Banking Milestones: Celebrate Yesterday’s Innovations, and Embrace Tomorrow’s Opportunity

Originally published on ICBA.org, our VP of Marketing, Wendi Klein, looks back at technology milestones and the road they've paved for tomorrow's innovations. Read the original article here.

Technology continues to advance at a rapid pace across all industries and change the way consumers go about their days. For many institutions, it may seem difficult to keep pace with innovation, given the number of solutions that power each line of business. Although these technologies have undoubtedly played an instrumental role in their success and sustainability, banks and credit unions must also recognize that they may not address today’s needs or be flexible enough for tomorrow’s expectations. Rather than being held back by aging platforms, let’s celebrate yesterday’s innovations, but look ahead towards opportunity.

In many cases, legacy banking solutions are the largest barrier between traditional institutions and their digital transformation goals. While these solutions have been proven reliable over the years, they now possess natural limitations that prohibit institutions from keeping up with new products and features that are offered by competitors. When your solutions no longer meet expectations, or quickly deploying new features becomes a challenge, it’s time to recognize the potential gap and to reinvigorate your banking infrastructure. New technology can reduce cost, as well as improve both internal operations and customer-facing capabilities.

Are any of these pain points a reality at your institution? The good news for banks and credit unions – modern solutions are more robust than ever, and many are cloud-based for a more streamlined deployment with added flexibility.

• Cloud vs. On-premise: On-premise solutions were the traditional “go-to” for banks and credit unions, but many institutions are now opting for hosted deployments that offer added scalability and less overhead. Cloud-based platforms scale quickly to meet a bank’s or credit union's evolving needs and improve your bottom line by eliminating hardware costs, traditional maintenance fees, or the need for specialized teams to deploy fixes or new versions. With the power to centralize your deposits infrastructure and enable more flexibility for the future, cloud solutions leave much of the heavy IT lifting to the solution provider versus in-house teams, allowing an institution to focus on user engagement.
   
• Disparate Systems = Siloed Information: Many banks and credit unions have acquired various solutions and technology across their deposit channels over the years. While these solutions may have once met the needs of your customers, they now likely cause internal frustration with data inconsistencies and feature gaps that not only make it harder for employees to do their jobs, but also prevents executives from gaining a clear universal view across the institution for faster, more informed decisions.
   
• Legacy May Come with a Higher Cost: Many financial institutions balk at the mention of modernization projects, as they are often thought to be synonymous with costly and time-consuming – which many are not. However, aging technology can carry a hefty price tag despite their longstanding footprint. The market landscape has evolved, and many solutions are no longer supported by their providers or require the expertise of specialized teams. Other solutions are simply incompatible with current platforms or third-party add-on capabilities, which could leave your banking ecosystem stagnant.
   
• Issues Beyond the Tech Stack: In addition to their aging functionality in today’s market landscape, many banks and credit unions are also facing staffing issues, which makes it harder to focus on the needs of account holders. Modern offerings could introduce automation with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning capabilities into the institution’s day-to-day processes, freeing up internal resources and allowing employees to better focus on those important account holder interactions, while also delivering faster access to data.

Reflect upon your longtime, trusted solutions, and understand the value they offered. No one in the industry would be where they are today had capabilities not been deployed and evolved over time. Let’s celebrate the growth, adaptation, and success that your institution has achieved, and consider the opportunity a modern solution can deliver leveraging today’s innovation potential.

Alogent is driven by our history of innovation and our customers’ needs for continuous transformation, and our team knows what it takes to modernize banking ecosystems with practical solutions that fit smoothly into your unique environment. We understand that one size never fits all, which is why we approach each prospective client, partner, and project from a consultative standpoint.

By saving time and money and increasing personalized, meaningful interactions across your institution, success with Alogent starts at your first discovery call and demo.

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