Speaker 0: Hello, and welcome to everyone joining us today. If you’re here for the first time, a big welcome to ParDreamin day one. We’re excited for you to be joining us. I’m Courtney Tremelia with Sercante, and I’m here to introduce Lisa Nicholas from Whitley as she shares her expertise on building digital transformation roadmaps, specifically in the financial services industry. Welcome, Lisa.

Speaker 1: Thank you, Courtney, and welcome, everyone. Uh, thank you for joining this session. Just, a little bit about me and my background and my journey. Uh, I’ve been in high-tech and banking and consulting roles over the last twenty-five years of my career. A little bit about personal me personally, I grew up racing sled dogs in Michigan, and we have a little ranch at Austin, Texas now, um, where we have horses and Longhorns. So, again, welcome everyone. What we’re gonna be talking about this morning is, uh, we’re gonna start with some industry trends around digital transformation. We’ll jump into some best practices and examples, then we’ll go over what should what should be in a roadmap and why, and then, uh, resources, financial and, uh, people resources. So that’s the agenda for this morning.

We’re gonna start with a polling question. We have a few polling questions, and we’ll start with this one. The polling question is Our organization has a digital roadmap, and I know either my or the department’s role in that digital transformation plan. So if you can take a few minutes to do this polling question. Alright. It’s coming now, Courtney said. Awesome. Well, we don’t wanna take too much time on these polling questions. So, hopefully, you can answer quickly, and then we’ll see the results and and carry on.

Speaker 0: Lisa, it looks like we’ve got 59 people saying yes and 40 people say no.

Speaker 1: 59 people say [yes] and 40 people say no. So, um, great. Thank you for taking that, uh, polling question on. I think it really does align with, um, percentage. This is a study done late 2020 and between banks and credit unions. Banks, 48% still don’t or don’t plan to launch a digital strategy or roadmap and 35% of credit unions haven’t or don’t plan to launch a digital strategy. So that can should give you a comparison, um, of where you are at in your organization.

I thought this was, um, also very interesting, um, study that was done. And 77% of financial institutions are less than 25% of the way through their digital transformation and only 10%. You got 46%, 10% or less. And what I think is interesting about this is you have before 2017, so it’s been tracked for a while. And almost done in 2017, you had quite a few, and today we have 3%. And I think that really speaks to the pace of technology and and where we are today, which I think is very, very exciting. But, um, um, it does come with some challenges. While, uh, 80 those, um, that start digital transformation, um, only 3% successfully complete that change. And I think there are a lot of reasons for that, uh, legacy tech being one, organizational silos, and then the skills gap. I think also the pace of technology, um, really, uh, feeds into this.

So, you know, we I talked to lots of financial institutions across the nation, and what we really see a lot of times is and and what we advise, um, you know, our clients is let’s not take a tech-first approach. It’s really not the best approach. Um, it’s people, process, and technology and the bigger piece of of digital transformation is really about the people and the process. And I love the the charts behind. And this is talking about marketing technology behind and, you know, this really applies across all the different whether it’s ops or or whatever. But, um, you can see in the very upper right-hand side, you can even see some of the logos here, right, in 2011. Fast forward to 2019 and 7,000, and I think now there’s, like, over 8,000. And this is just marketing, uh, companies, and so no wonder we’re overwhelmed. Right? Um, we had you know, taking that tech-first approach. I mean, if if you’re trying to solve different pieces, that’s fine. It’s project-based. But when we talk about digital transformation, um, it’s enterprise. Right? And we’re trying to trans enterprise with the organization.

