Contractors Bonding and Insurance Company Replaces Two Custom Payments Solutions with ACOM's EZPayManager.

SEATTLE -- Contractors Bonding and Insurance Company (CBIC), a major Seattle-based company that specializes in surety bonds and niche property and casualty insurance products, is retiring its two legacy-type payment software systems, impact check printers and preprinted check forms, replacing them with a six-workstation EZPayManager payment management solution from ACOM Solutions, Inc.; it was announced today by Accounting Manager Sean Robinson and ACOM Vice President Sam Mikhail.

The ACOM solution is comprised of the EZPayManager for Windows payment platform with MICR-laser check printing and ACH direct deposit capabilities supported by several productivity modules. The productivity modules include manual check printing, e-remittance distribution via email and automated fax, CheckFraud Alert (positive pay), an electronic archive module, a web-enabled archive module that allows payee access to payment documents, and ACOM's unique on-line ACH Registration module.

"By acquiring EZPayManager for Windows, we achieved two major objectives," Robinson said. "We felt the time had come to modernize our payment management processes and we were faced with expensive upgrades on our two existing systems: one a custom-programmed solution for our iSeries-resident Lawson Software, and the other a solution developed in-house running on our iSeries mainframe. We have accomplished the modernization and at the same time avoided the much greater expenditure that would have been associated with upgrading the previous solutions."

According to Robinson, CBIC issues some 2,000 checks per month to its agents and the company plans to convert at least 1,000 of these to direct deposit payment using industry's ACH network. The conversion will effect dramatic savings in check printing and mailing/distribution costs and it will result in improved cash management for CBIC as well as enable more efficient banking processes for payees, he said. The e-remittance modules automatically send advice notices to payees so they know exactly when funds will arrive in their accounts.

For check production, CBIC purchased two Xerox Phaser 4500 laser printers MICR-enhanced by ACOM. The printers generate completed checks with all company information and graphics, payee information, amounts, check numbers, MICR lines and signatures on blank security check stock in a single pass through the printer. Each printer has the removable PCMIA card option for secure storage of corporate data and signatures. CBIC also installed a streaming PDF imaging system to accept and archive the payment documents.

"EZPayManager will reside on the Windows Server," he said. "Accounts payable will continue to reside on the iSeries platform along with our agent commissions, return premiums and surety claims. Payment data spooled out to the Windows server for formatting and printing or ACH direct deposit. EZPayManager will eliminate the current need for double entry of our property and casualty claim payments."

ACOM implemented EZPayManager electronic payment templates for eight bank accounts CBIC uses for its accounts payable and claims, Robinson said, noting that the configuration of the company's payment process involves the combined resources of the iSeries and the client-server environments.

According to Mikhail, the CBIC implementation illustrates the power and flexibility of the EZPayManager solution operating in a mixed-platform environment.

"The solution is compatible with all financial and ERP software packages and can accept data from any computing environment," he said. "The system is versatile enough to accommodate virtually any desired corporate configuration and it always provides a highly favorable ROI when compared with the cost of custom programming, whether for a new system or an upgrade."

CBIC traces its origins to 1959 and currently is the largest writer of contractors license bonds in the Northwest, marketing nationwide through some 4,000 insurance agents and brokers and serving more than 30,000 licensed contractors. The company is U.S. Treasury-listed and rated A (excellent) by the prestigious A.M. Best insurance industry rating service. It is licensed for surety in all 50 states and Washington D.C., and for property and casualty business in 46 states, operating 13 regional branch offices. In addition to its main focus the company also writes program, wholesale and generalist business, including variety of merchant and office policies.

About ACOM Solutions

ACOM Solutions, Inc. is a leading provider of payment management, document output management, B2B E-Commerce management, and purchasing management solutions integrated with enterprise applications such as ERP and CRM, to optimize back-office and B2B processes for electronic, internet and paper-based commerce. Now in its 20th year of business, ACOM is a leading software organization with offices and solution partners worldwide. ACOM maintains corporate headquarters in Long Beach, CA, and iSeries (AS/400) division headquarters in Duluth, GA. ACOM also has regional offices located in several major U.S. cities. For more information, contact [e-mail], or call 800-699-5758.