Hancock Bank
Banks symbolize much more than simply a place to obtain necessary financial services, which is why Gulfport, MS-based Hancock Bank had branches in operation the day after Hurricane Katrina. “People needed to know that there was something normal in a world of chaos,” says K. André Pires, loan operations analyst at Hancock Bank. “Many of the employees were victims themselves, but we still had branches open.”
It is this kind of commitment that has earned 107-year-old Hancock Bank its ranking among the top 100 strongest, safest financial institutions in America according to Veribanc Inc. Bauer Financial Reports Inc. also awarded Hancock Bank five stars (the highest rating possible) for 37 consecutive quarters. Focusing primarily on offering commercial, consumer and mortgage loans,
deposit and trust services to individuals and small to middle market businesses in their respective market areas, Hancock Bank operates 104 full-service branches in southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.
Just days prior to the devastating storm, Hancock Bank had selected an OnBase enterprise content management (ECM) solution from authorized OnBase solution provider PROFORMANCE to reduce the costs and customer service challenges associated with storing paper documents. Developed by Hyland Software, OnBase is an ECM software suite that includes document imaging and management, workflow, records management and COLD/ERM.
“Just before Katrina came in and changed our lives, we made this decision because our vault was reaching capacity,” says Pires, who was also the project manager for the OnBase deployment. “We were looking for a better, more economical way to realistically reach our customer satisfaction goals. When Katrina hit on August 29, we were forced to relocate the entire vault and move 126,000 physical files to a remote vault in Purvis [Mississippi, about 75 miles away]. Because we didn’t have a system up and running, we lost between two and three months of processing time – time that we could have been serving our customers more efficiently. After the storm, our time frame for implementing a solution across the enterprise went from years to months.”
After evaluating a number of vendors, Hancock Bank chose OnBase and PROFORMANCE because of their ability to quickly and incrementally deliver an enterprise-wide solution that would reduce costs, improve customer service, support compliance and meet other organizational goals. “They showed a willingness to work with us,” recalls Pires. “It was not a rigid sale. Based on our past experience with other programs, we didn’t want something so rigid that it required us to change our process. The open architecture of this solution gave us a lot of options right out of the box, and it is scalable enough to grow with us.” OnBase is also designed to be rapidly deployable, which will be key in helping Hancock Bank meet its aggressive implementation schedule.
The first phase of Hancock Bank’s OnBase solution has been implemented in the area of commercial credit and consumer lending. After consulting with its Legal Department regarding retention requirements for physical documents, the bank worked with PROFORMANCE to implement a solution for scanning credit and loan files and applying automated exception management.
Currently, the bank is scanning about 10,000 documents per day using document scanners from Böwe Bell & Howell and Fujitsu Computer Products of America. A significant percentage of those scanned documents are a portion of the 8.7 million pages of existing documents stored in the bank’s vault. In less than 6 months, half a million documents, including 12,000 credit files, have been scanned. In addition, incoming loan files are now being scanned upon closing at a central scanning facility in Long Beach, MS, processed by employees located in Purvis and accessed by employees across multiple locations for purposes ranging from file reviews to routine audits.
Among the first OnBase users are loan reviewers, credit analysts and commercial lending officers. As the solution evolves, the bank plans to move more of the scanning to remote locations, eventually including the branches themselves, and capture the documents earlier in the process.
Documents that must be retained in physical form (e.g., titles) are returned to the vault, and those that are not (e.g., copies of tax returns) are destroyed. “Out of a six-inch file, less than half might actually have to be retained in a physical form,” estimates Pires. In just one area, for example, there is a room housing 6,000 documents in 300 boxes. When an audit is completed, the bank will be removing seven shelves, each measuring 6 feet by 17 feet, providing more room for employees.
Because documents are immediately available, employees are able to answer inquiries faster, which improves service for customers and coworkers. In the future, documents will be available directly from Hancock Bank’s Systematics core from Fidelity Information Services. Using the point-and-click configurable Application Enabler, the documents in the OnBase repository will be automatically linked to relevant fields within the core, eliminating the need for employees to navigate between screens and/or search for documents.
Loan processing times are also reduced because files are no longer physically restricted. Multiple people can review a file concurrently and make appropriate, well-informed judgments quickly, which Pires feels will be one of the biggest long-term impacts of the solution. Pires adds that vendor support also made the learning curve for employees using the software “very, very low,” which significantly reduced training and helped the bank realize benefits sooner. Employees have also embraced the OnBase solution because they no longer have to wait for documents that are in a different location.
