Open Text : Three use cases for cloud fax in financial services

Fax is so secure thatfaxed documents and signatures are recognized in the courts as being legally binding. It stands to reason,then,that fax would be the bedrock of financial communications, but are there ways to make it even better?What about incorporating other business drivers such as improved business efficiency or enhanced customer experience?

The paper problem

Financial services workflows have always been heavily paper-based. For example, in the loan process, a firm has totrack and manage multiple documents, often rekeyinginformation into several different systems. This long, inefficient,and error-prone process costs time, money,and customer patience.

That last item - keeping customers happy - is key. In the 2017 Digital Banking Report Banking CIOs put customer experience at the top of their business priorities. It has become a major driver of the industry's digitization efforts. A survey by Gartnernotes that banking and investment services are more focused on digitization than any other sector.

The cloud solution

Cloud fax has become key to enabling the digital transformation that CIOs are looking for. Leading solutions go beyond the replacement of traditional fax capabilities to largely eliminate paper and deliver toolslikedata capture, conversion, management, auditing, and integrations. Since they are hosted in the cloud, organizations are freed from maintaining fax hardware or software themselves, and typically benefit from essential features like High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HA/DR).

Let's explore some of the ways cloud fax is delivering major benefitsin the financial industry.

Cloud fax for banking

Cloud fax delivers benefitsin a wide number of business areas for banking organizations, including new account acquisition, account management,and application processing. By automating a great deal of data capture, management,and distribution, it makes processesfast and efficientandleadsto higher levels of customer satisfaction.

Let's take the example of a loan application. To automate processing, the lender can integrate capture technology into its cloud fax solution. When the customer faxes their application, the capture technology extracts the content from the digital fax image, thus convertingthe content into actionable data and inputs it automatically into the lending system.

An automotive business financing company I worked withused cloud fax to on-board dealerships in hours rather than the six to nine months it had takenpreviously. Once they were online, a loan application could be processed in seven minutes and payments made the same day. Cloud fax enabled the company to retain almost $9.5 million in business customercontracts.

Cloud fax forcapital markets

The fast processing of trades,in combination with the ability to demonstrate compliance with all regulations,is essential for capital markets. Companies exchange trade confirmations, rate change notices,wire transfer directives, and more. Many of these can be incredibly time-sensitive, with even seconds wastedpossibly leading to monetary losses.

Fax transfer has always been essential communicationin capital markets,but traditional fax was increasingly seen as slow and inefficient. Digital alternatives - such as email - lack the security and auditability necessary to meet compliance requirementsfor laws likePCI DSS and SOX. Cloud fax enables organizations to continue to use familiar fax-based communications while benefiting from the speed, reliability,and security upgrades delivered bycloud fax.

Cloud fax for the insurance industry

The insurance industry is subject to strict regulations governing security, privacy, and business transparency. This is especially true of organizations handling health insurance. In addition, it relies on multiple paper-dependent processes that need to be streamlined to enhance the customer experience. Digitizing paper-based processes allows insurers to drive revenue through new policy acquisition and existing customer managementwhile better adhering to their compliance obligations.

Integrated with cloud fax, electronic tools capture data directly from incoming claim forms, input it directly to the claims processing system, and ensure that all relevant documentation is filed together. The system can then automatically request further information, send status updatesand proof of coverage, andfinally,notify the customer of claim approval or denial.

In one instance, a global insurance leaderused cloud fax to eliminate all paper and manual processing from its claims process, cutting its fax costs in half and generating an $8 million return on investment within five years.

Take fax needs and makethem fax advantages with the cloud

Companies are discovering the ability of cloud fax to streamline document-driven processes to improve corporate performance while maintaining essential lines of communication. Migrating your fax to the cloud is no longer about gaining an edge, it's about not being left behind. IDC found that 90% of companiesthey surveyed have already or are in the process of integrating fax with their enterprise applications.

OpenText cloud fax products (OpenText™ Fax2Mail™and OpenText™ XM Fax™) deliver the security, reliability, and efficiency demanded by the world's largest organizations. They can integrate into enterprise systems such as ERP, CRM, or content management to further streamline workflows. Reach outto learn what they can do for you.