A2iA's Software Is Checking It Twice

A2iA, a New York-based payment recognition software vendor, recently upgraded its flagship A2iA CheckReader to improve the software's ability to identify and scan checks. With the new version, A2iA CheckReader 3.2, the software can catch critical mismatches between a check's courtesy amount, which is the dollar amount written in digits, and the legal amount, which is the dollar amount written in words.

Being able to detect mismatches between the courtesy and dollar amounts means version 3.2 can more accurately flag checks that may not be accepted by a bank for deposit, including checks that have been incorrectly filled out or fraudulently altered, said Jorge Tavares, marketing manager at A2iA.

The upgraded A2iA CheckReader can also identify exactly what type of check is being processed, be it a personal check, business check, travelers check or money order. Additionally, version 3.2 can recognize printed checks in five languages and check styles from 19 different countries.

Aside from these new features, CheckReader is able to read a check's magnetic strip for bank routing information and account number, and to confirm that a check is signed. The new capabilities increase the number of criteria that can be used to determine if a check should be automatically ushered forward to a bank for deposit, or manually inspected and keyed into the deposit system, Tavares said.

The A2iA CheckReader software can also be deployed as an add-on to a customer's existing electronic document management system (EDMS). The software integrates smoothly with most popular EDMS packages including Hyland OnBase, Legato ApplicationXtender, Optika Acorde, DocuWare, IBM Content Manager and others, Tavares said.

A2iA CheckReader's ease of integration into existing check-processing platforms means integrators and consultants can market the software not as an alternative to customers' infrastructures, but as an improvement to their existing check-automation process--reducing processing backlogs created by too much manual intervention.

The ability to add on the software can thus yield plenty of opportunities for solution providers, said Gwen Gaumond, systems engineer at Twinstar, an imaging and content management consultant in Denver that oversaw the deployment of A2iA CheckReader software on the EDMS platform of Focus On The Family, a large nonprofit organization based in Colorado Springs.

"This organization was receiving over 2.5 million checks a year, and even though they were already running a scanning and archiving system called Kofax Accent Capture, they were unable to keep up with the backlog of checks," Gaumond said.

The nonprofit organization had done their homework as far as check automation was concerned, he said. They had a well-staffed back office, utilized a state-of-the-art EDMS from Optika and even had an automated letter opener from Opex, which could not only open the letters at a rapid pace, but also separate the remittance form contained in the envelopes from the checks themselves, Gaumond explained.

The problem was that 20 percent of the 2.5 million checks the organization receives each year require manual intervention to identify any problems on the face of the checks.

"Their situation was that they have to record the check image and record the amount, and credit it to the correct constituent of their organization before they can even deposit the check, so the money wasn't getting into the bank fast enough," Gaumond said.

A2iA CheckReader fit right into the nonprofit's Accent Capture system, Gaumond said. The install took only about a day, and the organization achieved a return on their investment within two months, he said.

"What we did for them is, rather than decreasing their staff, we helped them decrease their check backlog," Gaumond said.

Chicago-based Alliant Credit Union has also seen significant savings from using the software, said Laura Rice, Alliant's manager of technical services. The A2iA solution was recently deployed in the credit union's headquarters and branch offices in an effort to relieve the cost and hassle of manually processing about 1 million remittance checks it receives each year, Rice said.

"We did check processing manually and had to farm out the encoding, which was archived on microfiche," she said. "But with the CheckReader software, we are looking at an annual savings of about $460,000."