Alkami Technology Inc
11/07/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 11/07/2024 17:04
10 Key Considerations for Your Retail Digital Banking Platform Implementation
Actionable advice for a smooth implementation and launch from Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union
When it comes to digital banking platform implementations, a few things are for certain - they are no easy feat, and they are not "one size fits all." At Alkami, we have over 254 live digital banking clients and over 18.6M registered users, and we take pride in constantly learning from, and improving upon our implementation and launch process with each and every new customer that comes onboard. We do this to create an experience that involves thorough scoping, prescriptive training, proactive safeguards, and consistent communication so our clients are as prepared as possible during this pivotal time of their digital transformation.
Robin Del Vecchio, SVP of Technology at Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union (Nutmeg) shed some light on what goes on behind the scenes in the months leading up to a retail digital banking implementation. From the meticulous planning stages to the real-time challenges faced during implementation, these experts shared key considerations, best practices and lessons they learned along the way. Keep reading for her insights which can be a helpful starting point for institutions that are considering a digital banking switch in the near future.
Switching Digital Banking Platforms
Before selecting Alkami as their new partner, Nutmeg took a 13-month approach, gathering input across their institution to think critically about what they wanted their new digital banking platform to look like. They needed a platform that would serve them long-term and also have the flexibility to plug and play new capabilities and solutions to meet their members' evolving needs. Additionally, ease of administration was high on their priority list, and they wanted to be able to "control their own destiny" and self-serve administrative functionality as much as possible.
For us, we weren't just looking for a provider. We were looking for a partner. And our strategy is really one of growth with a digital-first approach. What we were really looking for was something that could align to that strategy. We were looking for a partner that would help us grow, help us understand, bring new third parties to the table and help us think outside the box.
-Robin Del Vecchio, SVP of Technology at Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union
Nutmeg's Top 10 Implementation Best Practices
As Robin was reflecting on Nutmeg's experience, she emphasized ten main considerations that financial institutions should explore to best prepare for the highs, lows, and everything in between as it relates to a retail banking implementation.
- Establish Enterprise-Wide Involvement
Robin emphasized the importance of obtaining executive buy-in and support. As the executive sponsor of the implementation, she closely worked with Nutmeg's CXO and CFO throughout the entire process, which helped to ensure that the implementation process was their financial institution's number one priority. When that priority is shared across the organization, board members, and the executive team, it helps reduce any competing priorities from popping up and hindering the overall implementation efforts later on.
Robin: "For us, this wasn't just a digital team project. This was an enterprise-wide approach that we took to implement our digital strategy, which was digital first. The implementation was our number one priority throughout the entire organization, and each business line was then represented in the entire process from selection to implementation."
- Identify Gaps Early
When reflecting upon their incumbent platform, every team member at Nutmeg had the opportunity to share what their pain points were. By identifying these pains and gaps early on, the Nutmeg team was able to readily incorporate them during the preparation of the master services agreement (MSA).
Robin: "We wanted to be sure that if there were any gaps, we identified them early on so that Alkami could help us close those gaps during the implementation process."
- Create a Scoring Document
Creating a scoring document allows financial institutions to systematically evaluate and prioritize key factors, such as security, user experience, and integration capabilities - ensuring a balanced, objective approach to their digital banking conversion. This structured assessment reduces the risk of overlooking critical requirements, helping guide decisions that align with long-term business goals and account holder needs.
Robin: "We created a really organized scoring document that took multiple factors into consideration. For us, that document was important because we wanted to be sure that each business line was able to score the things that were most important to them. We collected those scoring documents, and formulated an overall score. We also implemented a steering committee and that was made up of our executive team."
- Clean Your Data
An important piece of advice that you will hear from digital banking experts from across the industry is to sanitize and update your transaction data, core data, including emails, social security numbers, text identification (ID) numbers and cell phone numbers, just to name a few. Having this data up to date and correctly formatted will be helpful when you are looking to start communicating with your members and customers about any changes coming to your digital banking solutions and platform. Nutmeg took a digital-first approach when it came to socializing changes about their platform, leveraging social media and direct email campaigns. Data cleanliness was crucial for them to ensure that they would get a successful read rate on those communications.
Robin: "We took a gamified approach with our branches and our contact center. We wanted to see who could get the most out of making updates to member profiles and it was really a lot of fun. We had banners in place on our current platforms trying to get everybody jazzed up about the (digital banking platform) changes that were coming, and members were more than happy to provide their information when they would call into our contact center, or just do it on their own within the current platform."
- Revisit and Update Key Documents
Robin also advised that financial institutions should revisit and update documents including, but not limited to risk assessments, disclosures, and agreements.
