Commercial lenders and financial institutions are increasingly turning to automated spreading technology to streamline operations, reduce manual errors, and accelerate decision-making processes. However, selecting the right vendor for these critical tools requires careful consideration and strategic planning.
Table of Contents
Understanding Your Needs Before the Search
Before diving into vendor evaluations, it’s essential to clearly define what your institution needs from an automated spreading solution. Start by asking:
- What volume of financial statements do you process monthly?
- Which document formats do you regularly encounter?
- What level of accuracy is acceptable for your use case?
- How does the solution need to integrate with your existing tech stack?
- What are your specific regulatory compliance requirements?
Taking time to answer these questions will help you create a focused framework for evaluating potential vendors, ensuring you don’t get distracted by impressive but ultimately unnecessary features.
How to Choose the Right Vendor Evaluation Criteria
According to Gartner, when comparing vendors, focus on five main areas: functional features (what the technology does), technical aspects (how it integrates with your systems), support services (training and help available), vendor reliability (company stability and culture fit), and pricing (costs and contract terms).
For each area, list specific requirements that matter to your business. Then mark each requirement as high, medium, or low priority. Also decide which of the five areas carries the most weight in your decision.
Key Features to Consider
When evaluating automated spreading technology vendors, several features stand out as particularly important:
Accuracy and Recognition Capabilities
The fundamental value of any automated spreading solution lies in its ability to correctly extract and categorize financial data. Look for vendors who can demonstrate high accuracy rates across diverse document types, including:
- Tax returns
- Bank statements
- Income statements
- Balance sheets
- Cash flow statements
Ask potential vendors about their accuracy rates with documents specific to your industry and client base. The best solutions employ advanced AI and machine learning that improves over time.
Integration Flexibility
Your automated spreading solution shouldn’t exist in isolation. It needs to work seamlessly with your existing loan origination system, customer relationship management tools, and other software. Look for vendors offering:
- Well-documented APIs
- Pre-built integrations with popular financial software
- Straightforward data export capabilities
The right solution will slot into your workflow without creating new bottlenecks or requiring significant process changes.
Implementation and Training Support
Even the most powerful technology fails if your team can’t or won’t use it properly. Evaluate vendors based on:
- Typical implementation timelines
- Training resources available
- Ongoing support options
- User interface intuitiveness
Ask for references from institutions similar to yours to understand the real-world implementation experience.
Security and Compliance Features
Financial data demands the highest levels of security. Your vendor should offer:
- SOC 2 compliance (at minimum)
- Bank-grade encryption for data in transit and at rest
- Role-based access controls
- Compliance with relevant regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc.)
- Regular security audits and updates
Don’t hesitate to involve your security team in vendor discussions to ensure all your institution’s requirements are addressed.
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Scalability
Your needs today may not reflect your needs tomorrow. Select a vendor whose solution can grow with you, considering:
- Pricing models that accommodate growth
- Performance with increasing document volumes
- Ability to handle peak processing periods
- Support for additional document types as needed
The Evaluation Process
Once you’ve identified potential vendors, follow a structured evaluation process:
Request Demonstrations
Go beyond the sales pitch and ask for demonstrations using your actual documents. This gives you insight into how the solution handles your specific use cases and document types.
Engage Multiple Stakeholders
Include representatives from all affected departments in your evaluation:
- Credit analysts who will use the system daily
- IT professionals who will handle integration
- Compliance officers who ensure regulatory adherence
- Finance leaders who oversee the ROI of the investment
Each perspective will highlight different strengths and potential weaknesses in the vendor offerings.
Calculate Total Cost of Ownership
Look beyond the subscription or license fee to understand:
- Implementation costs
- Training expenses
- Ongoing support fees
- Potential costs of integration with other systems
- Expected time savings and efficiency gains
Making the Final Decision
The final selection should balance technical capabilities, user experience, and cost-effectiveness. Remember that the cheapest option rarely offers the best value when considering the full impact on your operations.
FlashSpread: Automated Spreading Technology
After evaluating all these factors, many leading financial institutions choose BeSmartee’s FlashSpread product as their automated spreading solution. FlashSpread combines cutting-edge AI technology with an intuitive interface designed specifically for commercial lenders.
FlashSpread’s automated spreading technology stands out with:
- Industry-leading accuracy rates across diverse financial documents
- Seamless integration with all major loan origination systems (LOS)
- Bank-grade security and compliance features
- Customizable spreading templates to match your institution’s requirements
- Dedicated implementation and support teams familiar with commercial lending workflows
Our clients report average time savings of approximately 1,600 hours, allowing their analysts to focus on relationship building and complex credit decisions rather than manual data entry.
Ready to see how FlashSpread can transform your financial spreading processes? Our team of loan technology experts understand the unique challenges faced by commercial lenders and financial institutions. We’re ready to show you how automated spreading technology can increase your efficiency while maintaining the accuracy your decisions depend on.
Contact us today to schedule a demonstration or to learn more about how FlashSpread is helping lenders like you with its automated spreading technology.