So what do what do we what do we think about, um, the formula? Right? And digital the evolution of digital success really is, um, a lot to do with the right mindset. So we feel like 50% of this is the right mindset and the right people. And then 30% right roadmap or strategy, and then 20% the right tech stack. You absolutely need the right tech stack, and it has to be able to deliver on we feel like this is the formula. We’re gonna go to another polling question. What is the most important element in the success of digital strategy or or a digital roadmap? Is it a technology, b mindset, c the roadmap, or d none of the above? And, you know, I I think one of the things while while Courtney’s launching the the polling question that I’d like probably gonna mention a couple of times in this presentation is that your digital strategy or roadmap really should align very tightly with your strategic, uh, initiatives or whatever your strategic plan is. And there are really two two ways to look at the digital transformation, and that’s project-based and true transformation or across the enterprise. What we’ll be talking about mostly today is across the enterprise, the transformation. Great. Alright. The polling questions are published. If you could take just a few seconds to give an answer on what is the most important element in the success of digital a, technology b, mindset c, roadmap or d, none of the above.

Speaker 0: Looks like we have mindset at 56, 57%, roadmap at 27%, and technology, um, at 15%.

Speaker 1: Awesome. Thank you, Courtney. Great. I I love it. Mindset is absolutely and having senior, uh, level and CEO support is absolutely critical. So just some key points about, uh, industry trends is really want to stress resisting the tech-first approach, um, and focusing on the organizational mindset. If we have if we keep buying, you know, technology technology after technology, we just want we right technology and that we buy the technology and then unify, uh, the technology and the data within in in those technologies we purchase, right, for for to drive digital transformation. Another thing that we see a lot is, um, systems, right, in the in the banking space, and they come in and kind of promise the world. And there have been several, uh, studies around this and digital. Those we can certainly provide those to you, but the core is not going to transform you. Uh, the core is really good at what it does, but they come in and say they’re gonna do CRM and this and that and and and really take care of everything. But the truth is, um, that’s not happening, and so you really do need an engagement layer that’s connected, right, that can connect the data operations, all the different areas of the business. And percent are less than 77% of financial institutions are less through their roadmap. We see roadmaps usually taking six to seven years and honestly it is evolution and it’s a crawl, walk, run and it’s really truly never done. And I think the survey that we showed earlier kind of, uh, speaks to that. Right? Um, our mindset change over time. Right? And lead with the data strategy that’s initiatives. By the way, if you have questions, you throw those in the in the chat. Hopefully, we’ll have some time at the end to get to those, uh, questions. And if we don’t, um, we definitely will provide, uh, responses after the session.

Alright. So growth strategies for digital initiatives. There are a lot of, uh, key digital areas, and and this slide doesn’t even go over all of them. Right? Like, payments is another one. There’s so many different areas, key areas of digital transformation, whether that’s, uh, you know, deposit and loan efficiency acquisition, um, whatever it is. We really recommend a crawl, walk, run approach to digital transformation and not trying to take too much on, um, all at once. So to try and take all these things on, um, would would, uh, probably be a problem for your people because the pace of change needs to be considered. And, actually, the number, you know, financial resources you would need to pull all that off. This is another, uh, survey. Key digital areas, key metrics around the impact of digital transformation. And we see this, um, with with our clients as we’re transforming. What are we trying to transform and why? And topping the list, right, is loan volume. So the study showed, uh, moderate to significant, uh, impact on on these, uh, lines and loan volume, loan productivity or efficiency, deposit account opening, IT agility, operational efficiency retention cross sell, those things, um, also being impacted as well by digital transformation projects. So, um, we see a lot of our clients starting with with the growth, um, which is loan and deposit and then moving into operational efficiency. Those is kind of the emerging technology, if you will. And we’re really seeing a lot of our banks, um, and credit unions, uh, in all industries really moving to the cloud and then really talking a lot about APIs and how they can get their data in real time and try to to really drive their digital transformation. And while, uh, we see a lot of articles and and lots of talk about RPA and chatbots and, you know, ML machine learning, those are secondary. We have to really set the foundation first and then, um, you know, focus on some of the others. Like, we see a lot of kind of project based, we would call it chatbots, right, where we’re implementing just chatbots, for example.

