Dear Community Financial Institution Executive:
The COVID-19 pandemic will change banking forever and for some, that’s a very scary thing.
We all want things to get back to normal as much as possible and as fast as possible. But the reality is, just like any major event that we experience, things never really go back to the way they used to be.
An event like this is a paradigm shift for our society as a whole. It's the type of event that can turn entire industries upside down in the course of a couple months.
While I don't believe banking will be entirely turned upside down, our industry is going through major changes right before our very eyes. These changes affect how your customers want to transact, how your employees want to work, and most importantly: how you as a leader must manage your financial institution.
While I can’t tell you exactly how things are going to go, I can say with certainty: managing your bank like you did in 2019 won’t work in the future.
No. The days of resisting the changing digital age in the financial industry won’t cut it any longer.
#1 Consumer expectations and habits are changing.
The banking consumer has gone through a paradigm shift where many are coming to the realization that they don't have to go into a bank lobby to conduct transactions or even borrow money. People that never would have come to this change in mindset on their own were forced to and will continue to be forced to.
And the longer that COVID-19 hangs around, the more those changes will become habits.
Even as the lockdown loosens over the next couple months, people will continue to reduce social interactions where they can. Grocery pickups will not go back to previous levels. Restaurant carry-outs will likely be higher than before. And more and more people will continue to adopt and EXPECT the various forms of digital banking.
As community bankers, we’ve always clung to the idea that “some people just want to see someone face to face”. While that may be true, we have to face the new ‘normal’.
What we once thought were the most loyal of customers to community banking may begin to wonder if your banking services aren’t “social-distancing-ready”. As community financial institutions, we have to face this reality and serve our customers in the best possible way.
Are you giving your customers the best options for other channels to conduct business with you?
#2 Employees too.
Not only have customers changed their habits. But the way you manage your employees will have to change as well.
Remote access is here to stay for many, and some employees have found that they not only enjoy working from home but are more productive and efficient in doing so. While many will gladly return to the office or branch, others will be looking for you to be more flexible in the demand for physical presence. This will take a change in the management mindset of “you’re not working if you’re not here” and will require the proper tools to make it work in the long term.
You need to ask yourself:
- How can you use this opportunity to be more efficient?
- How can you use this to enter into new markets? (Think remote commercial or mortgage lenders.)
Looking at the use of your existing workforce may need to change as well; is it time to shift more employees to focus on customer support and digital experience? If you subscribe to my ideas above, the answer is a definite “yes”.
Lastly, employee interactions and routines have had to adjust, and many have come to the realization that they want something different from their careers than they did only a few months ago. You need to be prepared for this as well and be prepared to offer new opportunities or risk losing some of your most dynamic employees.
What to do?
You can choose to excel in this new landscape. You can inject your passion, problem solving, and love for community to the new way of banking. That’s what community bankers do; that’s what you’ve always done.
While the bigger picture may take a shift in mindset, it will also require embracing the technology necessary to face the ‘new normal’.
We’ve been heading down this path for some time now, but COVID-19 has shortened the curve drastically.
This pandemic will force an industry already reliant on technology to become even more reliant. Your networks will need to be faster, your product offerings better, your processes more efficient, and your minds will need to be open to a new way of doing things.
Because as we move past the stage of survival, it will be those that embrace these new ideas that will be most successful.
So that means you may have to implement new technologies that weren't on your roadmap only a few months ago. Or if those technologies are currently in place, it may mean you need to review just how well those technologies are working.
We released a separate whitepaper on 12 technologies that every community bank should be considering to survive and succeed in the post-pandemic landscape. Use the button below to grab your copy.
Hopefully it will be a resource you can use to re-evaluate your bank’s digital strategy.
If you have contacts in the industry that you think may find this helpful, please forward this on to them and urge them to sign up for our newsletter. Or if you have any questions, let us know at support@bedelsecurity.com.
Other Resources:
The Bedel Security Newsletter
https://www.bedelsecurity.com/lp-newsletter
Free Remote Access Risk Assessment
https://www.bedelsecurity.com/lp-remoteriskassessment
Remote Work Security
https://www.bedelsecurity.com/blog/remote-work-security