Card Payments Review Using Six Sigma Can Achieve Big Returns with Little Investment

Wednesday, May 12th; 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Jeff Abrams - Financial Process Improvement Manager, Corporate Finance, Hill-Rom

Aaron Bills - COO and Founder, 3Delta Systems, Inc.

Presentation Style - Traditional PowerPoint

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Intermediate # 600 - New Session

This case study highlights Hill-Rom's efforts to re-tool its card payments processing and management. Through this effort, Hill-Rom was able to dramatically decrease its purchase and credit card program operating costs, minimize corporate risk and significantly cut payment acceptance costs through interchange management. Results include more than $600K a year in direct and indirect cost savings, higher customer satisfaction and fewer Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) data security risks.

• Review how Hill-Rom aligned its purchase and credit card acceptance operations with core business processes and customer needs.
• Illustrate how the company achieved more than $600K in annual cost savings and the underlying cash flow benefits of leveraging credit card payments with other customer-responsive payment forms.
• Discuss the potential for longer-term savings to Hill-Rom resulting from a more secure and auditable payment process.
• Examine metrics used to calculate incremental revenue growth and manage on-going system use.
• Describe a framework for how other companies can apply analytical processes to achieve the same positive results.

Debit Balance - Vendors at Risk

Wednesday, May 12th; 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Brian Savo - Director

Costco Wholesale - 109 AP Employees; Retail Services

Best Suited for Companies Processing more than 750,000 Invoices Annually

Presentation Style - Interactive Facilitated Discussion

Field of Study - Finance

Overview # 605 - New Session

The intent of this session is to have an interactive discussion regarding merchandise receivables, debit balance, and purchasing, and their relationship on the overall collectability of receivables. Costco will share one method used to identify overall risks associated with specific suppliers. The method involves an internally developed report that identifies future purchases and deductions to obtain a more accurate picture of collectability for specific merchandise suppliers.

This session is not intended for discussion of consumer or credit card debt collection. Topics for discussion will include:

• Debit blance prevention
• Debit balance collectability
• Methods and tools for identifying at risk suppliers

In-House Remittance Processing - Before and After Outsourcing

Wednesday, May 12th; 9:45 - 10:45 AM

Kreg Warrick - Data Center Operations Manager, Black Hills Corporation

Michael Tallitsch - VP, WAUSU Financial Systems

Presentation Style - Traditional PowerPoint

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Intermediate # 615 - New Session

Black Hills Corporation, a diversified energy company based in Rapid City, S.D. , serves more than 759,000 utility customers. Black Hills had previously outsourced their customer payments processing to a financial institution and in 2009 made the decision to bring the payment processing operations in-house. Attend this session to discover how this utility has reduced the cost associated with processing customer payments, improved banking relationships, reduced payment float time all while taking on the capital cost for in-house processing despite the tight economic landscape.

Keys for Reducing Labor Costs

Tuesday, May 11th; 2:15 - 3:15 PM

Alex Camacho, Director, ACS

Betsy Price, Tarrant County Tax Assessor Collector, Tarrant County

Jeff Geshay, OPEX Corporation

Presentation Style - Moderated Roundtable Discussion

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Intermediate# 620 - New Session

Learn from industry practitioners some ways that they have reduced their labor workforce by as much as 50 percent by capturing a wide variety of documents closer to the point of entry by combining mail extraction and "drop scanning" in one step. This roundtable discussion promises to unlock key capture and workflow efficiencies that will improve throughput, reduce labor and ensure greater accuracy and compliance. Tarrant County Tax, Affiliated Computer Services and Health Axis represent a variety of remittance, AP, and forms processing applications. The session will also include a facilitated Q&A segment with the audience.

Monday, May 10th; 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Nat Goodman, CAPP - President

Goodman & Associates - Business Services

Best Suited for Companies Processing fewer than 250,000 Invoices Annually

Presentation Style - Traditional PowerPoint

Field of Study - Finance

Basic # 625 - New Session

Suppliers and buyers shouldn't simply be in a financial tug of war. When the priorities of suppliers and buyers are mutually understood, a win-win is enabled. The trading partners' AR-AP interface both human and electronic can add significant value to the relationship.

Emphasis

• Distinguishing between your various customers' AP processes/capabilities
• Reviewing a case study of excellent trading partners; AR-AP working together
• Finding common AR-AP goals & values that translate into mutual success
• Identifying strategic initiatives that are win-win

Tuesday, May 11th; 2:15 - 3:15 PM

Angeline Depauw - Director of Electronic Remittance/Payments Agents

Verizon Communications

Presentation Style - Traditional PowerPoint

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Intermediate # 630 - New Session

Operations are required to be increasingly nimble as check volumes decline and a variety of electronic remittances are growing. Verizon, a leader in internal and outsource remittance processing, will share the challenges faced in this demanding environment, as well as strategic initiatives they have undertaken.

Thursday, May 13th; 8:45 - 9:45 AM

Anthony Basilio, Supervisor of Accounts Receivable

Union Tribune

Presentation Style - Traditional PowerPoint

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Intermediate # 635 - New Session

Managing the billing and accounts receivable for Union Tribune during a time of rapid change has come with a number of challenges and opportunities. Diane Davies has seized the changing environment and used it as a catalyst for simplification. Learn from her experiences as she shares key insights on how to restructure remittance processing, keep up with industry trends, reduce the number of applications used to process payments, and drive down the overall cost per transaction.

