Advocating for Streamlined Document Management at Your Financial Institution
Implementing a system like AccuAccount can enable numerous efficiencies for commercial lending teams. Expedited access to loan documents, reduced paper, enhanced exception management and reporting, and improved collateral management are a few examples. It’s therefore no surprise why we get a lot of inquiries from VP Loan Managers and people with similar titles.
Lending staff may be quick to see the value in AccuAccount, but selecting new software for your bank or credit union likely requires buy-in from multiple stakeholders and teams. Here are a few tips for advocating for change.
Communicating a Clear Vision
Advocating for technological change isn’t easy. Some people are generally resistant to change, while others may be skeptical due to past experiences or failures. Still others prefer the relative comfort of the status quo—even if it’s less than ideal—instead of the uncertainty of the unknown. Overcoming this inevitable resistance requires a clearly communicated vision of how streamlined document management will benefit both staff and the people they serve—your customers or members.
Helping Staff Get More Done: Compared to shuffling hard copy loan files and checklists, waiting for interoffice mail, and manually generating exception reports, centralized document management in a system like AccuAccount represents a tremendous time-saving opportunity. Back-office team members can use AccuAccount as a single repository of account holder documentation and bolster their document tracking practices. Even trust and deposit teams can use AccuAccount to organize account holder information and maintain a comprehensive view of each relationship.
Fostering Healthy Relationships: Being able to demonstrate the potential impact for your customers or members is equally important. For example, providing commercial lenders with on-screen access to account holder documentation could result in better meetings that surface banking opportunities. It’s much easier to help the business owner seeking a construction loan and second deposit account when staff can view existing documentation in just a few clicks.
Developing a Simple Plan of Action
Selling the dream is a good starting point, but you may also need to develop a more specific plan to gain buy-in from key decision-makers.
- Identify key stakeholders: Those involved in the decision-making process will likely depend on the scope of the proposed project. If you’re looking to implement AccuAccount, you’ll probably be working with the leadership team, commercial lending, credit and loan administration, and IT. You may also interact with people from mortgage lending, operations, trusts, compliance, and other departments.
- Collect feedback and seek to understand different perspectives: Some team members may be vocal about their concerns. For example, a commercial lender might believe that such a change would create administrative work and slow down lending. Or, a loan admin might express frustration that the new system would require considerable scanning and quality control. Encourage team members to openly share their feedback without passing judgment on their opinions.
- Build a business case: At the end of the day, a system like AccuAccount should deliver more value than it costs. Preparing an expected ROI for your financial institution is wise, and Alogent offers several helpful resources to support that process. (Check out our ROI eBook and exception tracking cost calculator.) It may also be wise to prepare mini business cases that address each stakeholder’s concerns. Demonstrate how the efficiency gains will (hopefully) offset any perceived productivity setbacks. For the skeptical commercial lender, you might point to the benefit of having a comprehensive view of each relationship, streamlined cross-collateral tracking, and automated lending workflows.
Let’s Schedule a Call with Your Team
We’re happy to jump on a call with you and the various stakeholders at your financial institution. Contact us to request information or schedule a demo.
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