KeyCorp Enhances Statements With Exstream

After merging its private banking and investing unit with McDonald Financial Group - a brokerage, investment banking and corporate finance institution - in the late '90s, KeyCorp (Cleveland, approximately $85 billion in total assets) sought a strategy to consolidate statements for customers who have more than one account with the bank, according to Connie Markiewicz, senior product manager, McDonald Financial Group. The goal was not only to tie together statements from brokerage and other client accounts, but also to redesign statements to present more robust account information - both in paper statements and online.

In early 2003, KeyCorp selected an enterprise personalization solution from Lexington, Ky.-based Exstream Software. "For the robust statement that we wanted and the personalization aspect, we wanted a little more in-depth analysis and graphics - not just text and numbers," Markiewicz says. "We needed robust software to handle our needs for the statement - we wanted to give more on an output side, and we needed more flexibility."

Stating More

Using Exstream's Dialogue software, KeyCorp has been able to customize its customer statements. The information has been enhanced, and the statements have been redesigned in an organized, easy-to-use manner, says Allyn Pytel, senior vice president, information delivery and application support, KeyCorp. "It is not just the physical aspect, but it's the composition of customer data," he says.

And that composition extends to the Web. Supported by Dialogue, the bank gives customers the options of receiving multiple statements for multiple accounts or a single consolidated statement, either in hard copy or electronically. The solution's ability to present online statements was integral to KeyCorp's implementation, Pytel says. "With this, we also have an option where our customers no longer receive their printable statements but ... get the same-looking statement via an online portal," he describes.

According to Pytel, the ability to offer paperless statements has improved customer service. The bank notifies customers via e-mail when their statements are available and customers can access them immediately. Not only is it more convenient for customers, but the bank also saves money on printing and mailing costs, Pytel adds. But the more significant cost savings are in statement development. With Exstream's Dialogue solution, KeyCorp has been able to keep the process of statement development in-house, as opposed to outsourcing it, which has saved the bank approximately $400,000 since the implementation, Pytel asserts.

Furthermore, the implementation allows KeyCorp to cross-sell products and services to existing customers. In addition to including pie, line and bar charts, the redesigned statements can also include targeted messages automatically inserted into available white space by the bank, Markiewicz says.

According to Markiewicz, KeyCorp plans to utilize the Dialogue solution further in conjunction with the bank's strategy to convert more customers to the online statement service. "One of our high-end goals is to provide an electronic solution so a client can choose to have an electronic statement instead of receiving one in the mail," he says. "The goal is to send it through Dialogue online, and a customer can shut off the option of paper statements."

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Snapshot

-Institution: KeyCorp (Cleveland).

-Assets: Approximately $85 billion.

-Business Challenge: Link customers' multiple accounts and provide more depth to statements.

- Solution: Exstream Software's (Lexington, Ky.) Dialogue enterprise personalization solution.