My, How Times have Changed

This has been one long, but very good, week. We just finished the first of four, two- day demonstrations from Core Banking systems vendors. As an organization, we last went through this process in 2000. What's interesting is the types of things we are looking for from a vendor today compared to then. Here's a highlight of just a few:

• Online Banking and Bill Pay- This customer facing service was still in it's infancy in 2000 while limited bill pay services were only offered through the largest financial institutions. Today, that is a standard requirement for any bank, large or small.
• Online Account Opening- All deposit or loan accounts were opened through a traditional channel, a branch or perhaps a call center. Now, in addition to supporting these channels, an online application is required and, oh yeah, you better support it with a online chat feature so they can chat with you from your website.
• Mobile Banking- The most recent entry to the self service channel is now a requirement as well. With the proliferation of smart phones and other devices, customers expect to have access to their banking services anytime and anywhere.

As we meet with these vendors, it is no longer acceptable to provide functional systems. We are looking for partners who are following trends in the industry and spending money on new technologies, anticipating the next customer need. With the speed of change, we can't go it alone.