If there was one universal recommendation from BAI's TransPay Conference it was this:

Offer remote deposit capture NOW!

Remote deposit capture, the scanning and depositing of checks from the user's own location, rivals online banking in terms of utility for businesses of all sizes. In an interesting general session yesterday, three small business principals from companies in the $5 million to $10 million category were on stage with two bankers. When the subject of remote deposit capture came up, two business owners were ready to install the system immediately. The third only received a few checks each month and wasn’t interested, however he said his spouse who runs a retail operation is very interested.

The business owners were willing to pay a considerable fee since it would save many hours of labor each week. And maybe more important, they liked how it made remittance processing easier to manage. With small staffs, they often have to find replacements to make the "bank run." And sometimes checks sat idle for days at a time when someone was unexpectedly sick.

Main Street Bank <mstreetbank.com> features check scanning in its Main Street Connect package.

The predicted remote deposit capture adoption curve resembles online banking in the late 1990s. Celent estimates there will be 100,000 remote locations by the end of this year, about 5% penetration of the corporate market. In five years, the research company predicts more than 1 million business locations will use the service, along with a quarter million branch locations for 1.4 million total locations in 2012 (see below).

Source: Celent, 5/06

So far, only 50 or so banks are offering, but all top-20 banks either have it now or are in the final testing phase. By this time next year, as many as 500 banks may offer it, and it will soon be an expected part of a full-service, business-banking offering.

—JB