The Investment Dealers Association of Canada (IDA) requires securities firms to verify client signatures when existing clients change their account information. While Credential was complying with this regulatory demand, they were simply running out of space to house all the paper client files required to verify signatures.

“Our staff needed instant access to client information, but we didn’t have space to store all our client files onsite,” remembers Vice President of Operations Ernie Nichiporik.

Mr. Nichiporik and his team began researching digital document management solutions, focusing their efforts on finding a secure, scalable Web-based solution that was still easy to use. “We really wanted a Web-based solution, so external parties could access the system even if they weren’t connected to our network,” he says. “And security features were key—we had to guarantee that our client files were safe and tamper-proof.”

After attending a presentation by IKON Office Solutions, Mr. Nichiporik and his colleagues chose a Laserfiche® digital document management system. “It had everything we needed. It was secure, easy-to-use, cost-effective and didn’t require a lot of time to implement.”

Within seven months, employees were fully benefiting from the new system. “Installation didn’t take long,” Nichiporik says, “and we started realizing benefits quickly. The seven month time frame to full productivity was due to the fact that we imaged all of our existing files, as well as new files coming in.”

Currently, over 60 users, located in four offices over 3,000 miles apart, use the Laserfiche system. Credential has three different business lines, and they store all their client files—including scanned paper documents, faxes and e-mails—in their Laserfiche repository. Documents are easily accessible thanks to templates that store the account number, document type and the department that last worked on the document. Credential also created a folder structure for the six different administration departments that house working documents, so that all company staff can locate documents that haven’t yet been archived in the client’s folder.

To further optimize business processes, Credential implemented several tools to automate document import and storage. Import Agent™ monitors the company’s network folder for new faxes, imports them into the Laserfiche repository and dynamically creates new folders to store them. Quick Fields™ document capture tools automate document scanning and storage, creating the file structure with different templates for each of Credential’s three business lines. The Quick Fields Real Time Lookup module accesses three different SQL databases to retrieve client information from the appropriate business line and automatically fill each scanned document’s template fields with client demographic information.

Staff who only need to view documents retrieve them through WebLink™, a read-only document viewer accessible through their Web browser. Users who have to add additional information to client files use Web Access™, a Web-based thin client that simplifies deployment and support. “Web Access really makes upgrades to the system easier, because we only have to install them on our Web server, instead of on each computer,” Nichiporik says.

“We also have a few ‘power users,’ who use the Windows®-based Laserfiche Client™ to scan and index documents,” he continues. “Using all three modules really fits our needs—and demonstrates the system’s flexibility. Instead of being locked into one option, we chose a combination of options to meet our exact requirements.”

Nichiporik believes that clients really appreciate the changes Laserfiche has brought to the company—“They really like that when they phone us with an issue, we have all their documentation in front of us,” he says—which is due to the secure digital storage of their files. Their previous paper-based storage system left staff dealing with lost faxes and misplaced documents, which made it difficult to respond to client requests in a timely manner. Thanks to Laserfiche, lost faxes have dropped by over 50%. “Now, only three people in the entire company have the authority to delete documents, whereas with paper files, anyone could misplace or lose a document in a file,” he says.

Credential also implemented the Audit Trail™ module to further guarantee security. Audit Trail tracks user actions within the Laserfiche system, simplifying compliance with regulatory requirements. “With Audit Trail, I can easily show IDA regulators that employees are looking up client signatures while updating client information, and I can also show them that we have a highly secure process to manage our client documents,” Nichiporik says.

Because of the company’s initial success with Laserfiche, Credential is actively planning to expand the solution. “Eventually, we’d like to integrate Laserfiche with our trading system, so that our sales force can easily access client documents during the trading process,” Nichiporik says. “Not to mention that many departments within the firm have seen how well the system works, and now want imaging for themselves.

“Because of Laserfiche, we now expect immediate access to documents,” he continues. “Laserfiche solves problems for us every day. It’s easy to use, easy to implement and works well in many different environments. Laserfiche is really a superior solution.”

TFA was also concerned about the delay of processing transactions submitted by mail and the regulatory challenges of retention requirements.

