Check imaging helps bank gain market share

Check imaging was an excellent investment for West Georgia National in Carrollton. It allowed this bank-with $172 million in assets-not just to provide valueadded customer services, but also to reengineer backroom operations, use information captured on processed items to identify prospective customers, and crosssell additional products and services to existing customers.

West Georgia National had been using Greenway Corp.'s PrimeImage check imaging system for three months to provide customers with images of processed checks when the bank discovered it could use the system to build business.

The bank noted that several of its competitors were swallowed up through big-bank acquisitions which in many cases resulted in higher fees. This did not entirely please many of their customers who were used to a "community bank approach". West Georgia National used PrimeImage's datamining capabilities and transformed the acquisitions into marketing opportunities.

Users of PrimeImage can establish queries of MICR and all information appearing on checks, and extract customer and competitor account bank routing numbers, account numbers, addresses, check amounts, and check numbers from its database of processed images. It also accepts value characteristics of "equal to", "greater than", and "less than" for increased accuracy in reporting specified information and numeric ranges.

West Georgia National extracted its competitors' bank routing numbers, generating a list of highly-qualified prospective customers. The bank sent a direct mail campaign to the list of people "victimized" by the acquisitions, promoting lower service fees and a friendly, community bank atmosphere. The mailing, coupled with follow up phone calls, delivered a strong return on investment.

Leighton Alston, president West Georgia National, said, "Our database of imaged items contains a wealth of information about our current customers' and prospects' banking patterns and habits. PrimeImage enables us to define parameters and perform large database searches for quantifying and qualifying new business and cross-selling opportunities."

Alston continued, "Database marketing is a faster and more accurate way of generating leads. Searches of more than 100,000 items can be conducted within minutes giving us substantially better, daily control of items and information passing through the bank. PrimeImage's Windows-NT environment facilitates the importing, transforming, integration and exporting of requested data fields and ranges of tangible reports."

PrimeImage is a truly flexible Windows NT-based system using an open architecture, client/server atmosphere. Capabilities include: multitasking, home office and branch location accessibility through a LAN/WAN environment, simplified check sorting, imaged statements, image nonsufficient funds notices, power encode, power proof, courtesy amount recognition (CAR), reduced item and statement research time, full reject, reentry and balancing functions, and an SQL relational database. It works in conjunction with a redundant array of independent disk (RAID) system for on-line, magnetic storage of images, which significantly reduces statement preparation time over optical storage.

First National Bank of Commerce, Ga., another Greenway customer, with more than $170 million in assets, used PrimeImage's data-mining capabilities to eliminate some 800 monthly teller line transactions. This was accomplished by performing a database search of all processed social security checks to identify social security recipients. They then direct marketed a convenience-based automatic deposit service to these customers.

In addition, First Commerce is experiencing a 99.5% satisfaction rate with the imaged account statements, particularly with its elderly customers who appreciate the easy-to-read statements. The bank served as PrimeImage's beta site in June, 1995.

With PrimeImage, the front and back of each check and deposit ticket is captured by electronic cameras mounted on an imageenabled check reader/sorter and transferred to a RAID system for high capacity, on-line magnetic storage with fault tolerant safety. The system is capable of assembling and printing up to 33 double-sided check statements per minute in check sequential order which significantly streamlines statement preparation.

Statements are also available to customer and corporate accounts on CD-ROM and through the Internet for convenient cash management options. Customers can access statements through the Internet, flip checks from front to back, magnify endorsements for verification, and print statements through a PC using a Windows application.

Greenway has joint marketing agreements and independent software vendor alliances with NCR and IBM. PrimeImage in being promoted at a national level in conjunction with NCR's 7780 imaging transport and IBM's universal transports (UTs).

For more information on Greenway Corp., contact Tee Green, vice president of sales and marketing at 770-834-0090 ext. 226. View Greenway's web page at www.banking.com/Greenway.