When we decided to convert customer payments (checks, cash, debit or credit cards) into e-files to save processing costs, at least we didn’t underestimate the problems.

Naturally, there’d also be situations we’d treat as exceptions – we’d only find out what they were once we got into the project.

We had pretty much decided to go with an outsourced centralized Back Office Conversion (BOC) solution because it fit our needs the best, but implementation was another matter.

Essential for success was our own pre-work before roll out. That meant identifying potential champions and key stakeholders early on.

With a cross-functional team from sales, operations, IT, collections and treasury/cash reconciliation, we agreed on objectives and flow-charted all steps in the process.

We also set the metrics to judge if and when we’d be able to declare the project a success.

A very important step was to reconfirm the business value with the stakeholders before we proceeded – that firmed up more buy-in.

Some directions or timelines changed along the way, but we did it – and the pre-work proved the critical factor.

(Delores Ratliff, Manager, Bank Negotiation Initiatives, Target Corp., Minneapolis)

Tags: Back Office Conversion, BOC, centralized, conversion, cross-functional team, implementation, problems, timelines