There’s a reason companies in all industries are embracing digital transformation: It has the power to revolutionize operations and put organizations in a great place to win in the future.
Not only does digital transformation enable organizations to reduce costs and improve the customer experience, but it also enables them to future-proof their infrastructure and keep people safe during the pandemic by using digital solutions that support social distancing requirements.
That said, community banks and credit unions have been slower to embrace digital transformation compared to companies in other industries. But in the wake of the pandemic, many community banks and credit unions were forced to accelerate their digital transformation journeys.
If your community bank or credit union is starting to get serious about digital transformation, that’s great news. Keep these four tips in mind to increase the chances of your digital transformation efforts being successful.
1. Assess your processes and procedures.
First things first: You can’t just snap your fingers, decide you’re investing in digital transformation, and expect great results. Instead, you need to get the lay of the land first to examine your processes and procedures to find out what’s working and what isn’t.
For example, you might decide that your customers love your website and mobile app. But you might realize that still requiring customers and employees to sign paper forms and documents is an inefficient, ineffective process that caused a lot of problems during the pandemic.
Once you have a good idea of what your processes and procedures look like, you can then begin figuring out which areas should be left alone—and which need to be improved.
2. Survey employees and customers.
If you want your digital transformation efforts to succeed, you need to make sure that the changes you’re making are what your employees and customers expect.
You’re not a mind reader, so the easiest way to do this is by surveying them directly and asking them what they like about your bank or credit union—and what they would change if they were pulling the strings themselves.
Based on this feedback, you should have a pretty decent idea of the areas of operations you should improve and the ones you absolutely should not touch.
3. Research your options.
At this point, you’ve documented your processes, and you’ve gathered the feedback needed to figure out the best way forward. Now, it’s time to look at what specific solutions are on the market that can help you in your digital transformation journey.
For example, if you are still requiring your customers and employees to sign paper forms by hand, you might be thrilled to discover purpose-built eSign solutions for banks and credit unions. And if you’re still bogged down by clunky, manual processes internally, you might enjoy learning about Laserfiche, an electronic content management, business process automation, and analytics solutions designed for banks and credit unions.
After you’ve researched your options and found some potential solutions, it’s time to vet the vendors who offer them to find out which is the best for your needs.
For the best results, you should partner with an established firm that has experience integrating leading digital transformation technologies into bank and credit union operations.
4. Train employees and customers.
Once you’ve implemented new tools, workflows, and technologies, your work isn’t done quite yet. Unless you’re going to cross your fingers and just hope that your employees and customers will figure out the new way on your own, you’re probably going to want to invest adequate resources in ensuring each of these individuals has the training they need to become fully productive using the new technologies.
To this end, you’ll want to schedule training sessions for your employees and possibly even for your customers. You should also look to provide digital resources for customers they can browse at their own leisure to find the information they need.
Digital transformation: You don’t have to do it on your own!
If you’re ready to move your digital transformation efforts forward at your bank or credit union, CDP can help. For more information on how CDP can help your credit union or bank modernize its operations, check out our website.