Wanted to spend just a few minutes on some examples of key uh, the key business metrics, right, and what what projects might fall under from a digital perspective. Right? Um, so let’s take loan volume, for example. Right? We have multiple systems that employees are logging into, and how do we reduce the swivel chair that’s happening so that they have a unified experience. Right? They have that 360 and they’re able to even take applications. Uh, we call that short app, right, in one system so they don’t have to log in. They get an instant decision and then marketing automation takes over. Right? And then if there’s an address change, for example, it’s already passing that, um, back to the system. So there’s a lot going on, but the point is that it’s a unified experience and they’re not having to log into multiple systems. Another key area we see is personalized dashboards and digital assistants. Right? Really helping employees throughout their day. A personalized dashboard would be pulling in all of the, uh, goal versus actual. What are my incent[ives]? What’s my payout? On the side, we would see, um, SLA, so service level agreements. And then my hitting my service level agreements, um, from a from a service request perspective. And then, uh, really being API led and setting your data foundation, I I can’t stress this enough either. Right? Because all these other things are really built on setting that API led strategy and having real-time access to the data in one system.

We’re gonna shoot another polling. This is the last polling question of, uh, the session. But if digital, uh, could transform one part of the business, which would it be? So if you could pick just one, would it be a, lending, b, acquisition, c, process I mean, streamline or other things like t, RPA, AI. I’ll give this just a few minutes. We see a lot of our organizations really, uh, focused, you know, um, in the lending acquisition area and then supporting those two areas with the process improvements first and then really moving into back office.

Speaker 0: Right. We have full agreement on acquisition on this one.

Speaker 1: Awesome. Alright. So acquisition. Acquisition it is. I think that is in in, you know, lines with, uh, what we see. So the the next kind of series of slides is can you deliver? And what we’re seeing in the in the industry is is what and, you know, acquisition and deposit account whether that right? Um, can visitors in the branch of the call center and even on the website open a deposit account in less than one minute? Right? Um, we actually, there was a study Forbes did and this was, uh, in 2020, 40% still today, right, of FIs that offer digital account opening, it’s still taking more than ten minutes to open. And it just doesn’t need to be like that. Right? We should be opening, uh, these accounts very quickly. And then on the back end, the process should be very streamlined and there should be, you know, action plans or step-by-step, uh, pieces that are coming depending on what what the consumer is trying to do on the other end. So, um, you know, this is around consumer loans. Not everyone does, uh, consumer loans, right, in the banking space. Uh, but can visitors apply? They should be able to do the same thing. Right? In less than a minute, just ask a task in order to get a decision and instant decision back and, um, send that over for, you know, marketing to take and into the, uh, back office whoever’s picking up that loan. But it should be very speed really does matter, and it’s an expectation of our consume coming to us. So that same study found fifty-four percent of FIs take more than ten minutes, more than ten minutes to complete an application. And, um, if things in in in, uh, let in minutes, right, less than definitely less than ten minutes, you should really look at why that is.

Another huge area that we see are organ our banks, credit unions, really all organizations is delivering that, uh, 360 experience. So customer-facing employees can see everything, and we’re not just talking about all the accounts. Right? But all the in a timeline, are they, uh, chatting? Is it email? And can I see that in one unified place so that I don’t have to go to multiple place? Or, you know, we see a lot of still. Right? Having to sift through email boxes. And, really, you should have an, you know, engagement layer, one unified way for employees to to see all that information. So we really see, you know, with the real-time 360 to view interactions less than 5% of banks and credit unions they can actually view of their customer. And, um, this is really where I think we we see a lot on the digital roadmap really focusing on on this piece. Right? Uh, this debating and moving quickly on new ideas and integrations. And I really wanna for a second because this all digital transformation really does start with data and data [agility]. Sure. Are you, um, able to quickly, uh, put in a project and move with the market? Right? Are you API led? Are you owning your, uh, process layer from an IT perspective and able business units and drive, um, drive digital transformation through data quickly and not be on a list or being pushed from year to year. Right? You should be able to move quickly and be very agile as an IT team.