However, with TFA Synergy, a comprehensive paperless business platform that incorporates the Laserfiche® document management solution, TFA is well-positioned to overcome these challenges and provide more responsive—and cost-effective—client service.

In their search for a document management solution, TFA “first set criteria for searching for strategic partners,” says TFA IT manager Julius Baldueza. “We knew that the right partner had to be committed to working with financial services organizations with a specific focus on broker/dealers, have the existing technology ready, and offer a Web-based solution that we could quickly deploy to all our representatives.”

Because Laserfiche met all these criteria, TFA chose it as the foundation of TFA Synergy, which offers automated new account processing, Web-based document management, an e-Signature solution and automated compliance review. “The document management solution from Laserfiche fits right into the existing business models of our representatives and OSJ managers,” says Baldueza.

“TFA Synergy is financial advisor-friendly, compliance-oriented and seamless in operation,” says Sandy Brown, TFA President and Chief Executive Officer. “It helps our current and future financial advisors save money through reduced administrative expenses, and frees them up to spend more time with clients by eliminating the hours spent filling out forms and tracking down paper files.”

“With TFA Synergy, we’ve improved service from the front office to the back office,” Baldueza adds. “Streamlined processes eliminated the inefficient manual workflows. At this point, 90% of our business is processed through Laserfiche.”

The TFA Synergy paperless office platform is available through the TFA representative Web site, making it accessible from anywhere with a Web connection. For compliance purposes, representatives can view only their own clients’ information, which is sorted into file folders that satisfy Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) retention requirements.

When a representative scans in a document, a template is assigned to it, after which Laserfiche Workflow™ routes the document into the proper folder based on the template choice. Workflow then automatically routes new business to the OSJ manager for approval and e-mails the OSJ manager that an application is pending review.

Once the OSJ manager has reviewed and approved the new business, the packet of new business is submitted to the home office for processing. If an application is rejected, Workflow e-mails it to the OSJ manager with a sticky-note annotation identifying the missing information. After the OSJ manager has corrected the application the word “resubmitted” is added to the document name and it’s resubmitted to the home office.

“Essentially, we now have a shared virtual file cabinet between the representative, the OSJ and the home office,” Baldueza says. “Everyone accesses the same documents, which creates a shared point of reference. If a rep has a question, they know that an OSJ or home office staff member is looking at exactly the same information.”

It may seem that a sophisticated system like TFA Synergy would require a significant amount of development, but that wasn’t the case. Within months of purchasing Laserfiche, the beta of the new system was ready to launch to field testers. The system was then rolled out to offices across the country, and by 2007, 90% of TFA regional offices were up and running with the new system. Home office staff and sales assistants all participated in training, with home office staff then moving on to train staff in the field offices. “You need to involve the leading sales offices in your beta testing,” Baldueza says. “They will definitely tell you what you need to know. And, they appreciate being asked.”

TFA expected they would have to deal with managing change, especially among their representatives. “It was new technology, and people are often leery about that,” Baldueza remembers. “We also had to adjust our operational roles to accommodate the new system, both in our home office and in our OSJ branches.”

In many cases, the expectations of the system significantly differed from the reality. “We expected that remote capture would cause operational problems, but we’ve found an error rate of less than 10 percent,” Baldueza says. “We thought the technology might prove too difficult, but the Field finds it very easy to use. Furthermore, we thought it might conflict with existing field operational procedures, but instead, our OSJ managers saw a huge benefit and really drove field adoption.”

OSJ managers especially appreciate the SEC books and records feature. “Through our virtual office, OSJ managers can fully review books and records of the representatives they supervise,” Baldueza says. “They can literally do most of the audit right from their office. This saves them time and money. While they still have to travel to the offices to review signage and other items, they can review more offices in a day because they do not have to spend the time looking at a myriad of file folders.

“Our largest OSJ branch office supervises 96 offices with one or two representatives in each location,” Baldueza continues. “Before TFA Synergy was implemented an OSJ branch office had two OSJ managers just to conduct audits. Now, one OSJ manager travels, and the other stays in the office to approve orders, which means faster service for their representatives.”

And the benefits stretch beyond faster, more cost-effective audits—Baldueza offers the example of an OSJ manager who now rents out the office space that his file cabinets used to occupy, at a price of $110 per square foot.