- Risk assessments: Whenever financial institutions are updating or adding new technology to your digital banking platform, it is critical to keep your risk assessments current to quickly identify and mitigate emerging security vulnerabilities that could expose sensitive data or disrupt operations.
- Disclosures: Updating disclosures is important for financial institutions to maintain transparency, comply with regulatory requirements, and provide accurate, timely information to investors and end users. This practice helps build trust, mitigates legal risks, and ensures stakeholders are well-informed about financial health, potential risks, and any significant changes impacting the institution's operations or financial standing.
- Agreements: Consider reviewing your bill payment agreement and membership agreement, with attention to any timing changes that you might make in your new digital banking platform. Digital banking implementations are a good opportunity to change the timing in which you process your files, if desired.
Robin: "The last thing you want to do is forget a disclosure and have it come out either in an audit or an exam. Take the time to look at those and make sure you map those disclosures out across your membership agreement and to any other place where there's a cross-reference to those disclosures."
- Think Critically About Configurations
Digital banking conversions are an excellent opportunity to re-evaluate current configurations and determine if anything needs to be changed or improved upon in a new system. Configurations that were determined 3, 5 or even 10+ years ago may not effectively serve the needs of your financial institution today.
Robin: "The full day configuration sessions led by Alkami were exceptionally detailed, and they really made you stop and consider what you were trying to accomplish at the end of the day. You needed to be able to understand and articulate what your goal was and really understand your core and understand how the system shares information between the two. Those sessions were probably the most valuable part of everything."
- Test Early and Test Often
Nutmeg took a typical "friends and family" approach to testing, leading up to their launch. Robin advises financial institutions to back load your testing period with friends and family, and consider inviting your higher end or more complex account holder relationships into that process. Especially if your institution is executing actions like automated clearing house (ACH) origination and more complex transactions, she advises to build as much time as possible into your pilot testing phase with this cohort. This approach is critical for not only user buy-in and feedback, but to also give your institution greater comfort knowing that an added layer of testing has been implemented by external stakeholders.
Robin: "You can't test enough. Alkami is going to give you a baseline document to test with, but you really need to dive deep, and you need to make sure you test everything, test it again, and test it again. Each time, you want to keep testing it, and you want to build on that testing. It's really important to make sure that everybody understands the results."
- Leverage Training Materials
Based on your unique financial institution's groups, roles and responsibilities, Alkami provides a personalized training plan to set your team up for success leading up to the launch. Our training materials consist of a combination of instructor-led and e-learning courses. If you onboard new financial institution employees in the future, they can leverage this same training plan to get up to speed.
Robin: "The Alkami product guides are your documented approach to your procedure. You're really given everything right up front. All you need to do is customize it a little bit to yourself. The training materials keep everybody on the same page, so you're communicating the same thing to the membership throughout the process."
- Supplement Your Contact Center
Nutmeg leveraged a third party for their contact center to support a smooth launch experience, in anticipation of surges in call center volume and potentially longer hold times. To get ahead of this, they contracted the contact center to handle the more basic questions such as locating username/password, locating general features and login troubleshooting. This freed up time and resources for the Nutmeg contact center to focus on assisting account holders with more complex and technical questions.
Robin: "You can also augment your contact center by bringing in people from some of your branches and even other departments that have had previous contact experience. Bring them into the contact center!"
- Embrace Discomfort in Your Digital Banking Transformation
In true spirit of continuous learning and development, Robin shared that one of Nutmeg's goals during the implementation process was to learn, and share historical knowledge. They took what is a typically challenging and complex process, and turned it into an opportunity for their team members to fearlessly lean in, and level up their implementation and launch expertise.
We did not want to replicate the current (incumbent) platform. Our goal was to throw it out the window and basically start all over again with that digital strategy first, learning from where we had pain points from an older system. That was probably the hardest part - requiring the team to really step outside their comfort zone and learning how to balance the risk and the member experience.
-Robin Del Vecchio, SVP of Technology at Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union
What was the best part of your Alkami Implementation?
Now with the implementation well behind them, Robin shared what she considered the best part of the whole experience. "The implementation was a tremendous opportunity for the Nutmeg teams to bond, and make decisions together. You're going to learn really early on who your shining stars are on your team that maybe you didn't know were there. And they really do come out and then they shine and they really step up to the game. And I think for me and I think for the rest of the executive team, that was a moment." Regarding working with the Alkami team, she was happy with the partnership and added, "We really did get the "A" team that was assigned to us."
Want to learn more? Watch our upcoming webinar, Digital Banking Implementation Best Practices & Preparedness, and download our Checklist: 10 Things to Consider for a Successful Retail Banking Launch at the button below.