Bluepoint CEO and founder, Hal Tilbury, is a regular donor with his rare blood type and suggested a company-sponsored drive earlier in the year. Before sending a Blood Mobile on-site, The Red Cross requires a minimum number of blood donation appointments. So Bluepoint started promoting the drive in mid-November, both internally and externally, by distributing flyers to the surrounding business community. After our team secured the minimum number of appointments, we were able to schedule the Blood Mobile Blood Drive on December 16th. The Blood Mobile parked in front of Bluepoint’s Vista, CA office and handled donations from 23 volunteers—18 Bluepoint employees, 2 employee family members who joined us just for the drive and 3 donors from the surrounding business community. Those numbers included several first-time donors, all of whom successfully completed their donation.  All of our first-time donors have committed to contributing again in the future! Our HR Specialist, Anastasia Tilbury, spent the morning making Belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream—a great way to keep our blood sugar levels up!

Given the success of the event, we are pleased to schedule an additional two drives in 2010.

Meanwhile, Bluepoint employees gathered canned and packaged foods during our month long food drive for the Community Resource Center in Encinitas, CA to help with their annual Holiday Basket program. The program offers food and other essentials to North San Diego County residents in need. It served 5,464 individuals this past year, including over 3,000 children. In addition to food, the Holiday Basket program allows the Community Resource Center to distribute toiletries, bedding, diapers and clothing. Each child also receives a toy.

Bluepoint focused on collecting baby food and breakfast food, but all types of food were donated. The team enthusiastically emptied their pantries of essentials and shopped for new things—often sharing tips with each other about sale items at local stores. As a result, 165 canned and packaged foods were donated.

Thanks so much to everyone who volunteered to promote, donate and support both the blood and food drives!

Representatives from Bluepoint Solutions just capped off several days of successful meetings and demonstrations at the CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference that took place in Washington DC.  We would like to thank the many credit union leaders we met and spoke with during the conference.  Many of them expressed a strong interest in Teller Capture and Remote Deposit Capture (RDC), echoed by our recent RDC Survey results.  As a result, our ImagePoint product line was warmly received.

Attendance at the GAC is up — CUNA reported that 4,000 credit union leaders from across the nation participated.  Several major headliners spoke at the conference, including David Gergen, Senior Political Analyst for CNN and Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve.  An underlying theme throughout many of the speeches addressed the challenging economic climate facing credit unions and methods to continue serving the financial needs of their communities.

City & County Credit Union, headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., today announced its selection of Bluepoint Solutions’ ImagePoint, its complete point-to-point item processing suite, enterprise content management platform, receipt and transaction management tools and disaster recovery. Bluepoint Solutions is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and leading innovator in remote deposit capture (RDC), image-based item processing and enterprise content management software technology for financial institutions.

“What began as a search for a home capture solution to better serve our members evolved into a full-blown campaign to evaluate and address all of our enterprise content management needs,” said Pat Pierce, CEO of City & County Credit Union. “As we got deeper into the evaluation phase, we uncovered several areas in the credit union that would benefit from a more sophisticated document management solution. After a systematic search, we determined that Bluepoint was the only provider that could satisfy all of our operational requirements, while adding the desired workflow efficiencies and functionality.”

City & County Credit Union operates four branches, has more than 41,000 members and $339 million in assets. The credit union cited Bluepoint’s unique best practices approach as the primary factor in its selection. Based on proven industry best practices, Bluepoint’s solutions are designed to improve client service, enhance business continuity, improve productivity and increase operational efficiencies. Additionally, its technology is member-centric, allowing it to align with the systems and procedures commonly found within a credit union environment.

Pierce continued, “After evaluating and meeting with several providers in the market, we were very impressed with Bluepoint’s best practices approach and their knowledge of how credit unions operate. It was clear their team held years of experience and had proven solutions to each challenge we presented. We determined Bluepoint’s best-practices approach would satisfy all of our requirements and significantly improve our processes. Additionally, the member-centric approach allows us to better serve our members. Other systems we examined were siloed according to department or document type – having all of the information organized by member is much more productive in a credit union.”