Besides the benefits TFA expected—elimination of lost paperwork, reduction in representatives’ faxing and mailing costs, and speedier approvals—Laserfiche has delivered some unintended perks. “Although we didn’t expect to reduce OSJ audit costs,” Baldueza says, “we eliminated more than half of our home office scanning, because the reps do it now. And we definitely have managed out-of-office OSJ approvals a lot more effectively, because when an OSJ manager is out of the office, that business is directly routed to the home office for approval by one of our principals, so representatives experience no delay in service.”

Overall, the rollout of TFA Synergy, including the document management solution, has been a success with everyone from representatives and OSJ managers to home office staff. “We’ve had an extraordinarily high adoption of TFA Synergy,” says Baldueza. “We find our reps are offering suggestions to add additional functionality to the system. They really notice how TFA Synergy improves their ability to provide better service to their clients.”

In addition to providing estate, tax and investment planning services, PPS is also an office of supervisory jurisdiction (OSJ) of a major national broker-dealer, supervising 37 registered representatives. With a combined 40 years’ worth of account information to manage, it’s easy to imagine the mountainous paperwork that PPS had accumulated. For Business Processor Aimee Ellis, OSJ paperwork alone had become overwhelming. “We have to keep virtually every piece of paper related to each client,” she says, “so we had 24 cabinets full of paper files.”

PPS’ broker-dealer recognizes the challenges of managing so much information, and provides OSJs with a proprietary document management system. PPS could have easily chosen this system, avoiding implementation and maintenance costs altogether. But maintaining compliance—and staff sanity—required a system that could keep OSJ files separate from agreements, correspondence and reviews related to PPS’ other services. It wasn’t until attending a virtual seminar given by another firm facing a similar situation that Director of Operations Cindy Peckham saw the ideal solution to PPS’ problem.

Director of Operations Cindy Peckham

“When we saw what this firm was doing with Laserfiche, it was a real ‘lightbulb’ moment,” remembers Peckham. “We turned to each other and said, ‘These people are in the exact same situation, and they’re doing exactly what we want to do.’”

The key to maintaining the separation between OSJ and independent business activities was the Laserfiche platform’s granular security controls. By creating unique Laserfiche templates for each document type, then defining user-specific template viewing permissions, PPS ensures that staff from one business can’t view the other’s documents. Because Laserfiche access rights are based on Windows® Authentication, implementing and enforcing these security controls has been especially easy.

Dividing the two interests isn’t just a smart business practice; it also makes complying with industry, state and federal regulations much easier. “During our yearly audit by the broker-dealer, the auditor can sit down at a workstation and search the OSJ documents exclusively,” says Peckham. “Meanwhile, if the state were to request a piece of client correspondence, we’d be able to quickly retrieve the precise pages they were looking for.” Naturally, Laserfiche has also helped reduce the physical labor required to produce requested documents.

She has equal confidence in the firm’s disaster recovery strategy. In fact, with regards to compliance, Peckham believes it to be the biggest benefit that Laserfiche has delivered. Federal law mandates that financial services firms be able to resume operations within 48 hours of a disaster. “With Laserfiche,” she explains, “If the building were to burn down, we could be back up and running almost instantly.”

Digitizing active client files has led to a marked improvement in client service. Sondra Perry, administrative assistant, no longer has to keep clients waiting on the phone. “It’s easier and more efficient to fulfill client requests,” she says, “because we can pull up their information right away.” Aimee Ellis can now respond to representatives’ requests more quickly, given that she can retrieve OSJ documents right from her desktop. “In fact,” she says, “it’s faster to bring up documents in Laserfiche than it is to log in to the broker-dealer’s Website and retrieve them there.”

Peckham estimates that 10 to 15% of PPS’ business is now paperless, a figure that includes all new business activity since fully implementing Laserfiche in May 2007. “Whenever new activity occurs in a client file,” she explains, “our staff pull that client’s paper file and scan it into Laserfiche. From that point on, all of that client’s paperwork will be digitized immediately.” Gradually, staff will identify and digitize inactive files as well, until the last truckload of paper files gets driven away for off-site destruction.

