Mitek Systems Inc., a specialist in image analytics and mobile imaging software, and J&B Software Inc., a provider of enterprise-wide transaction, document management and payment system services, have partnered to let consumers deposit checks by scanning them with their handset.

J&B Software selected Mitek's ImageNet Mobile Deposit application to provide mobile Remote Deposit Capture functionality for J&B's Remote Image Capture service. J&B and Mitek demonstrated the combined product during the Tenth Annual J&B Client Conference in Philadelphia Oct. 5-7 and will repeat at the Association of Financial Professionals Annual Conference in Los Angeles Oct. 19 -- 22.

"The strategy behind our partnership with Mitek is to complete the payment transaction," said James Wynn, director of marketing for J&B Software Inc., Blue Bell, PA.

"The solution utilizes Mitek's mobile capture technology and integrates it with J&B's remote capture, workflow management and clearing engine that will allow for optimal routing, clearing, and validation of checks," he said.

"J&B is the first software provider to integrate both the capture and clearing technology into a single transaction management platform. It benefits the business by capturing a check at the earliest point of presentment and processing it through the banking system within minutes, resulting in improved cash flow."

Mitek's Mobile Deposit Check 21 compliant solution adds mobile RDC functionality to J&B's Remote Image Capture software, allowing checks to be deposited from an end user's camera-equipped mobile phone.

This combined service will provide J&B's customers with quicker availability to funds and adds an extra level of convenience by effectively converting a camera-equipped mobile phone into a handheld check reader.

"Mitek's platform enhances the J&B solution by allowing for another capture method," Mr. Wynn said. "Before cell phone payments were available, a specialized check scanner was required.

"This enhanced technology opens up our solution to a potential 30 million cell phone users in the United States," he said.

J&B's eCapture RDC solution captures document images at remote or branch locations using a variety of different capture devices that are integrated into the J&B core payment processing solution.

The solution can be interfaced directly into a client's existing host financial solution, like SAP and Oracle, to provide real-time information.

J&B customers have realized tremendous financial benefits due to improved float time, the elimination of many manual paper-handling operations and the associated infrastructure expenses that are inherent in this process.

The addition of Mobile Deposit will potentially bring instantaneous capture capabilities to the 30 million people in the United States who have cameras on their mobile phones.

For example, one key benefit will be that financial advisors and brokers that may be required to deposit funds same day, will now have the ability to do so without having to make a trip to the bank.

"By virtue of our app, we're equipping 28 million small and medium-sized businesses, enabling a vast number of mobile workers to deposit checks as they receive them, and that's why J&B is a perfect partner for us," said Jim DeBello, president/CEO of Mitek Systems, San Diego, CA. "Mitek specializes in mobile imaging, software to turn a mobile phone into a mobile scanning device.

"J&B has selected Mitek to integrate mobile deposit into their remote image capture product," he said. "They have specialized in check processing and remittance and remote document processing, for brokerage and retail companies, as well as many of the top banks in the country.

"Many of our clients don't want to pay for a courier to take their checks to a bank."

Mitek Systems ImageNet Mobile Deposit is the first mobile banking software that allows banks to accept paper check deposits from merchants and mobile professionals via camera-equipped mobile phones.

Mobile Deposit is downloaded and accessed from most browser-based mobile phones equipped with a two-megapixel camera, including the Apple iPhone and BlackBerry Bold.

Mobile Deposit is available to financial institutions or mobile banking software vendors looking to add RDC to their mobile banking platform.

Mitek Systems' image analytics and mobile imaging technologies are used by financial institutions, life science companies and government agencies.

The company develops and markets a suite of intelligent character recognition software used to test, clean, read and authenticate imaged documents and objects. Its software is used to process more than nine billion transactions per year.

J&B Software provides payment processing, imaging, document management and capture services to businesses worldwide.

The company works with more than 160 organizations including regional and money center banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, credit card processors, brokerage, telecom, utilities, government, non-profit and commercial organizations.

J&B Software's library of core applications and product modules use open architecture software and hardware platforms.

The company's application suite includes solutions for retail/wholesale lockbox, remote image capture, ARC/Check 21 electronic clearing, intelligent document recognition, healthcare EOB processing, full-page document management, transaction archive and online customer query.

J&B Software is a wholly owned subsidiary of 3i Infotech Ltd., a global information technology company.

J&B says that prime beneficiaries of the product include financial institutions such as banks, brokerages, insurance companies, the public sector, transportation companies and any other business that might collect a paper check in a remote location.

For example, this technology would allow a financial advisor to deposit a check that same day from a customer's home.

The partners' marketing plans include direct customer sales, trade show demonstrations, press releases and other announcements on their respective Web sites.

J&B admits that mobile commerce in the U.S. still has room to grow, but sees a tipping point approaching
"Currently it is in the early adoption stage," Mr. Wynn said. "We see it as a high growth area, and as technology improves -- such as higher-quality camera devices on phones -- the adoption of the technology will also increase.

"Eventually, the solution will include the capturing of more than just checks: It will capture full page documents as well," he said.