Commercial lending is a saturated and highly regulated field. As if that were not enough, lenders often must fight not only their competitors but their own internal processes as well. A surprising number of commercial lending institutions continue to rely on outdated document collection methods such as paper forms, in-person meetings, Excel spreadsheets, and manual workflows. Over time, this inevitably takes a toll on their productivity and ability to scale. The good news is that automating document collection is possible – and by doing so, commercial lenders can effectively optimize their processes, save time and money, provide better customer service and improve their bottom line. What Is Automated Document Collection? Automated document collection leverages modern digital tools to prepare, send, sign, collect, modify, and save client documents automatically and with minimal human intervention. The goal is to streamline document handling, reduce administrative errors, provide quicker and better customer service, and improve productivity overall. Digitization vs. Automated Document Collection Automated document collection is different from document digitization, which merely replaces paper documents with electronic, but still requires a fair amount of manual intervention and oversight. Automated document collection goes beyond converting analog into digital data. It completely transforms the document handling process and reduces the need for human intervention to the bare minimum. Electronic vs. Automated Document Collection There are many tools currently on the market that offer some form of electronic document collection. Most commercial lenders will doubtless be familiar and likely use some of the more popular ones, such as: • Dropbox: Rather than emailing documents around, Dropbox enables users to share files with coworkers and clients by uploading them to an online folder to be downloaded by whoever has access. Why Commercial Lenders Should Invest in Automated Document Collection Financial organizations continue to use outdated document collection methods like paper forms, email, and manual workflows. Automation offers a better solution. www.coloradobankers.org 22
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