If information is the new currency, why don’t we treat it as such? For decades banks built layers of dual control checks and balances for staff that handle the Benjamins. We have paid couriers millions to move bags of greenbacks between branches. Yet now that information has supplanted the almighty dollar as the critical factor for achieving a competitive advantage, we apparently could care less as we watch this new digital currency fall from the back of the armored truck and blow down the information superhighway.

In the ebook Information Chaos vs. Information Opportunity, AIIM President John Mancini discusses four topics that every digital business must address. And make no mistake about it: we must all become digital businesses. Or die.

• How do we manage the RISK of growing volumes of content?
• How do we TRANSFORM our content-intensive business processes?
• How do we use content to better ENGAGE customers, employees and partners?
• How do we get any business INSIGHT out of all the information we are gathering?

With content at the center of the picture, let’s use a common banking activity as an example to bring these four topics to life.

Every bank is expected to handle dormant accounts with an extra level of security. The prevailing feeling is that the crooks we hire in our branches will find a checking account the customer has long since forgotten and abscond with the money. To prevent this, banks have devised complex and manual processes. Banks seem to devise complex and manual processes to address most situations, so this should come as no surprise. The typical bank process for releasing dormant accounts often involves enough non-value added activity to choke a horse. Teller supervisor overrides, emails for approvals, rejected items that are manually posted, and several layers of after-the-fact verifications. All of this non-value added work because we don’t trust tellers to do their job after they have done their job of identifying the customer’s authenticity and authority.

Leveraging information and content, the digital bank would handle dormant accounts as such:

COLLABORATION & ENGAGEMENT – The customer and teller jointly authorize the dormant account release.

PROCESS TRANSFORMATION – The teller system sends a dormant release authorization code text message to the customer’s cell phone, which the customer gives the teller to enter into the teller system to complete the transaction.

RISK MANAGEMENT – If the cell phone number has been recently changed, the text message requests the customer to call the contact center to receive a verbal release code to give to the teller.

INSIGHT & ANALYTICS – Just before an account goes dormant, if we don’t have a cell phone number on file we contact the customer to not only get a cell number but to ask if he would rather park the money in a CD and avoid our dormant fee. It might cost the bank a little money, but it is for the good of the customer, as all of our actions should be. Or maybe the customer just needs a debit card to access the funds. Now we’re talking revenue.

This is an example of process reengineering that will allow us to drive our efficiency ratio below 40%. Instead of two, three or four hands touching the work, the only one who touches it is the one who was touching it in the first place – the teller.

This is the way a digital business will use technology.

Until we start thinking and executing this way, it’s all just lip service.
-Croal Dude

Time for a digital tune-up?

In today’s competitive environment, a financial institution’s technology solutions play a major role in its future growth and success.

A Technology Assessment from Cornerstone Advisors can help an organization determine whether its current systems and processes are adequately supporting its strategic goals.

Don’t get left behind. Contact Cornerstone today to talk about bringing your overall technology management to best practice levels.