Outsourcing that hits the sweet spot

“Some of the measures we have taken are to implement applications that refine and track communication with consumers to increase their understanding of debt commitment and obligations”
-Kent Schnacker

What are the most pressing challenges facing financial institutions as they rebound from the economic crisis? How is ACS helping clients address these challenges?

Kent Schnacker. Financial Services institutions are navigating through the most dramatic changes in market conditions and regulatory oversight seen since the Great Depression. Because the impact of these changes is still unclear, our clients are vigorously looking for new ways to manage their businesses, while seeking a balanced approach between compliance, consumer protection and growing their customer base.

Managing risk is obviously a major concern as new laws result in specific regulatory requirements and transactions across the entire lending lifecycle will be impacted. Some of the measures we have taken are to implement applications that refine and track communication with consumers to increase their understanding of debt commitment and obligations. We are balancing oversight with defined cost savings and innovation in 'back office' BPO functions such as credit application, underwriting, account transaction and payment processing, and will continue to implement controls, data solutions and reporting procedures as requirements become clearer. 

What specific solutions can ACS, a Xerox company, provide to help clients to drive growth, despite concerns with risk and regulations?

KS. For over four decades ACS has specialized in BPO solutions that shift the burden of managing 'non-core' transactions and customer care from our lending clients to us. Our recent acquisition by Xerox has enhanced our value to banks and lending institutions by addressing what we call the 'sweet spot' between business process and data. This 'sweet spot' involves fusing technology and process management with the layer of data and intelligence for better insight and reporting, allowing us to solve ever more complex business challenges for clients. At the data level, clients can now find and organize structured and unstructured data into useful and accessible information that helps expedite transactions, decision-making and foster efficient action on new customer demands.

Are there specific innovations that help you accomplish more for your clients?

KS. We continuously invest in innovation programs designed to evolve and enhance our offerings. Last year alone ACS introduced dozens of new products or services to improve the quality and cost of service for our clients. These new innovations span all aspects of our business from new on demand cloud services from our ITO business to advancements in data capture and security, managed mobility and multi-device information access, and collaboration applications within our BPO businesses.

This year, by leveraging R&D from our parent company we will offer innovative capabilities in marketing automation and data/information management that provide significant advancements for our financial services clients. An example is XMPie, a Xerox technology that will transform management of statements, bills, and invoices, enhancing the quality of self-service in loan management. Other new innovations include translation and multi modal communication advancements for our contact centers, smart document management, and new innovations in data capture, management, and privacy, all of which will improve manual audit and document processing across our BPO businesses, streamlining transactions and raising the quality and value of the information.

What do you see coming down the path in the next 12 to 24 months?

KS. We see credit models continuing to be strict and impeding the growth in lending volume. This will mean that driving revenue must come from new scalable, flexible, innovative approaches that control costs, and include analytics to retain a firm grasp of the bottom line. Accordingly, we see sourcing, particularly larger 'phased' deals, becoming more attractive as firms increasingly understand the exponential savings derived from comprehensive multi-function outsourcing.

We believe that stronger companies who embrace innovation will gain market share more quickly with the upturn. We also look forward to being the resource to support our banking and lending clients. 

Bigraphy

Richard "Kent" Schnacker is group president of ACS' Financial Services Group (FSG). FSG includes ACS' finance & accounting, mortgage and banking services, consumer and commercial loan servicing, mutual fund and securities services, and education services for colleges and universities.