When asked for advice on implementing digital document management, PPS staff unilaterally stress the importance of thorough planning, especially with regards to template setup. Says Perry, “If you have your paper-based filing system down pat, Laserfiche can replicate it exactly. That’s the great thing about Laserfiche: It doesn’t force you to change the way you work—it mirrors it instead.”

“We used to print out e-mails to conduct surveillance,” remembers Operations Manager Kelly Buda. “And when you consider we have over 260 representatives and home office staff, that was a lot of paper.”

Buda began investigating document management solutions, and, after a presentation by Laserfiche Solutions Group (LSG) consultant Jeffrey Green, was sold on going paperless. “I’d been pushing the paperless concept for almost four years, because I was the one looking at files and dealing with most of the paper,” Buda says. “Laserfiche looked promising, but it wasn’t until I met Jeffrey at a conference and spoke to him at greater length that we realized it could work for us.

“When Jeffrey came in to do a demo, Laserfiche really sold itself,” he continues. “With the Windows®-like file structure, it was easy to learn—in fact, the ease of use was its best feature. And Jeffrey made it so easy to understand. He really showed us what was possible.”

Green believes that for financial services firms, the benefits of eliminating paper are clear, with a compelling return on investment. “Most firms think digital solutions like this are complex, difficult to implement and prohibitively expensive, but I showed Workman Securities that a digital solution was more affordable than they thought it would be,” he says. “Ultimately, e-mail archival proved to be the most important component for them, so that’s where we started.”

Using Laserfiche’s open architecture and a combination of modules including Workflow™, Audit Trail™ and Quick Fields™, LSG developed an e-mail archival solution that perfectly met Workman Securities’ needs.

When e-mails and attachments are received by the firm’s e-mail server, they’re automatically sent to Laserfiche, converted to searchable TIFF files and indexed in the repository. E-mails with a high ratio of suspect terms, such as “promise,” “sure thing” and “guarantee” are flagged for compliance department review. If needed, Workflow is then able to automatically move these e-mails to a registered principal’s Laserfiche folder and notify them that e-mails are waiting for their review. The reviewer can then open, read and search flagged e-mails.

After the compliance department or a principal reviews the suspicious e-mail, Laserfiche records their approval in a template field. Audit Trail monitors and time-stamps these approvals along with all other repository activities, such as user logins, searches, document views and attempts to print. With this functionality, compliance staff can generate reports that clearly illustrate the identity of the reviewer, what communication they reviewed, the date of the review and whether the review was forwarded on for further examination.

Even with this sophisticated e-mail archival functionality, Workman Securities’ Laserfiche system took less than ninety days to implement. “The increase in our efficiency has been huge,” says Chief Compliance Officer Klaus Siepmann. “Instead of printing a random sample, suspicious e-mails are automatically sent to the compliance department or a supervisor for immediate review.

“In the compliance department, we’re really loving the e-mail system,” he adds.

About a month after Workman Securities implemented the e-mail capture, approval and archival system, SEC auditors arrived on their doorstep. “Thanks to this e-mail solution, the auditors noticed a definite improvement,” Green says.

“In the past, we used to give the auditors a four-foot stack of paper and let them spend a week going through it. But now we can sit an auditor down at a computer, show them the system and generate reports documenting the review process. It’s a lot more efficient for us, and for them,” adds Buda.

After successfully automating e-mail archival, Workman Securities decided to apply the same principles to order processing. Rather than passing copies of order paperwork back and forth, Workman Securities is implementing Laserfiche Workflow to streamline suitability approvals, improve order processing and speed up payment. Once mailroom staff scan new business paperwork into the Laserfiche repository, Workflow automatically routes it to a registered principal for suitability approval, to the operations department for order processing and, finally, to back-office staff for commissioning.

This automated process has already improved efficiency, but to truly maximize its benefits, Workman Securities plans to enable representatives to scan and submit business over the Web, using the Web Access thin client. They may also begin submitting business to clearing firms electronically. “Over ninety percent of our orders are checks and applications, which is why rolling out the solution to the field will be such a benefit,” Buda says. “Because they’ll be able to do their own scanning and access their files online, we think the reps will really like it.”

