The last two years have brought their set of challenges to community banks nationwide, causing many banks like yours to rely on their core technology more than ever before. Has your core provider supported your bank when you needed them the most? Before you answer, ask yourself the following questions:
Ask These Questions to Assess Your Core Provider's Service
Question 1: If you needed urgent software enhancements to meet demand, did your provider respond and deliver as expected?
COVID-19 forced many industries to pivot their business strategies in order to survive the uncertain climate. For the banking industry this meant finding digital solutions to continue serving their customer base, especially those that were limiting face-to-face interaction due to COVID-19 restrictions. Many smaller banks without digital banking services may have felt the impact the hardest causing some bankers to start requesting enhancements and additions from their core provider. If you were one of these bankers, was your core provider able to respond to your requests and deliver in a timely fashion?
For Gilmer National Bank, the answer was "no." After 30 years of working with their legacy core provider, Gilmer National Bank needed to expand their offerings with online banking, debit card solutions, and remote deposit capture. They found themselves needing to move fast as they were in danger of losing a very large customer simply because they did not have remote deposit capture available.
When discussing the product with their standing provider, they found that it carried an excessive cost and wouldn’t be delivered in a timely manner, so they reached out to IBT Apps, and even before signing an agreement, they were able to get their remote capture system installed within a week.
Gilmer signed on to receive a complete core system, cutting edge online, mobile, and bill pay products, and integrated banking solutions with third-party providers. They also secured a trusted core partnership that would be able to evolve their core technology as the industry changes and be able to serve the bank the way they serve own community.
Enjoying what you're reading? Check out the rest of this blog series and ask yourself the critical questions for assessing your core provider's service. Our next question pertains to cybersecurity and how your provider is helping protect your bank.
