With the new service, CheckFree will host the reconciliation system, data and hardware, eliminating the need for firms to manage internal systems maintenance and support.

Atlanta-based CheckFree says the new service takes away the day-to-day in-house IT management and maintenance of reconciliation and exception management systems.

Customers signed up to the service will get low-cost access to CheckFree's reconciliation and exception management system, Accurate NXG - a Web-based interface enables easy access by any authorised user.

Mark Cappell, SVP and MD, reconciliation and exception management, CheckFree, says the new offering will enable firms to "move the burdensome process of maintaining an in-house reconciliation and exception management system to a hosted environment".

"By reducing time-consuming tasks such as updating system parameters and allowing CheckFree to optimise these operations, CheckFree's hosted service can deliver best practices and provide expert support to continuously adapt and operate the system to perform at its peak," he adds.

CheckFree says its consultants will work with organisations to enhance reconciliation processes to achieve higher match rates, optimise transaction speeds and regularly fine-tune the system to stay aligned with evolving business objectives.

"A rapidly deployed and optimised hosted reconciliation service is a business process that can potentially reduce losses from transaction errors while increasing the efficiency of financial control," says Cappell. "CheckFree's hosted service can enable organisations to view reconciliations less as a problematic, cost-intensive resource that demands too much attention, and begin to use it as part of their strategic business plan as a core component of an effective back-office."