If you think about data processing – it’s really just input of data that creates output of data. The input has to be easy and the output has to be able to reach the bank employees, bank management and the customers in a clean, streamlined way. Does your system do that? STI’s SIBanking software was built on the foundation that if the input is all put into the same place, then the output will be easier and cleaner.
Think about all the places your data is stored right now with 3rd party vendors. Debit cards, document imaging, check imaging, transaction data, dashboard information, web banking, mobile banking, telephone banking, teller system, new account system, etc… That’s a lot of places to be inputting or outputting from on a daily basis – plus it’s just scary that your customer information is traveling to all of those places on a daily basis.
Our general philosophy was that the industry was making huge mistakes by continuing the bolt-on approach, sometimes better termed the ‘duct tape’ approach, to ancillary products and tools that really should have been developed as part of the main system. Salespeople kept (keep) telling you:
“Oh, don’t worry about the integration with your core. It’s seamless with our special wiz bang secret integration solution.”
Having the data all in one place and in one system is invaluable when you look at data mining for ‘sales culture’ organizations and efficiency for those that are actually growing. The legacy ‘core system’ is still the engine of most community banks.SIBanking is an enterprise system made by bankers and for bankers. It rips apart the old ‘bolt it on’ approach to software and services and greatly streamlines and simplifies. The legacy software vendors have a foothold on the market for now.
Over the past 10 years, the data processors have continued to become fewer and bigger… all the while becoming less in tune with you, their customers. They learned how to make the most money from their customers at the least cost to themselves. And as they grew, you had little choice but to go along with it. What remains is a wasteland of banking technology. If we’re honest, you now have less control over your own destiny – at least from a technology and product perspective – than ever. Banker’s are forced to be content with: tinkering around the edges with their “Bank Control Records” or adopting some third-party solution that markets well, but costs you dearly in so many other ways. What we should be doing is using imagination and technology to create dynamic offerings that really wow customers and make their (and your) lives easier. And your data processor should be helping you do it!