City & County will be implementing Bluepoint’s teller capture platform (vs. the alternative,  branch capture), which follows Bluepoint’s best practice recommendation of capturing documents at the point-of-presentment.

“We are looking forward to moving the entire credit union to an image-based environment and shifting away from paper-based operations,“ said Pierce. “We made the decision to capture items at the teller station to not only improve our internal workflow, but also the overall member experience. If there are any questions about a document, our tellers will have the information at their fingertips to respond immediately. This will also eliminate the end of day rush to balance and get items processed.”

Pierce continued, “Once the entire suite is implemented, we’ve estimated the initial hard cost savings alone will amount to more than $250,000 over the next seven years. This does not include the soft savings in reduced time spent on research, reduction of errors due to keystrokes and the improved member service.”

City & County Credit Union has invested in a sophisticated content management and remote deposit capture strategy leveraging the following Bluepoint products: ImagePoint Teller Capture, Receipt Manager with Transaction Manager, ImagePoint Remote (QwikDeposit Home), ImagePoint Hub, ImagePoint Foundation, member-centric Enterprise Content Management platform and disaster recovery.

ImagePoint Capture enables the capture of items remotely or at the teller line, ImagePoint Hub aggregates and forwards presentment of items and ImagePoint Foundation provides central item processing functions and image exchange. When used together, the ImagePoint Platform provides a complete end-to-end solution from the earliest point of presentment to full “Day Two” processing for inclearings, returns and a full, feature-rich permanent archive for storage and research.

Receipt Manager integrates with the existing teller transaction flow, storing the receipt data electronically and making it available to authorized users throughout the entire credit union. Bluepoint’s Enterprise Content Management platform integrates with ImagePoint and Receipt Manager to provide a flexible, member-centric file system to manage all scanned and imported documents electronically, and create valuable reporting tools to analyze and review member data.

“Bluepoint is celebrating its 10th year in business this year,” said CEO and Founder, Hal Tilbury. “For the past decade, we have established best practices that when implemented, can save credit unions hundreds of thousands of dollars, uncover hours of lost productivity and significantly help their front and back offices better serve their members. City & County’s executive team is making an investment in their future and we are very proud to be the partner selected. Our team will start with a comprehensive evaluation of the credit union’s current processes and then implement our solutions to drive efficiencies throughout the organization. We look forward to working with City & County on this endeavor.”

Bluepoint Solutions, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and innovator in remote deposit capture (RDC), image-based item processing and enterprise content management software technology for financial institutions, announced a strong end to 2009, signing four new financial institutions to its growing roster of clients during the month of December. The financial institutions include: Kennebec Savings Bank, City and County Credit Union, South Carolina Federal Credit Union and Honda Federal Credit Union.

All four institutions selected at least one module from Bluepoint’s ImagePoint™ solution suite, an end-to-end image-based check clearing solution designed to help financial institutions of all sizes better manage item processing. The ImagePoint platform is composed of three integrated product families: ImagePoint Capture for remote capture of items; ImagePoint Hub for aggregation and forward presentment of items; and ImagePoint Foundation for central item processing functions and image exchange. ImagePoint products may be used separately or together providing a complete end-to-end solution from the earliest point of presentment, to full “Day Two” processing for inclearings, returns and a full, feature-rich permanent archive for storage and research.

“We celebrated many company milestones in 2009 including officially launching our end-to-end ImagePoint item processing solution suite,” said Hal Tilbury, CEO and founder of Bluepoint Solutions. “We are very pleased to see how many financial institutions have embraced our philosophy to provide a modern, sophisticated alternative to legacy systems.  In what is typically characterized as a slow, holiday month, we saw continued activity and interest in our products thus closing the year on a very strong note. We credit this success to our dedicated team of professionals that not only understand the challenges facing the financial industry, but know what solutions are needed to meet the individual needs and business goals of each institution.”

