Orbograph, which is based at this building in Billerica, is celebrating its 10th year in business. The company, a leading developer of recognition solutions for the U.S. check-processing market, recently introduced its new Desktop Check Analyzer product.

How user-friendly and compatible a check is with a bank’s technology usually is not the first thing to cross the minds of business owners and corporate executives shopping for a company’s check design.

While banks offer different variations of checks to their customers, there are also many private manufacturers from which businesses can purchase checks. And some payroll software also doesn’t line up exactly right in the eyes of bankers who process the checks. Sometimes companies may go for a unique design that they think adds to their companies’ image, but the image of the check could cause some problems at the bank.

“The bankers are like, ‘Oh my God, where did this one come from?'” said Joe Gregory, vice president of strategic sales for Orbograph, a local company that recently launched a solution to this problem. “One of the things about ordering checks is you can buy them wherever you want.”

Orbograph is a leading developer of recognition solutions for the U.S. check-processing market. Although the company has no intentions of telling people where to get their checks, it has developed a product that will alert banks to checks that will hold up their automated check systems and continue to cause problems. The idea is for the bankers to discuss the problem with their new customers early on. According to Gregory, one of the major difficulties has been letting these checks move through the system undetected until there is a problem.

The product is just the latest in a long line of the company’s creations after a decade of work. Celebrating its 10th year in business, Billerica-based Orbograph strives to produce cutting-edge solutions to problems or obstacles. The company claims to service more than half of the nation’s largest financial institutions, an accomplishment that took place over the past two years.

“I would say there is a certain degree of pride within Orbograph,” said Gregory, who has been with the company for eight of its 10 years. The parent company, OrboTech, was founded in Israel and Orbograph’s current headquarters were at first a satellite office. Now there are about 45 employees at the local office who aim to stay on the cutting edge of technology for the financial services industry, according to Gregory.

‘Positive’ Response
Gregory said the idea for the Desktop Check Analyzer was developed through a combination of listening to customers talk about the problem and formulating internal ideas at Orbograph.

“One of the challenges with business checks is there is no standard format,” he said. “It’s really a problem that has been out there for a number of years.”

Gregory said another problem banks have is that by the time they find out a check is not compatible with their automated system, they no longer have the opportunity to properly communicate the problem to the appropriate people. However, with the new Orbograph product, a bank can know right away if a customer’s checks are going to create holdups in the system, he noted. The lines on a check may be just far enough off to not work with an automated check reader, and some checks are also too dark for imaging, which is another problem, he said.

“Most lay people and most businessmen never think about those type of things,” he said.

Gregory noted that the idea of Orbograph’s new product is to catch check problems early on with new customers who bring their own checks with them. He said he believes it will be successful and that it will help further streamline the check-processing system.

“It’s a brand-new product. No one else has come out with it,” he said. “So far, the response has been very positive.”

While insiders at Orbograph are predicting the Desktop Check Analyzer will be a success, it is not an easy task to stay on the cutting edge of technology, said Gregory. He said there are a lot of challenges involved with being in the technology field and serving financial institutions. And as technology evolves, so do the challenges, he added.

“For me personally, the Orbograph evolution has been a really good learning experience,” he said.

The company is currently working on a new product that will work to detect check fraud. Gregory said the plan is to release it later this year. It will look at the signature on each check to verify a match as well as look for other warning signs that the check could be fraudulent.

“There has been a lot of interest in the big-bank market for that type of solution,” he said.

Banks also like the idea that all of Orbograph’s programs can work together simultaneously for clients, Gregory added.

“They can run on the same computer program, and they all complement each other,” he said.