Lockbox…If not you, then who?

 Author: Rob Hudecek, rhudecek@profitstars.com

During my initial training as a student pilot, there was one maxim from my flight instructor that has stood out above all: “If you are not doing something, you are doing something wrong.”  Inaction can often lead to undesirable results (including, as a pilot in training, not being able to use the airplane again).

It is easy to visualize how this same phrase can be used for business with consequences revealed in loss of current market share, missed opportunities, or worse.  From property managers to healthcare providers to utility companies, modern merchants are continually looking for ways to conscientiously adapt to cost control and increased utilization of their staff for core business practices.  When offered, most merchants are all too eager to offload their labor intensive payment processing to willing institutions better suited to automate the process. Some such industries include:

• Government
• Mortgage Companies
• Insurance Companies
• Tax Offices
• School Districts
• Non-Profit  Organizations
• Grocery Stores
• Newspapers / Subscriptions
• Churches
• Waste & Disposal

With over eighty percent of mid-sized companies still processing their remittance payments in-house (Aite Group, 2012)¹, the landscape is set perfectly for lockbox service offerings.  In a recent survey, forty-three percent of all institutions surveyed expect an increase in retail lockbox processing through 2016, and sixty-eight percent expect an increase for wholesale processing (Aite Group, 2014)².  This increase has given way not only to increased revenues for those who already offer lockbox services to their customer base, but has also led to non-payment add-on processing  as well, including: 

• Order Form Processing
• Voter Registration
• Surveys
• Enrollment Forms
• Permit License Renewals
• Change of Address
• Legal Correspondence
• Extended Warrantee
• Systems Integration & File Translation
• Electronic Remittance Processing

John F. Kennedy once said: “There are risks and costs to action, but they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.” 

If you are not offering lockbox services through your financial institution today, there may not be a better time to consider the opportunity.

Footnotes:

(1)    Aite Group - Payables and Receivables at Midsize Companies: The Not-So-Forgotten Middle, 2012

(2)    Aite Group - Lockbox in North America: The Facts and Figures of an Exaggerated Demise, 2014