This is also an area we see on lots of different roadmaps, and we’ve spoken about this in the banking industry for years and years. Right? Leveraging first-party data. So our own data, application data, and are we pushing that and taking our our websites standing, uh, who’s there? Are we switching the content and the imagery when visitors come in and being real time and then pushing that back our internal teams so that they can see what’s what’s happening and leveraging, uh, website data even for next best product. Right? As an example. So, um, again, leveraging the first second, uh, part of the day. I think, you know, the other thing that we can even start with is are we integrating every single form? We still see a lot of times organizations putting emails and, um, you know, on websites to contact. Right? Those should be integrated forms with very quick follow-up calculators. Right? All product recommenders should be there. Right? We need to be more at the top of the funnel, not just when, uh, the consumer or the visitor wants to apply, but where are we in the research or the buying the full life cycle of our, uh, buyers intent. Right? And really understanding what those journeys are and the buyer intent and how does that drive acquisition, um, which then leads to loans and and deposits or other services. One of the close-up of of what we see. This is one of personalization and digital transformation. So when I come this is the same website. When I come to the website, the content and the imagery is changing out based on what we know, our own data that we know about that person or even second-party data. So this person is coming in. It’s default. It’s just the the dog and and the child. But if I’m if I know as an organization that I’m interested in autos versus mortgages, all the imagery should be changing out and really relevant to me and personalized one to one. And this is a commercial lending uh, example on digital transformation, and this is Brad, our commercial lender. And what you know, the point of this journey for Brad, the commercial lender, is that Brad is able to log in on his mobile device. Marketing’s already connected. And even, you know, as as commercial lenders get back out his day and making suggestions for the most efficient routes, He’s able Brad is able to use, uh, voice technology to update his opportunities, um, and send out messages. And while he’s getting in the car and going to the next appointment, uh, his customers already being sent information. And then, you know, he’s he’s getting notifications on what’s happening via chat if that’s his preferred channel and so is his customer. So really it’s tying all these things together and that and and what is your focus in your digital transformation roadmap.

So just some key points on this section, mindset and change management are really critical to digital transformation projects and, uh, should really tie and strategic initiatives. We usually see growth initiatives topping the list for transformation. Um, we saw that in the survey earlier with acquisition and, uh, emerging technologies, either project based or one off for now. Um, those are more advanced pieces and people are really focusing on building the data foundation. And you should really be able to see that unified view and not have the swivel chair effect if that’s what’s going on in your organization.

Alright. So what’s a digital roadmap and what should it include and why should it include those things? Again, we already spoke about tying it to your strategic initiatives and we feel like there’s really two categories. There’s growth and operational efficiency. There are lots of others, but we start with growth and operational efficiency and trying to put, um, our digital initiatives into these buckets. And people are critical. Uh, we’ve done a lot of different deployments and digital transformation projects, and the people are are critical in making sure that change management is a very big piece of your digital roadmap and how you’re going to, uh, get the user adoption that you need from your employees and your customers. So people, um, and and I think this is a really big piece of a roadmap is pulling people in and collaborating so that everyone understands what they’re doing and what gets people excited and really behind your digital initiatives.

