Portman Building Society plans to improve handling of customer correspondence and other paper documents using business process management technology.

The financial services firm has already installed software from IT supplier Metastorm in its insurance and investment department, which allows it to scan and  electronically process, transport and store paper requests and customer letters.

If the trial in the insurance division – which last year processed more than 725,000 paper requests – is successful, the system could be extended across the building society and branches.

‘The software allows us to streamline many of our processes and removes a lot of the mundane administrative activities,’ said Lisa Whittle, head of insurance and investment services at Portman. ‘It will free people up and give us greater capacity to grow the business, as they can focus on value-added activities.’

Using the Metastorm system, Portman will be able to scan paper-based forms and digitise them. Customer detail changes and other work can then be channelled to staff and tracked more easily, says Whittle.

The software, which integrates with resource and capacity planning systems provided by supplier EG, will also help managers to see if targets are being met.

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