, tight processing windows, electronic deposit and image exchange channels. and various applications involved in the processing of “Electronification has created new risks in the in- a check deposit can challenge consistent and reliable dustry, including more dependency on technology delivery of SLAs. for visibility into the check processing flow,” said
- 2. CUSTOMER CASE STUDY: Fifth Third Bank Rather than reviewing information from multiple Significant to financial institutions, Systar’s solution systems and layers of reports, Fifth Third Bank enables monitoring of critical files in the context desired a single, real-time view of performance of the business, giving Fifth Third Bank total control “ Real-time monitoring is vital given the which would allow production staff to more easily meet or exceed customer commitments. over management of files within the overall check image processing environment. The Systar solution addresses three key areas of the check image tight time frame Staffing resources exchange process: Landing Zone, Processing Zone and potential Fifth Third Bank processes check image files at and Sending Zone. high item cost multiple geographic locations and on any given day, associated with staff at certain sites could face larger queues for image exchange. remediation than others. Anticipating the expansion Mike Beach, vice president of the image processing platform across the company of Image Payments, footprint, the bank was looking for a more efficient Fifth Third Bank and proactive way to match resources to workloads, ” across all sites, so it could maintain quality while minimizing any required staff increases. Solution: End-to-End Visibility into Payment and File Process Execution “The big differentiator for us was the scalability of In evaluating market solutions that could provide Systar’s solution combined with demonstrated greater visibility into its check and image processing BAM expertise,” adds Beach. “Using a collaborative environment, Fifth Third Bank had five key process, Systar helped us refine our requirements requirements: so that the dashboards matched our true business needs.” • Provide real-time process monitoring • Deliver intuitive information and be easy to use With Systar’s monitoring solution, Fifth Third Bank • Offer flexibility to monitor a variety of activities has end-to-end visibility into the entire process and flows of information through a robust, customized dashboard. Because • Scale to handle large volumes of payment each deposit source was set up in the dashboard, transactions any time the bank receives a file or deposit from • Price competitive any source the dashboard highlights what stage of the process the electronic file is in. For Fifth Systar’s Business Activity Monitoring Third Bank, this dashboard capability is critical for (BAM) Platform viewing whether files are moving without incident After significant analysis of available market solutions, through the process (green status); files are slow or Fifth Third Bank found that Systar most effectively processing is hampered (yellow status); or files met these requirements with a powerful check are at a stop in the system for a pre-set period of image and process monitoring solution based on time or reaching a threshold dollar value (red status). BusinessBridge, Systar’s industry-leading Business “The dashboard now provides us with an early Activity Monitoring (BAM) platform. Systar BAM warning system,” notes Beach. “If the status is solutions are used by 10 of the world’s 15 leading banks yellow we can quickly investigate; and if the check to gain real-time insight into business performance, image workflow turns red, we can place a much anticipate operational issues, and mitigate risks. more informative call that speeds resolution.”
- 3. CUSTOMER CASE STUDY: Fifth Third Bank Outcome: Increased Efficiency At the same time, Fifth Third Bank stays in control and Reduced Risk with full knowledge of the what, where, when, why Systar’s check and image process monitoring and how as it pertains to check and image pro- solution based on BusinessBridge is delivering cessing. several key benefits to Fifth Third Bank: “The Systar solution moved us from manual and reactive to systematic and proactive,” said Reduced Financial Exposure Jason DeMent, vice president of Global Payments Creating visibility through each processing step of Technology, Fifth Third Bank. “Now we can an image file all the way through the check clearing immediately identify potential errors versus process has eliminated the financial burden as reviewing many data points in order to target result of delayed deposit presentment. The Systar the root cause.” BAM solution has enabled Fifth Third Bank to take immediate action when image files have been Optimized Staff Allocation “ The Systar solution moved us from delayed in the process, ensuring timely and accurate receipt of credit and the least cost routing of image files. The real-time, universal view of multi-site processing has enabled Fifth Third Bank to strike the most effective balance between staff resources manual and reactive “Real-time monitoring is vital given the tight time and workloads. Operations staff can now use a to systematic and frame and potential high item cost associated with single dashboard to view status and queues for proactive. image exchange,” said Beach. “The solution remediation across all locations and proactively Jason DeMent, vice president provides the visibility and guaranteed file delivery contribute to any site imbalance without waiting to of Global Payments Technology Fifth Third Bank required to efficiently manage our entire check be assigned. As a result, the bank can more ” and image processing system.” easily and cost-effectively adapt to a growing customer base and increasing payment volumes. Reduced SLA Risk and Greater Control Fifth Third Bank has greatly enhanced its ability Reduced Cost of Operations to measure performance to ensure SLAs are met. The financial exposure associated with lack of The bank can now better anticipate operational process visibility has been eased, and each group issues and address them before there is a business (IT, Operations, Supervisors) spends substantially impact. less time trying to identify, understand, and communicate issues. Real-time monitoring that delivers a clear view of the entire check and image processing environment, along with more dynamic staff allocation, has enabled Fifth Third Bank to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs. “Real-time monitoring is invaluable in a production environment,” said DeMent. “The benefits of the solution are not limited to one group within our bank. They are enterprise-wide benefits that contribute to our overall efficiency and growth.” Fifth Third Bank Control Center www.systar.com
- 4. CUSTOMER CASE STUDY: Fifth Third Bank ABOUT SYSTAR Over 180 clients worldwide, including 10 of the world’s 15 largest banks, rely on Systar’s performance management software to maximize the efficiency of their business operations and IT infrastructure. Systar is widely regarded as the leading provider of Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) solutions and offers innovative capacity management software for both physical and virtual server environments. Systar is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN: FR0000052854-SAR), and has offices in North America and Europe. More information about Systar is available at www.systar.com. INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE United States 8618 Westwood Center Dr. Suite 240 Vienna, VA 22182 Tel: +1 703-556-8400 Fax: +1 703-556-8430 Email: info@systar.com France 171 bureaux de la Colline 92213 Saint-Cloud Cedex Tel: +33 (0) 1 49 11 45 00 Fax: +33 (0) 1 49 11 45 45 Email: info-fr@systar.com Germany Tel: +49 211 598 8520 Email: info-de@systar.com United Kingdom Ground Floor Left 3 Dyer’s Buildings London EC1N 2JT Tel: +44 (0) 2072 692 799 Fax: +44 (0) 2072 429 400 Email: info-uk@systar.com Spain Centro de Negocios Eisenhower C/ Cañada Real de las Merinas, 17 Edificio 5 - 5º B 28042 Madrid Tel: +34 91 747 88 64 Systar, BusinessBridge, OmniVision, BusinessVision, ServiceVision, WideVision and Systar’s logo are registered trademarks of Systar. All other brand names, product names and trademarks are the property Fax: +34 91 747 54 35 of their respective owners. Copyright 2010. Email: info-es@systar.com