In fact, Workman Securities is planning on having Green attend their annual compliance meeting to demonstrate the system to the firm’s representatives, something that Buda believes will help their representatives visualize the possibilities of Laserfiche. “We’re a pretty low-tech bunch, generally speaking, but the system is just so easy to use. I’m sure Jeffrey’s demonstration will show our reps how simple it is, and how much it could benefit their practice.”

Buda feels that even though Workman Securities is just beginning to realize the benefits of their Laserfiche system, it’s the right solution for financial services firms like themselves. “I wouldn’t have a problem recommending Laserfiche,” he says. “When we started, we didn’t have an exact idea of what we wanted or what was even possible.

“We’ve just begun to test the limits of our system,” he adds, “but we know it can do so much more.”

But after a 12 month review of 32 software packages, Michael Sundberg, Commonwealth’s Due Diligence Officer, recommended Laserfiche to CIO Ed Bell, and the solution has been working well ever since.

Laserfiche Winners Circle VAR Duplitron of Brockton, MA, invited Commonwealth to a seminar in suburban Boston eighteen months ago. Duplitron director Steve Woolner and his team impressed Sundberg immediately. After certifying Laserfiche as compliant with SEC regulations, and reviewing Duplitron’s credentials as an outstanding solution provider, Sundberg agreed that Laserfiche and Duplitron were the right team for Commonwealth.

“My responsibilities include overseeing Commonwealth’s Help Desk, so I know what products are well received in our offices from Maine to Hawaii,” Sundberg says. “Laserfiche was rated by consultant Gartner Group as the kind of product we wanted, and once we saw a demonstration and studied its cost-effectiveness, we decided the fit was right for us.”

Laserfiche enables investment professionals to scan, store and retrieve client records electronically, speeding customer service while remaining compliant with SEC and FDIC records management requirements. Using Laserfiche, financial planners can eliminate expensive filing cabinets and end frustrating searches for missing paper.

“Laserfiche enables our financial planners to communicate with the home office electronically and access client statements, confirmations and other critical paperwork on the Web,” Sundberg says. “This gives the planners more time to actually run their businesses and take care of customers, instead of handling clerical duties.”

Sundberg says Commonwealth advisers appreciate Laserfiche’s ease of use and its non-proprietary file formats, as well as its ability to work with standard scanners and PCs. He adds that competitors’ products required users to buy specialized equipment and save files in formats that might not be accessible in the future. He was also impressed with Duplitron’s plan for implementing the system.

“Ed Bell and Mike Sundberg are sophisticated IT professionals who wanted assurances that their field offices would get the same level of service as headquarters,” Woolner says. “Because Duplitron has developed strong business relationships and friendships with top Laserfiche VARs around the country, I’ve been able to assign installations and follow-up service to them, knowing they’ll be taken care of in the same way as if we have done them ourselves.”

Commonwealth, a six-time Investment Advisor “Broker-Dealer of the Year” winner, is recognized industry-wide for its use of advanced technology to improve customer service and make its independent financial planners more productive. Sundberg appreciates Laserfiche’s Integrators Toolkit, allowing him to tie Laserfiche into other Commonwealth applications.

Laserfiche has aggressively pursued the financial services market in recent years, recognizing that document imaging technology offers broker-dealers a number of key customer service and productivity differentiators. Thousands of financial planners are using Laserfiche worldwide, often from wireless laptops, as they work with clients in their offices and homes.

It took only a summer for Geneos to develop its document management system, consolidating records from more than 60 locations into one central repository. As Geneos implemented straight-through processing, the firm eliminated faxing altogether and greatly reduced printing and mailing costs and audit preparation time. The firm’s key players gained enough confidence in their electronic system to hold their first document destruction session, doing away with 250,000 pages of paper.

Geneos Wealth Management offers estate planning, investment advice, time management systems and financial planning. With such diverse roles and an eye toward retail rather than institutional bank arrangements, Geneos needs to store, share, search and reference hundreds of thousands of client documents. In addition, the firm’s relationship to its representatives means joint ownership of the majority of their records, requiring access from multiple locations by various individuals.

