Veterans of Foreign Wars Selects Unisys Remittance Processing Solution.

BLUE BELL, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 29, 1997--

Organization plans to process 20,000 items daily with Unisys

Remittance and Payment Application software and Unisys DP500

document processors

Unisys Corp. announced that it has received a contract to provide Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), Kansas City, Mo., with a hardware and software solution to handle the VFW's high-speed, high-volume insurance and benefits payment processing.

The agreement, valued at approximately one-quarter of a million dollars, includes Unisys Remittance Processing Application (RPA) software running on two Unisys DP500 document transports. The DP500s, each capable of processing up to 500 documents per minute, replaced ScanOptics equipment at VFW.

Based on its processing experience, VFW -- a new Unisys client -- believes that the Unisys solution may eventually allow it to process as many as 20,000 payments daily, a 33 percent increase over its present processing volume of 15,000 items.

The organization also noted that it expects the Unisys solution to enhance its system "up-time" and give it the ability to process veterans' insurance payments and donations more quickly and economically, thereby further improving its cash management capabilities.

VFW evaluated options from several other vendors and toured a Unisys client installation before deciding upon the Unisys solution. "Our previous solution was going 'out-of-support,' and we realized it was time for upgraded technology and equipment," commented VFW remittance processing supervisor Pat Dalton.

"We chose Unisys because it offered a single-vendor solution that would handle a wide spectrum of needs."

"As part of the evaluation process," Dalton continued, "we visited another insurance company locally that was running the Unisys solution. "The application there was very similar to ours, yet with even more equipment and a heavier volume. We left there very impressed with the Unisys offering. And we were subsequently pleased with how smoothly our system was implemented."

Time savings and scannability

With its previous payment systems, VFW processing personnel were required to create a magnetic tape with payments data, hand-carry the tape to the computer room, and manually edit it there.

With the Unisys solution, processing personnel now offload the data and transmit it directly to the mainframe via their desktop PCs. They report that they have shaved this segment of the processing cycle from 45 minutes down to just five.

In addition, Unisys has provided VFW with the ability to handle a diversity of remittance types. "We have many work sources here, including a very active, creative solicitation department," noted the organization's programming/data processing coordinator Steve Crutcher.

"We generate a wide range of insurance-related promotional mailings to our membership, multi-part mailings that are more complex than you might normally find. Consequently, we must process return-pieces in many sizes, shapes, and textures of paper ... most of which weren't designed to be run through scanners!

"But we've found that the Unisys equipment handles a much greater variety of document types...and lets us process them up to 50 percent faster than previously possible."

"We've also been pleased with the level of training and technical assistance Unisys provides," Crutcher noted. "We were told we'd receive good support, and we have. Unisys and VFW have worked well together, as a true team."

Leadership in payment processing

Unisys is a recognized leader in the remittance processing market. Today, over 350 sites use the Unisys Remittance and Payment Application (RPA), which allows financial services organizations to realize dramatic improvements in productivity and cost per item processed. RPA accommodates up to 500 documents per minute.

RPA -- and IRPA, its image-enabling counterpart -- complement Unisys proven InfoImage Item Processing System (IIPS) for check processing and its Image Retrieval and Information System (IRIS) for image archive and retrieval. Together, these systems represent the first comprehensive, end-to-end image payment solutions suite for the financial services industry.

In October 1989, Unisys introduced the high-volume image capture technology of its InfoImage Item Processing System and changed the way payments were processed in many leading financial institutions, such as Barnett Banks, Comerica, and Huntington Bancshares.

Unisys solutions can capture and archive images of all items at their first point of entry into financial institutions of any size.

Unisys payment systems solutions constitute the industry's most comprehensive and flexible suite of products to meet financial institutions' ever-increasing demand for accurate and easily accessible payment information systems.

Unisys -- The Information Management Company

Unisys is one of a select group of companies with the portfolio of services, technologies and third party alliances needed to deliver the benefits of information management -- helping clients use their information asset to enhance their competitiveness and responsiveness to customers.

Our expertise in information management is founded on the strengths of our three global businesses: consulting, solutions and systems integration; industry-leading technologies; and comprehensive services and products supporting distributed computing environments. Access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web -- http://www.unisys.com -- for further information. -0- Unisys is a registered trademark of Unisys Corp. All other brands and products referenced herein are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Unisys Corp.

Jan Haig, 215/986-2014

Internet: [e-mail]

or

Copithorne & Bellows 

Ken Day, 617/450-4300

Internet: [e-mail]