COPPELL, Texas -- As more banks offer customers high-tech alternatives to paper transactions, retailers are starting to see such options--like check imaging--appear on their side of the counter.
A recent example is Brink's U.S., which has added check imaging to its CompuSafe Service, Cash Room Automation Solution for retailers. The check-imaging process essentially scans cash and checks and turns them into "digital payment," which accelerates access to retailers' cash flow. The option essentially extends what currently happens with cash deposited in smart safes to checks, officials said.
In context, many retailers today have employed a "provisional credit" process, where clerks load customers' cash into a smart safe. The safe scans the cash and because those bills are now secure, the banks can credit the retailer for that cash, even though the truck has yet to come to pick it up.
Until now, checks weren't included in that scanning or "imaging" process. "If the retailer wanted to image checks, they'd have to get their bank's system, which would have its own hardware and software," said Jim Poteet, senior vice president of business solutions for Brink's U.S. "So either they'd have nothing for checks or two different solutions. There was a disconnect."
Now, with checks included, the provisional-credit process cuts the step of managers or owners waiting several days for the truck to arrive to pick up the checks, officials say. Same-day transmittal speeds up the check presentment process and the overall float time, which can vary depending on the merchant's bank.
The check-imaging option is actually one of several new options Brinks has added to its solution. Others include the following:
- Cash Room Automation. Working with a third-party supplier, Brinks has integrated its accelerated-credit and armored-car solution with cash "recycling" technology. The first currency recycler to be certified for use with Brink's Cash Room Automation Solution is Glory's RBG-300 Intelligent Cash Recycler.
- Outsourced Lockbox Solution. The service offers local lockbox solutions to regional and community banks. Brink's will image checks and remittance documents and then transmit the data to Cash Management Solutions Inc. Poteet said it offers banks and retailers the ability to operate in territories where it would be too costly to set up their own lockbox or financial transaction infrastructure.
"Brink's goal is to help both our banking and commercial customers create a smarter supply chain," Poteet said in a statement. "Our focus is on containing costs, reducing risk and increasing visibility for every payment and transaction."
The solutions help eliminate manual and time-consuming processes associated with checks and cash, Poteet said. "The earlier in the supply chain that Brink's can help automate the deposit process, the bigger the benefit to the bottom line," he said.
Coppell, Texas-based Brink's U.S. is a provider of secure transportation and cash-management services in North America. A division of Brink's Inc., Brink's U.S. operates more than 2,200 armored vehicles in 246 branches. Brink's Inc. is a provider of secure transportation and cash-management services for banks, retailers, governments and jewelers. It has about 900 facilities, 10,000 vehicles and 70,000 employees in about 100 countries on six continents.
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