Geneos management understood the significance of eliminating as much paper as possible from day-to-day operations with a compliant, electronic document management system. Decision makers saw that the time spent physically searching through paper records and shipping or faxing them from location to location could be better spent delivering financial services.

Any solution would need to keep up with the influx of as many as 60,000 paper documents per week with the ability to securely scan, share, store and route them for approval. It would also have to make documents accessible from the main office in Denver, the 61 OSJ branch offices in 24 states, and 400 representative and affiliated investment advisors across the country.

Geneos management looked briefly at simple scanning solutions, but these were inadequate. Geneos needed an economical way to have its clients scan into a centralized solution while complying with SEC regulations for a clear audit trail. One branch had been using Laserfiche and introduced the product to the home office. “We made the decision to go in the middle of May,” says Dean Rager, CIO. “By September our system was in place in over 50 offices. It was very quick.”

Geneos started using Laserfiche to allow all the branch offices to ensure compliance while scanning their documents into one central repository. Rager notes the enthusiasm field representatives have shown for Laserfiche. “They love it,” he says. So far, Geneos has scanned in over 100 gigabytes of data, keeping up with the 60,000 new documents that come in each week.

System Administrator Sean O’Reilly notes, “We have made Laserfiche an indispensable component of our day-to-day operations.”

Using Laserfiche has enabled Geneos to link its remote offices, and the results have been dramatic. Remote offices can instantly send documents requiring overnight approval to the home office. “Before,” says O’Reilly, “documents were scattered all over the place in e-mail attachments and snail mail packages.”

“At our last NASD audit,” says CIO Rager, “we provided auditors with 80,000 pages of documents—six months’ worth of correspondence—on one CD. In years past, we had to box and send them. It took about an hour to gather the 80,000 pages and create the CD. Before it meant weeks and weeks of staff time.”

Implementing straight-through processing has brought Geneos an added benefit—the decommissioning of some old, very noisy dot matrix printers. “Now everything that came through those printers is accessible through a simple search in Laserfiche,” says O’Reilly.

In addition to celebrating the retirement of the printers, Rager adds that Geneos has saved a great deal of time and money on faxing. Laserfiche is handling input from all three virtual print servers and all the firm’s virtual faxing. In the year or so since installation, Laserfiche has captured close to a million pages—enough to stretch 150 miles if laid end-to-end.

Geneos also appreciates Laserfiche’s open architecture, and IT staff have used the Integrator’s Toolkit™ to complete a number of integrations between their in-house applications and their document repository. IT staff have also worked with two major clearinghouses, National Financial and Pershing, to establish a system for submitting paperwork electronically.

“As a major broker-dealer, we route large amounts of documentation to the clearinghouses,” O’Reilly says. “We’ve established an electronic document link so that staff can quickly submit documents stored in Laserfiche to either house, simply by clicking a custom toolbar button. Our staff really appreciate the ability to send documents electronically rather than printing and mailing them, and this functionality has taken us a long way toward becoming a fully paperless firm.”

Rager doesn’t equivocate when discussing the installation of Laserfiche at Geneos: “This is the best damn thing we’ve ever done. Period.”

“I thought to myself when I looked at my calculations that day, ‘There has to be a more efficient way to do this,’” Feenan says. He conducted an Internet search that included an investigation of SEC requirements regarding the conversion of paper into digital files. He then asked his broker/dealer, National Planning Corporation (NPC) of Santa Monica, CA, to support his plan to become a paperless office.

“They asked me to wait until they could take a look at the issue from a broader perspective,” Feenan says. “Five months later, NPC issued a directive that urged all their member firms to look into document imaging and recommended Laserfiche.

“We purchased it soon thereafter and have been scanning and getting rid of our paper ever since. The file cabinets in the space I measured last year are now gone and we have been able to put another office in their place.”

Feenan says he is extremely impressed with Laserfiche’s performance and believes that going paperless is a new foundation for the continuing success of his firm.

“We saved a half day’s worth of staff time when the compliance officer from NPC was here recently for an audit. We’re finding things faster and we’re starting to look to Laserfiche more often to help us with our daily work. It is already a very worthwhile investment.”

National Planning Corporation is one of the world’s largest broker/dealers serving 2,300 certified financial planners.