LAS VEGAS — Dot matrix printers are finally seeing the sun set in the West, at least when it comes to printing checks at one big Las Vegas credit union.
Silver State Schools CU has replaced that venerable output technology with laser printers driven by a server-based system from NowDocs International.
"Now it doesn't look like our checks were printed in the basement," said Bryan West, host system administrator at Silver State Schools.
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The $889 million CU replaced its old dot matrixes at its 19 branches with 23 new laser printers–Hewlett Packard models "that basically are a dime a dozen, right off the shelf," West said.
The new printers and NowForms software are used to produce cashier checks, money orders and starter checks on the spot, providing a clean look and new flexibility, since changes can be made on the central server, rather than at each printer.
Omar Ayala, senior account executive for NowDocs in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., said that's a major selling point as he works his company's client list of about 200 credit unions running Symitar core systems and using the traditional system of computer chips that contain the forms and templates on each printer.
"That's the trigger point, when you have to change systems and all of a sudden have to change 100 printer chips, for example, at fifty bucks a pop," Ayala said. "A little server is a tenth of that cost."
Silver State Schools was not on that chip-based system but was aware of its costs and labor factors and decided to go ahead with the new server-based system when the time came to retire the dot matrix machines.
Now it's the first NowDocs customer to go live on the NowForms solutions, after calling on the Symitar specialists at the CUTEK consultancy to help with the integration.
CUTEK programmers customized Symitar functionality that drives forms production and printing to be able to use the NowForms solution.
"When we first started working with NowDocs, we assumed it would be the chip-based people who would want to migrate to the new software, but as it turns out, our first beta was someone not on that system," said Ron Murray, president of the 88-client consultancy.
Ayala, the NowDocs senior account executive, said there now are four credit unions using his firm's form-printing solutions and he expects more takers from his company's total client base of about 3,500 banks, credit unions and other institutions.
"A lot of people still use dot matrix printers, but what's happening is that the maintenance on them has gone way up, both for the labor and because there's just not a whole lot of new parts around," he said. "This new system is just so much more reliable."
West can vouch for that. "We started with this in May and we've had one support call that I can think of, and that was an issue with the printer itself," the Silver State Schools host system administrator said. "I worked in a branch and I know how frustrating it can be to have members waiting while you scramble around trying to get a printer fixed while members are waiting for their checks."
West said the CU plans to incorporate the system in other back office areas that cut checks, such as accounts payable and loans.
"It's such an improvement," he said. "We were printing checks of such poor quality, especially when they were running out of ink, that you almost felt ashamed to hand them over. Now we can put our best foot forward."
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