Payments Processing Benchmarks

Tuesday, May 11th; 2:15 - 3:15 PM

Ed Bachelder- Director of Research, Blueflame Consulting

Lesa Brooks - General Manager, CDS Global

Matt Dowds - Technical Product Manager, Remittance Solutions, WAUSAU Financial Systems 

Jim McShea - Vice President, 3i Infotech

Serena Smith - Senior VP of Healthcare and Transaction Services Division , Fidelity National Information Services

Presentation Style - Interactive Panel Discussion

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Intermediate # 640 - New Session

This session will present the results of TAWPI's 2009-2010 Payments Processing Benchmark Study. The study examines the productivity and cost of processing payments through an analysis of various functions. Get critical information on:

• Measurement of payment processing performance across dozens of benchmarking dimensions, including volume adjusted cost per item for both clean and exception items.
• Integration levels of front-end payments systems with back-end ERP platforms (e.g., SAP, PeopleSoft, etc.).
• Data on the adoption of ARC and Check 21 image deposits and statistics on the growth of biller direct recurring payments using ACH, debit and credit cards.
• Feasibility and cost justifications for in-house versus outsourcing of various functions.

Raising Employee Performance in an Automated Wholesale Lockbox Environment

Thursday, May 13th; 10:00 - 11:00 AM

Phil Ahwesh - SVP of Receivables Management Operations

PNC Bank

Presentation Style - Traditional PowerPoint

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Advanced # 645 - New Session

Implementing and maintaining an incentive program in a lockbox environment that is both fair and comprehensive is challenging. PNC has a program that has raised CPI and items per FTE performance and is very cost effective for the bank and for the employees in the lockbox network. Participants in this session will learn how to:

• Design a measurement program that is both a performance management and employee incentive tool
• Avoid the pitfalls common to lockbox incentive programs
• Create an auditable and well controlled program that really encourages the type of behavior that directly benefits what clients value in lockbox processing
• Effectively reward efficiency and not just productivity in processing
• Market your incentive program for competitive advantage

Successfully Automating Fulfillment Processing

Monday, May 10th; 9:45 - 10:45 AM

Bo Minogue

Mavro Imaging

Co-Presenters TBD

Presentation Style - Traditional PowerPoint

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Intermediate # 650 - New Session

Ensuring the timely and accurate processing of orders and related payments is key to a successful fulfillment processing operation. This session will detail the challenges of fulfillment processing and provide real-world examples of companies that have successfully automated this complex process.

Wire Transfer Remittance Information: Upcoming Changes will Facilitate Higher Straight-Through Processing to AR

Tuesday, May 11th; 3:30 - 4:30 PM

Ken Isaacson - VP, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Paul Trozzo - SVP, PNC Bank

John Slick, Cox Communications

Presentation Style - Traditional PowerPoint

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Intermediate # 655 - New Session

The operators of the nation's major wire transfer payment systems, the Fedwire Funds service and CHIPS, will be implementing a new message format by the end of 2010 that will include up to 9,000 characters of space for standardized and structured remittance information (i.e., invoice details). This forthcoming change is in response to requests from corporations to improve the efficiency of posting and reconciling wire transfer receipts to internal systems. Wire transfers offer a receiving corporation same-day final funds, which can improve working capital and quickly free up room under a customer's credit line. With the new changes, corporations will be able to significantly increase the automation surrounding the receipt of wire transfers, which will contain content compatible with a number of existing EDI and XML-based standards. Hear from a wire transfer operator, a bank and a corporation about the new message format, how each of them expects to use it, and what they are doing to prepare.

Managing Retail Deductions in Today's Economy

Tuesday, May 11th; 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Jessica Butler - Principal

Attain Consulting Group

Presentation Style - Traditional Power Point Presentation

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Basic # 660 - New Session

Managing Retail Deductions in Today's Economy - Are you ready to add money to your bottom line? Take Control of Retail Deductions. A review of best practices in deduction management, tips & strategies for success as well as current trends and issues will be discussed.

• Understand the different types of deductions, their impact on profitability and strategies to resolve
• Learn about new technologies designed to streamline deduction processing
• Hear about the most critical elements of successful deduction management
• Learn how to increase cross-functional communication and accountability in your company

Negotiation Tips & Strategies

Tuesday, May 11th; 2:15 - 3:15 PM

Jessica Butler - Principal

Attain Consulting Group

Presentation Style - Traditional Power Point Presentation

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Basic # 665 - New Session

Negotiation Tips & Strategies - Successful negotiations start with the right preparation. This session provides tips & strategies for achieving success in negotiations with customers, suppliers, and even people in your own company. Provides insights on how to deal with negotiation as joint problem solving that can help strenghten a relationship. This session will provide you with the following benefits and insights:

• Learn how to better prepare for negotiation sessions by using a "negotiation checklist"
• Hear tips on how to sharpen your verbal and non-verbal communication skills
• Learn about words to use and words to avoid during negotiations
• Understand what you can do when people say "NO" and how to deal with difficult people

Preparing for a Customer Compliance Meeting

Tuesday, May 11th; 3:30 - 4:30 PM

Jessica Butler - Principal

Attain Consulting Group

Presentation Style - Traditional Power Point Presentation

Field of Study - Business Management & Organization

Basic # 670 - New Session

Preparing for a Customer Compliance Meeting - Not all customer meetings are the same. Understanding the different types of customer compliance meetings and knowing what type of preparation is required can often be the difference between a great meeting which improves the overall trading partner relationship and one which is uncomfortable and non-productive. During this session, attendees will:

• Be given a step-by-step process to use to identify the meeting type which is best for a given situation
• Learn what specific information and analysis should be prepared for each meeting, along with samples and templates
• Get guidance on meeting details, such as participants to include, agendas and proper meeting etiquette
• Understand how it all fits together through several real-life case studies