Every business makes deposits into the bank account every day, or at least every week or so. With credit card receipts, it’s pretty automatic because it’s all electronic and there is no extra hassle of driving the deposit to the bank. But what about the checks you receive from customers? They require several extra steps to get them into your bank account. First, you have to separately enter a transaction in QuickBooks for each check, matching it with the customer and invoice, then you have to endorse the back of each check, then you have to fill out a deposit slip, and finally you have to DRIVE to the bank and make the deposit. I suppose most of us never considered an alternative, and we just consider it a necessary activity. But consider how much wasted administrative time this all takes.
Well, I’ve found an awesome alternative to all of this with BankServ’s new web-based software called DepositNow!™.
Imagine the whole process from opening the mail with a customer’s payment all the way through to depositing checks in the bank account as a completely electronic process. That’s what BankServ has done for us with a simple piece of scanner hardware, and some very innovative software, integrated with QuickBooks. With this product, you just scan in your checks and that’s the last time you have to physically handle them again. No more driving to the bank!
Plus, once you scan in the check, the DepositNow software recognizes the customer name and amount, and automatically matches the payment with the open accounts receivable in QuickBooks.
How Remote Deposit works
The idea behind DepositNow has been around since 2004 when the Check 21 Act made it legal to scan a check and deposit it electronically as a digital image. DepositNow A/R takes the Check 21 standard one step further by automating the bookkeeping entries in the accounting software. This means you not only get electronic deposits, but also automation of the accounting entries. DepositNow A/R launches from within QuickBooks, automatically recognizes the customer and amount on the check, and applies the payment to the customer’s open invoice. In addition, it stores an archive of the scanned image of the check at BankServ's data center, allowing you to locate images of any check you’ve deposited within the previous 120 days. Upon request, you can have any check image pulled from the previous two years. You will save the checks for a couple weeks or until you receive the bank statement (to guard against technical problems), but after that you just shred the checks that have been deposited.
The cost and functionality of remote-deposit capable scanners have also been major issues for small business owners in the past. Until now, most scanners that could create legally compliant images of checks sold for at least $450 and could not be used to scan ordinary documents, just checks. In September 2006, BankServ will begin offering a new DepositNow A/R check scanner for only $225 that also functions as a standard paper scanner, making it more affordable and useful.
Additional features
Besides handling basic check scanning and posting to accounts receivable, DepositNow A/R has a “memory” that builds on itself with each transaction allowing the system to learn how to auto-fill data fields for specific customers who have recurring payments. Printable receipts and check images let you have a hard copy of a document when you need one and a searching tool helps locate transactions even when you only have partial information.
Pricing and Ordering
Because of DepositNow’s Web-based nature, there’s not much software for you to install on your own computer. Most of the core program runs on secure servers at BankServ’s data center, protected by firewalls and 128-bit secure encryption. It is possible to sign up for the service online, download the necessary software and order a scanner from BankServ’s Web site. The cost of subscribing to DepositNow varies depending on the volume of checks your business handles. DepositNow A/R can be ordered by calling 888-877-7703 and for more information on the product, visit www.bankserv.com.