CDS Business Solutions to Deliver Address on Exceptions Automation at the Global Concepts Payments Forum.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Communications Data Services, Inc. (CDS), a subsidiary of The Hearst Corporation and leading provider of outsourced fulfillment business process solutions, announced that executives from its CDS Business Solutions division will deliver a presentation on exceptions automation at the Global Concepts Payments Forum in Atlanta.

The presentation today will review the state of exceptions processing and resolution in the financial services and transaction processing industry, detail the costs and complications of processing exceptions work and provide exceptions solutions.

Carl Egger, director of input systems for CDS Business Solutions, and Lesa Brooks, general manager of CDS' Arizona facility, will tell Global Concepts attendees that momentum for financial institutions and corporate billers to accelerate the handling and resolution of payments exceptions is "phenomenal."

"With up to 30 percent of payments not posting cleanly to an A/R or ERP system, billing errors and payment exceptions resolution cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars a year and negatively impact customer service," Egger will say. "Worse, problems in cash application have a ripple effect throughout a company, from manufacturing, shipping and records, to treasury, sales and customer service."

With resolutions taking up to 120 days, payments exceptions negatively affect operations, suppliers, inventory turns, trade credit, and borrowing costs.

Because companies are constantly pressured to be more and more responsive to their constituencies, Egger predicts that the focus of bank lockbox providers increasingly will be placed on re-engineering their processes and workflows so that payments data is more closely tied to customer information on supplemental remittance documents, such as invoices, stubs, orders and correspondence.

"Corporate and commercial customers are sharpening their focus on eliminating payment exceptions and speeding exceptions resolutions. Exceptions have become the rule," Brooks will say. "Banks must answer the call, or risk losing their valued clients and the lucrative new lockbox revenues that they represent."

For that reason, CDS Business Solutions is offering a private label service that enables financial institutions to leverage its expertise in exceptions automation.

CDS Business Solutions is one of only a few data capture service providers that offers a complete outsourced technology infrastructure - combining imaging, data recognition, and proprietary workflows and processes - designed specifically to process any document type for automated receivables and exceptions handling. Some of CDS' automated exceptions capabilities include: cross promotions, change of address requests, order taking, odd amounts, and service requests.

About Communications Data Services, Inc.

In the business of providing outsourced services since 1972, CDS has earned a reputation for service and value in the industry. Backed by the stability and experience of The Hearst Corporation, CDS provides a complete outsourced solution for clients to manage and execute all of the critical business processes that impact their customers - order , payment, information data imaging and capture, Order management, continuity letter shop, printing, mailing, warehousing and product fulfillment. CDS counts among its customers an elite group of the world's leading magazine publishers, direct marketing firms, financial institutions and corporate billers. CDS brings the right mix of people, processes, technology and tools to every job we do, making CDS a trusted partner for complex, mission-critical applications. CDS is headquartered in Des Moines, IA, with locations in Arizona, New York, Pennsylvania, Canada and England. Learn more at www.cdsfulfillment.com or call 866 897 7987.