Based in Augusta, Maine, Kennebec Savings Bank ($717 million in assets) selected various modules of Bluepoint’s ImagePoint item processing solution suite including the branch, ATM and merchant capture modules, as well as ImagePoint Hub, which aggregates the captured images and data in a sophisticated, centralized, intuitive filing structure, regardless of the initial capture point, and presents the items to payment processing systems.

City and County Credit Union ($344 million in assets) is based in St. Paul, Minn. and operates four branches in the surrounding area. The credit union selected a full end-to-end item processing suite from Bluepoint including, ImagePoint’s teller capture and member/home capture modules, ImagePoint Hub and ImagePoint Foundation for sending, receiving, returning and archiving items. The credit union also purchased Bluepoint’s Receipt Manager with Transaction Manager to gather, store, index and report on all transaction information presented or captured at the teller window; as well as Bluepoint’s Enterprise Content Management platform and its Virtual Back Up Disaster Recovery solution.

Headquartered in Charleston, S.C., South Carolina Federal Credit Union ($1.46 billion in assets) operates 20 branches and serves more than 164,286 members. The credit union selected ImagePoint modules including teller capture, merchant/business member capture, home/member capture and ATM capture, as well as ImagePoint Hub. The credit union also selected Bluepoint’s Receipt Manager with Transaction Manager for advanced research.

Finally, Honda Federal Credit Union ($534 million in assets), located in Torrance, Calif., selected Bluepoint’s ImagePoint Remote, home/member capture solution, to better serve its dispersed member base. With a large global membership, offering home/member capture will prove to be an invaluable service for the credit union. A long-time user of Bluepoint’s branch capture solution, the credit union cited its success with this platform, as well as the ease of integration of the consumer capture product as key reasons for selecting Bluepoint.

Vista, Calif. — Feb. 18, 2010 — Bluepoint Solutions, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and leading innovator in remote deposit capture (RDC), image-based item processing and enterprise content management software technology for financial institutions, today announced the results of its 2009 Remote Deposit Capture for Credit Union’s survey. Bluepoint surveyed a random sampling of credit unions with assets ranging from $100 million to $1 billion to evaluate which remote capture point(s) they were currently using and/or future plans for leveraging the technology. More than 200 credit unions participated in the survey.

According to responses, 52 percent of participants indicated their credit union currently has at least one type of remote capture solution implemented. Out of those respondents, 63 percent have instituted a branch capture platform, 20 percent rely on teller capture solutions, nine percent have an ATM capture solution, four percent offer merchant capture and another four percent offer home or member capture.

Remote Deposit Capture Deployment

CEO and Founder, Hal Tilbury, said, ”Credit unions are only now beginning to seriously embrace remote deposit capture.  As credit union executives become more aware of the cost, time and resource savings this technology can produce, adoption rates will accelerate dramatically until remote deposit capture is as common as online banking or debit cards.”

Respondents indicated a high interest in home capture as a valuable service for their members. When asked about future plans for implementing home capture, 42 percent of respondents indicated they currently had initiatives in place and another 46 percent responded they were currently exploring the service.

Senior Analyst for Celent, Bob Meara, said, “Branch capture’s swift adoption was driven by a compelling and urgent need to address the rising cost of processing paper. That same sense of urgency does not surround home capture. Member demand will eventually lead to widespread adoption, however, as awareness of home capture grows.”
“I’m not surprised to see this trend,” continued Tilbury. “In our society, consumers are used to banking anytime, anywhere. The convenience of making deposits from home creates loyalty from existing members and will attract new members.”

By: Dick Drew, Executive Vice President of Bluepoint Solutions

Consumer confidence in larger financial institutions remains low, providing opportunities for community banks to attract new — and increase loyalty with existing — customers. Many consumers that have grown frustrated with larger banks are shopping for a new financial institution, and many, for the first time, are looking at community banks as a viable option. Consumers are seeking institutions that offer the type of one-on-one banking that community banks are renowned for, but also provide sophisticated technology tools.