So what are the foundational pieces that a digital strategy needs to be successful? And CEO and executive support, really CEO support is absolutely critical in a digital transformation. I’ve seen it have that support. You probably consider digital transformation projects and not really the transformation, really more project based and not transformation and get some success. Uh, maybe align with another person in the vertical in the organization, get some success, and everyone will want to know what you’re doing. We’ve seen that strategy for lots of clients. Data architecture, um, we’ve spoken about a couple of times, can’t stress this enough. And change management and user adoption training becomes a very critical piece. Um, once you understand through the roadmap what you’re doing, um, the training piece really becomes critical. And asking why, I think process, um, a lot of times people buy the technology and think it’s, you know, it’s an easy turn it on and it’s gonna work. But process innovation and really asking why and breaking down your processes. And this is challenging in a regulated industry. Right? We still have to comply, but we really see the most successful digital transformation projects with those that break down their process, understand their process, have good documentation, and challenge why they’re doing what they’re doing. And then partnering to upskill the workforce. Lots of challenges there, but partnering to upskill, um, is a successful strategy we see. We continue evolution and journey. And this is just a graphic showing different teams where you could add wealth insurance in here, IT at the bottom. But the point of this slide really is that each different team is on their own journey and working toward that larger transformation. And if if that larger transformation goal is a seamless frictionless experience, Each team is working toward that. Now different teams may have, uh, projects that they’re working on that’ll, um, put them on a different timeline than others, and that’s perfectly fine. Right? But everyone knows what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

We often get the question, should we go all in or phased approach with digital transformation? And we always recommend a crawl, walk, run, sprint approach. And building this bottom layer here is building the data integration. Um, you can’t do all the different data pieces at once. So again, aligning it to your strategic initiatives, your roadmap, and then picking what the data architecture and the data strategy is gonna be that fuels marketing training is critical. And then you see some are lit up in the blue and some are not in the white. Once you and we’re gonna get into what is in a road and the pain points throughout the organization and the strategy. Right? You can start to align these these different teams, um, to your digital roadmap and have a quarter-by-quarter approach or, um, yeah, of what you’re gonna deploy and when you’re gonna deploy it.

So what are some of the, uh, roadmap contents? And we’ll go through a few of these, but really starting with a planning session is critical. That’s usually a smaller team that’s gonna be responsible for, uh, transforming. And sometimes that includes SMEs, um, definitely executives in that planning session because they need to be able to make decisions for the organization. We send out, um, a series of surveys and, um, we’ll give you a couple of examples of the questions on those surveys. But what we’re really looking for is the readiness of the organization, process, where you are with process and the different systems that everyone is is using. Discovery meetings with each of the different teams and then really important in in a roadmap to to fuel your roadmap is day in the life exercises. And what these are is, um, you know, exactly that. Right? Each team or critical teams that are gonna be included, um, go through their day. And we’ll talk about that in a little bit more detail too. Prioritization of business requirements, data architecture, and then, of course, the plan is usually a written document and then a presentation. And the reason for the presentation is really having focus areas. I’m not gonna go through. These are just some some examples of so what’s in digital readiness surveys? Why do we do it? Um, some of the questions we start to ask are where does your organization where’s your organization organization as it relates to new endeavor endeavors? What best describes digital transformation in your organization? We usually see, yes, we have a digital plan, but we’re failing to execute that plan. And the reason we’re trying to understand, uh, digital readiness is it really indicates how much training and how fast an organization is willing to move, um, for their digital transformation. Every organization is very different. Process surveys. What we’re trying to really understand and uncover here is what channels are used, um, for each of the different areas. What are the goals and, uh, where the what are they trying to achieve from a lead referral perspective? SLA, service level agreements? Do we have a good process documentation? Because to automate all these cases, we have to have, um, a really good understanding of and you’d be surprised at how many times people think they have this and they really don’t. It didn’t spend the time. They don’t it’s always happened that way. And so it just, um, the knowledge transfers from people’s mind inside their mind, and then they transfer it. Right? And there’s nobody really understands the why behind it. So starting to understand some of that’s important. System records, data and and data architectures obviously critical and understanding where that data lives and whether or not we have bidirectional, unidirectional. These get into some technical details. But first, we start with what the business units what the business needs and then the data to support that and drive the data pieces forward. Day in the life, I mentioned earlier. Um, this starts to uncover where you’re gonna start first, second, and third with each of the different areas. Right? So understanding, um, you know, where should we start? What’s the biggest pain point? And, um, do we wanna take that on? Right? So it really provides a baseline. And then later, as you’re moving through your digital transformation, getting the survey again so you can see the progress. But really starts to line out where you start first, second, and third. That leads to a document and then the presentation. And during, you know, your presentation for your digital transformation and what you’re lining out quarter by quarter, there should be a lot of really good discussion with your executive team around the table and why you’re investing and, um, which areas and are they on board. So this is really about key stakeholder alignment.

