The Arcot Advisor - Focus On

Save Money, Improve Reputation

By looking closely at paper-based business practices, companies can reduce the volume of paper they use for customer billings and grow “green” in the process.

Many financial institutions have made significant progress towards reducing paper use by providing online statements (eStatements) as a “green” initiative. While there's some adoption among online banking customers, the majority of customers haven’t switched because it depends on the user going to the bank’s website and retrieving the statement.

Benefits of eStatements
eStatements offer financial institutions the following primary benefits:

• Improved reputation. With a significant trend towards greener business practices, a high Web-based transaction count improves company reputation.
• Cost Savings. A broad switch to eStatements would mean significant printing and mailing savings.
• Simplicity. The eStatement process requires no envelope stuffing, rate negotiation or delivery tracking.

Given the numerous benefits of eStatements, how can a company improve consumer usage?

Consumers need user-centric process
A recent study by Javelin Strategy and Research claims that online banking customers hold back because of the fear of losing control over their finances and the lack of better methods for storing statements.

The fundamental flaw with the current approach is that it is biller-centric, not user-centric. The process relies on the issuer sending out email alerts whenever there are new statements and then every user logs into a Web site to view the statement.

In a user-centric approach, the issuer e-mails an encrypted, authenticated email containing the statement. The eStatements arrive at users’ email inboxes, just like an envelope arrives at their mailboxes. By remedying the primary reasons consumers don’t switch to eStatements, the user-centric approach provides an opportunity for increased online transaction.

Arcot: user-centric eStatements
In the past, data privacy requirements and concerns over disclosure of personal information have prevented statement issuers from emailing statements to their customers. Now there is a new option: an Arcot user-centric eStatement program that is a viable electronic alternative for paper statements.

This solution will provide all customers with secure eStatements that comply with government privacy laws and let customers receive statements without visiting a Web site for downloading.  It will also provide a significant opportunity for financial institutions to highlight the steps they are taking to lessen their environmental footprint.

How it works
The eStatement program from Arcot makes electronic solutions mimic paper processes so the customer experience remains the same, and customers benefit by lessening the environment impact. Users receive all their eStatements in one place, an email inbox. They can file their eStatements according to their personal preferences. And, eStatements will remove some users’ concerns that businesses save their electronic records because the users will have copies of the statements themselves.

Today, “going green” drives many consumer decisions. With user-centric eStatements, consumers now have a way to manage their finances just like they have with paper and gain an additional sense of environmental responsibility. Best of all, firms save the printing, handling and postage charges on paper statements month after month.

For further information about Arcot’s software-based security solutions, contact Arcot at 408-969-6100 or visit www.arcot.com.

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