Consumer or home capture is one of these tools that can attract new customers and creating a protection strategy for existing customers. Home capture eliminates trips to the branch or the ATM, giving customers the flexibility to make deposits any time, from any place. The only thing required by the customer is a working scanner and an Internet connection — there is no software to install — making this a very attractive offering to the end-user. This type of service is extremely valuable to those customers that are self-employed or run side businesses out of their homes, such as rental property owners or product distributors like Mary Kay. These “consumers” are valuable to an institution, but may be often overlooked as a merchant or small business. Home capture offers a solution that meets the needs of the bank and the customer. Additionally, those community banks that are serving a dispersed customer base, such as retirees or active military personnel, will be able to retain those customers and collect deposits — no matter how remote the location.

In addition to customer convenience, this creates an entirely new channel to receive deposits. This technology is gaining momentum among credit unions and is demonstrating significant results even at an early stage in the adoption cycle. However, among community banks this still remains a relatively untapped opportunity.
According to a report by Lydia Cole in the 2009 Technology Guide for Credit Unions, Digital Federal Credit Union launched a home capture solution in March 2008, and within one year had 15 percent of its membership signed up for the service. The credit union received approximately 9,000 deposits per month, totaling more than $13.5 million.
Another example from the credit union community is USAA. According to the article “Now Might be Time to Reexamine Consumer Remote Deposit Capture” in the Jan. 21, 2009, issue of Bank Systems & Technology, USAA has nearly doubled the rate of its deposit growth since deploying the technology in 2005.

Once implemented, consumer capture can be used to fulfill consumer demand, increase deposits, retain existing customers and attract new customers. Additionally, when implemented in a software–as-a-service format, community banks can quickly deploy consumer capture, with minimal upfront expenses. During a recent webinar, Celent Senior Analyst Bob Meara said that consumer capture might be worth another look. As banks struggle to grow deposits and gain consumer trust, consumer capture is becoming more and more attractive.

While many financial executives dismissed consumer capture in the past, it is proving to be a technology that should no longer be ignored or overlooked. Given the growing distrust among consumers for larger financial institutions, the demand for convenience and anytime banking, and the demonstrable results from the credit union community — the market conditions are favorable for community banks to be successful with a consumer capture tool. The only question that remains is will your bank seize the opportunity or watch from the sidelines?

Approximately 100 credit union industry leaders attended the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Town Hall Meeting in Orlando, FL. NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz presided, with additional executives from the agency participating in the discussion.  Each of the four primary areas in NCUA’s Proposed Changes to Part 704, otherwise known as the Corporate Credit Union (CCU) Stabilization Program, were reviewed and audience members were given a chance to ask questions, voice concerns and contribute ideas to the final regulation. The Town Hall meeting was held about five weeks before the end of the Comment Period for the Proposed Changes to Part 704.

NCUA began the meeting by explaining why it didn’t sell the “legacy assets” (e.g., securities, many of them backed by nonperforming mortgages) at the corporate and then assess fees to Natural Person Credit Unions (NPCU) at one time. In summary, the initial losses would have wiped out about half of the total net worth among all NPCUs. Not only would this have caused credit union failures, but it also would have prevented NPCUs from offering other services (e.g., making loans) to their members.

Part 704 addresses four key areas: Capital Standards, Asset Liability Management, Risk Concentration Limits and Governance. The NCUA explained that the proposed regulations are intended to identify problems such as lack of capital standards, rules about dealing with liquidity and the inability to move securities that contributed to the situation the industry faces today. At the same time, the proposed rules aim to create “never again” standards within a framework that protects consumers and NPCUs while offering CCUs sufficient opportunity to have a successful business model.

