Strategy
03/31/2017

Improving Workflow Saves Time and Money


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Progressive banks add new features and functionalities on a regular basis. Most can attest to a long technology wish list, but bankers and their technology partners must be careful not to lose sight of what’s most important: the employee and customer experience. The multitude of disparate departments, systems and protocols that drive banks can be intricately interwoven and inherently inefficient. Standard workflows can involve the shuffling of paper and manual data entry, passing responsibility back and forth between numerous divisions with a general lack of ownership that creates longer turnaround and service times.

In an environment where bankers are regularly challenged to do more with less, improving workflows can be a goldmine for process efficiencies, regaining resources and creating an optimal user experience. Too often, banks just continue to hire staff to run redundant, menial processes, which only serves to put a band aid on the problem while still absorbing an inordinate amount of time and resources. The problem compounds as banks grow larger in size and are faced with scaling and combining already burdensome procedures.

Banks and vendors alike must consider new approaches to how they’ve done things in the past and address these inefficiencies. Most procedures that involve multiple steps, departments and systems can be streamlined into a simpler, expedited process. Think about the implications here: streamlining and automating the viewing, refiling, printing and indexing of documents for a bank with approximately 40,000 actions each month would save employees dozens of work hours a month, translating into tens of thousands of dollars in annual cost savings.

There are many practices banks can easily adapt for efficiency gains. The first step is to evaluate current processes with a careful eye for redundancies and bottlenecks. You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken, so begin by identifying the problems and determining their cause. During this step, it’s important to consult employees from all areas of the bank to gain sight of the bigger picture.

Next, prioritize where to focus first. Starting with a few targeted projects will give you a firm understanding of how to create and implement proper workflows, straightening out any kinks and asking any questions before tackling larger and more numerous projects. Workflows can be applied to nearly every area of banking, so it’s important to have a strategy in place or it may become overwhelming.

The Bank of Missouri, headquartered in Perryville, Missouri, recently teamed with Jack Henry Banking, its core technology provider, to transform its internal processes with a workflow solution. The bank recently surpassed $1.3 billion in assets in just six years through both acquisitions and organic growth. Its branch infrastructure also increased from 13 to 23 (soon to be 26) locations. This growth and merger of cultures came with some inevitable growing pains, most notably the need to standardize processes and optimize efficiency.

The Bank of Missouri worked closely with Jack Henry to automate arduous multi-step processes, both internal and customer facing. Its goal was to significantly improve its efficiency ratio and make a positive contribution to the bottom line by creating consistent, cost effective processes that reduce operational risk and unnecessary expense.

After taking the time to learn how to identify problem areas and create appropriate workflow solutions, The Bank of Missouri now has 17 workflows in production, enabling it to eliminate redundant data entry, boost visibility and streamline processes across several areas of the institution, including HR, IT, deposit operations, loans, retail and more.

An example of the bank’s success is how it transformed the deposit fee refund process. Front office staff had to print, manually fill out and scan documents before the reversal process was performed by back office staff who also imaged and indexed the document, consuming a large amount of time and manual effort. With its workflow solution, multiple steps and searches are now automated and approved. This workflow alone is currently saving the bank approximately 54 hours and $1,000 per month, yielding an annual savings of $12,000.

In addition to creating unrealized efficiencies, leveraging a workflow solution can also allow banks to channel resources that were previously spent on burdensome tasks into more strategic and customer facing activities. When bank employees are empowered to add and cultivate skillsets, they’re more likely to feel valued and stay with their institution longer. Returns such as this can prove to be indispensable for any well run financial institution.

Dedicating just a small portion of resources to improving the back office can make a monumental impact. If the only reason for your processes is history, they may be outdated. Revamping workflows to streamline procedures and optimize efficiency is an integral component of any modern and progressive bank.

Chris Congiardo, systems analyst manager for The Bank of Missouri, is theco-author of this piece.

Stacy Zengel