“We need to track and document SOX [Sarbanes-Oxley Act] exceptions as well as compliance with federal regulations and bank policy,” Pires notes. “INFO-ACCESS and OnBase are primary applications to meet those goals.” Developed by PROFORMANCE, INFO-ACCESS integrates document imaging with loan document tracking, exception processing and collateral management. It also provides a “tickler” feature to proactively identify documents that are expiring or pending.
Hancock Bank has identified document types that could potentially become compliance-related exceptions and worked with PROFORMANCE to create a personalized solution to proactively identify them with less labor. Pires cites the following example: “We can bring in the image of a promissory note and verify that it is signed, dated and meets all of the other requirements before it is put away and then run reports on these documents.” A recent SOX audit identified some minor problems, and this solution will help to assure that appropriate steps have been taken prior to a further review.
Using OnBase has significantly reduced the time, disruption and complexity of completing audits. The first test of the solution involved 400 files located in two different states. Auditors were provided a limited login ID, allowing them to see only the necessary files. The bank not only eliminated the time spent dispatching employees to pull files, but also eliminated the potential risk of shipping documents.
The files moved to Purvis during the hurricane will not be returned to Gulfport, so files that used to be on the second floor of the main office are now 75+ miles away. In the past, auditors would have to send a request to Purvis, where employees would locate, pack and ship the files. “The three days that used to be spent processing this kind of request have been reduced to about two minutes because they can just access the documents through OnBase,” says Pires. “If it’s not in the system yet, they will scan it on the spot instead of keeping seven individuals waiting for a delivery.”
Similarly, a recent credit analyst audit of 200+ updated financials was compiled in about two hours by one person. In the past, this process required about eight hours and multiple employees. That experience also reflects the rapid responsiveness that Hancock Bank enjoys. After realizing it had run out of available software licenses for the auditors, the bank was able to obtain the five additional licenses it needed the same afternoon.
The obvious success of the early phases of the OnBase solution and outstanding support confirm that Hancock Bank made the right choice to meet its ongoing needs and has overcome some initial skepticism about the reliability of the technology. “We had brought in an imaging solution before this. It never did work, and we had to scrap it,” Pires reports. “When we first spoke to PROFORMANCE, we thought ‘oh, we’ve been here before,’ but they worked with us, supported us and kept their word. And we are very demanding.”
In fact, during the period immediately following the hurricane when the bank’s IT staff was spread very thin trying to support many needs, PROFORMANCE sent a representative to help configure the system and help keep things running. “On a scale of one to 10, that’s a12,” says Pires. “I’ve never had a software vendor send someone out like that to get us up and running in a week.”
Not only does Hancock Bank anticipate that the solution will encompass more business processes, but also an increased volume of paperwork. “On August 29, 2005, we had $5 billion in assets. By the end of the quarter, we had $6 billion,” Pires points out. “We were already bursting at the seams with the documents we had prior to that, and we expect massive growth associated with construction and other factors. We can’t wait two years for an enterprise solution; we need to be on the forefront of this. Document imaging will save us from having to build another vault and help us be there for our customers.”
Following the hurricane, Hancock Bank employees worked out of an old house, and the bank rented buses to transport them from Gulfport to Purvis every day. All of the core software was housed in a single building. By taking advantage of the redundancy of OnBase and distributing operations, the bank will eliminate the risk of any location being a single point of failure and ensure seamless continuity of service for customers.
“The most important goal is to be here for customers,” asserts Pires. “Anything we can do to make their experience rewarding or effortless is a priority. We can’t tie company goals to paper anymore. We have to keep up with technology, especially if we grow a billion dollars in the coming year. We feel that we are well supported to meet that challenge.”
- Immediate availability of documents reduces cycle times and improves service to internal and external customers
- Audits completed in a fraction of the time
- Exception management tools support compliance initiatives, including Sarbanes-Oxley
- Reduced costs for paper storage, including eliminating the need to build a second vault
- Ease-of-use supports rapid adoption and conversion of 8.7 million legacy paper documents
- Supports disaster recovery/business continuity goals
- Scalable solution can accommodate additional departments and rapid growth in volume
- PROFORMANCE INFO-ACCESS, Host Synchronization and Reports modules
- Böwe Bell & Howell 8090 DC document scanners
- Fujitsu Computer Products of America fi-5750C document scanners
- Fidelity Information Services, Inc. Systematics core processing software
- IBM® servers, storage and backup solutions