Just to recap again, people are key to the success or failure of your digital transformation. Really make sure your strategy is aligned with your most important strategic initiatives. The roadmap should include the why, the what, and the how. And the roadmap is about collaborating and getting everyone on page and bought in to the digital transformation that’s about what’s currently happening.

Alright. Our last section is how to structure digital resources and investments. And we really see a blended strategy usually. Um, but you have, you know, in house, uh, usually that’s the larger organizations. You have outsourced and what we see typically is that’s usually the smaller, uh, organizations that are completely outsourcing. And most of the time, what we’re seeing is a blended strat with different partners and leveraging, um, you know, outsource outside resource. I mean, also internal SMEs or experts, um, that know, uh, whatever systems and and the transformation. We also see just as a best practice, usually a digital steering committee. Usually that has an executive sponsor. Um, a lot of times that is, um, someone that has a vested interest in this project or a chief digital officer. Uh, we have digital project manager. These are large projects, and it is necessary to have a full-time usually project manager, um, unless it’s just project-based, uh, digital SMEs and then advocates throughout the organization. And, um, usually we recommend no more than eight people because then you just you get paralysis by the number of people and you can’t really move forward and make decisions.

Just to compare physical versus digital, I think, um, in the banking space, we’re very used to a physical location. And, uh, so this is just drawing a comparison. The average cost to build a physical location, uh, versus a digital branch, right, or digital transformation. And, um, you have licenses, roadmap. Right? The the building out integration security. So, um, it kinda gives you a breakdown of what it will cost on average to really transform an organization.

Alright. So, uh, digital resources build a roadmap. Your digital investments, you know, much like building a physical location and then you’re gonna have maintenance and you’re gonna wanna keep that going, um, as you go, uh, down the road. Investment should have an investment strategy. There’s, um, we talk about this quite a bit. You don’t have to take all the cost on at once. There’s a way to, uh, capitalize this and there’s a whole strategy around how you invest in digital projects and then upskilling, um, your your resources and really spending some time to, um, bring your team up up to speed on the new technologies. So start with where do you start? Start with building a roadmap. Uh, we, like I said, send out a survey and on average, our engagement survey show that 75% of employees feel that the organization has a digital strategy, but they’re really failing to execute that strategy. And so, um, that always kind of surprises me when we go into different different organizations. But build a roadmap and, um, I’m Lisa Nicholas. Thanks for listening. And I guess now we have just a few minutes for for questions if there are any. Would love any challenges, questions, uh, would love to have a conversation.

Speaker 0: Yeah, I’m not seeing any questions in the chat right now, but please, if you have, uh, things you wanna run past Lisa, she’s open to lots of Q and A. So if you’re thinking of a few things you wanna run past her after, feel free to connect. I’m using the information on her on her slide here. Alright. Thank you, Lisa. This is an amazing session. I think there’s a lot of opportunity obviously in the financial services industry to maximize the technology that we’re working in. So hopefully those of you watching got a few insights you can take away, um, to your teams to make the most of your tech stack. So this concludes our session today. Uh, thanks again for joining and a special shout out to our sponsors for all of their support. Without them, ParDreamin wouldn’t be possible and make sure to pop over to their booths to learn more about what they all do and get your points to win some prizes. So we have a great session coming up, um, how to customize your Pardot form like a pro, um, in a few minutes. Otherwise, head over to the session agenda and check out your list. Thanks, Lisa. And thanks everyone.