The three phases of the Stabilization Plan were reviewed. The first phase was Stabilization, which is complete and by all accounts was successful. The second phase is resolution of investment losses. The NCUA is currently working on that issue and plans to publish results shortly. The agency asked that NPCUs assume that this phase is complete when they send comments to the proposed Part 704 changes. The third phase is Reform, which was the topic of the February 3rd meeting, and includes rule making and the future CCU System.

Participants in the Town Hall Meeting echoed concerns found on the Comments page of the NCUA website, available for review here.

Hampden Bank Chooses Teller Capture from Andrew Tilbury on Vimeo.

This video shows Hampden Bank’s success with using tMagic, the joint Teller Capture solution created by Open Solutions and Bluepoint Solutions.

Bluepoint Solutions, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and leading innovator in remote deposit capture (RDC), image-based item processing and electronic document management software technology for financial institutions, today announced that Oswego, Ill.-based Allied First Bank selected ImagePoint Remote, a consumer deposit capture platform. The bank will market the solution as QwikDeposit Home to its customers.

Allied First Bank has approximately $160 million in assets and more than 9000 customers. The bank is leveraging Bluepoint’s unique Software as a Service (SaaS) model to offer its customers a sophisticated and convenient capture solution, without the initial upfront capital expenditures associated with traditional technology implementations. The consumer capture solution will be integrated with the bank’s existing Internet banking provider, enabling customers to upload check images with the click of a button within the existing online banking portal. Customers can now easily make deposits from home or office with the use of a computer, a secure Internet connection and a scanner.

Once captured, the images will be hosted in Bluepoint’s secure data processing center, where item perfection and correction will be performed. Using the SaaS model, the bank gains access to a secure central repository of the captured images, significantly reducing and simplifying the research process. An aggregate X9.37 file will then be submitted to Allied First Bank according to the bank’s preferred delivery schedule.

“Years ago, we began as a credit union for employees of one of the nation’s largest airlines,” Andy Hardin, Vice President of Operations & Marketing at Allied First said.  “Today, we’re a retail banking organization, but our customers are still living and working all over the globe.  ImagePoint Remote is the next step in our strategy to leverage innovation and technology to offer the highest levels of security, access and control to our customers and the growing numbers of consumers who are reevaluating their primary banking relationships.”

“We are looking forward to working with Allied to implement a customer-facing solution that will not only add value to the existing customer-base, but will give the bank a competitive advantage in the market to attract new customers,” said Hal Tilbury, president and CEO for Bluepoint Solutions. “As an early adopter of the consumer capture solution, Allied is showcasing its commitment to advanced technology and offering innovative products to better serve its customers. Our consumer capture solution is designed to help banks like Allied provide better service, but more importantly, grow deposit accounts. By taking advantage of Bluepoint’s pay-as-you-go model, as well as the greater processing power found in an off-site, Bluepoint-managed application, Allied is poised for success with a very nominal investment. The ROI is almost immediate in this type of scenario.”

Founder and CEO of Bluepoint Solutions, Hal Tilbury, provides his thoughts on how remote deposit capture, particularly home and merchant capture can provide a valuable service to credit union’s business members. Besides relieving the tellers and reducing the need for ATMs, merchant capture can be a valuable tool to attract business members and drive growth in the credit union. To view the entire article, download here.

Jointly developed with Bluepoint Solutions, Open Solutions’ tMagic Teller Capture system received Bank News’ Innovative Solutions Award. The Innovative Solutions Awards recognize companies that have introduced products that demonstrate qualities to help community banks work more efficiently and more effectively. Fully integrated with the core platform, tMagic allows tellers to capture checks in real time at the point-of-presentment.

Smaller credit unions face unique challenges to implementing document management solutions, including small IT departments, lack of expertise and resources. Bluepoint Solutions’ CEO and Founder, Hal Tilbury, discusses the company’s unique application services contract offering that enables credit unions with virtually no IT department to implement sophisticated enterprise content management solutions.

Bluepoint Solutions makes its teller capture and receipt processing product suites available in a rental program, helping financial institutions leverage technology without making large capital expenditures. Click here to view the article in its entirety (requires subscription).