Benchmark Experts Discuss the Opportunities Ahead With 2024 in the rearview mirror, what can you expect in 2025? Growth. Last year, it might have been prudent to take a wait and see approach due to high interest rates and the uncertainty of the presidential election. Twenty twenty-five, however, is the year to take decisive action to drive growth and safeguard financial stability as you face heightened competition for deposits. In fact, 58% of bank leaders expect asset growth of 5% or more.
Our experts, who advise both retail and commercial banking leaders on ways to leverage managed services to achieve key business outcomes, offer unique insights that can help you make the right moves to lead in your market. Transform your RDC program with specialized treasury services from a proven partner.In today's rapidly evolving competitive landscape, treasury departments must stay ahead of the curve by retaining and growing their business members or commercial customers. One segment that has proven to be particularly valuable is the RDC client base. Supporting an RDC program is often thought of as a sunk cost. However, investing in the seamless administration of your RDC services can be an investment in your financial institution’s future. Business members or customers who use RDC tend to be exceptionally loyal and open to using additional services and solutions from their banks. By improving your RDC program, you can bring in more deposits from this valuable segment. The Need for Efficient Onboarding RDC services are easier to sell than they are to implement. Once a client signs up, the race to onboard them begins. How much time will it take to get a new or refurbished scanner to the client’s office, schedule a software installation appointment, complete the implementation (which includes user training and testing) so the client can start making deposits? When your treasury team is juggling a myriad of tasks and projects, the time to the first deposit can take weeks or months, especially if internal systems and processes are not aligned to enable seamless client journeys. A managed services partner can reduce the average time to the first deposit to just a few days.
By John ManganielloDirector, Project Services, Benchmark Technology Group, Inc.  As industry veterans predict a year of mergers and acquisitions, many financial institutions are taking steps to improve their resilience and agility as they contend with reduced deposits and higher interest rates. Many of them seek to become more agile to take advantage of emerging tech and growth opportunities.
From an operational standpoint, technology strategy and device management are crucial to productivity. From an employee standpoint, very little defines a bank more than the effectiveness of its provided hardware and software infrastructure. Thus, it’s crucial to have comprehensive device management capabilities in addition to a flexible and forward-looking technology strategy. With this infrastructure in place, banks and credit unions can ensure that their employees and customers have access to the technology and support they demand while also minimizing downtime. Harnessing their technology (including hardware, software, and mobile devices), financial institutions can better address security and fraud prevention, while providing a more robust online banking experience to their customer base. Benchmark's Predictions, From Interest Rates to Services and Devices 2023 proved tough for financial institution (FI) leaders. As banks and credit unions faced mounting pressures due to inflation, regulatory considerations, and higher interest rates, it got more challenging to stay on course with technology investments. However, we believe bankers will find 2024 to be a much better environment, particularly if they act strategically to leverage the right partners and resources. Here are a few things our Benchmark team members have seen in their crystal ball for the upcoming year: “The banking industry faced significant challenges in executing larger projects, many of which were deferred to 2024 or strategically divided between the two years. With the surge in bank mergers, the need for hardware and services standardization became paramount, compelling financial institutions to seek comprehensive solutions. Recognizing the value of partnerships, banks are now actively engaging with companies offering full-service packages. These encompass everything from sourcing new equipment at competitive prices to providing repair options, facilitating installations and implementing buy-back programs for retired hardware. An interesting trend observed in the past 12 months is banks’ and credit unions’ willingness to invest in refurbished hardware, marking a departure from traditional preferences. Looking ahead, the industry anticipates the continuation of mergers and acquisitions in 2024, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and collaboration. The spotlight on fraud prevention is set to intensify, with manufacturers actively developing innovative products geared towards safeguarding branches from emerging threats.”
Stephanie Johnson, Senior Account Executive Like many banks and credit unions, you may have considered outsourcing help desk services in the past. Now, with the ongoing labor shortage impacting the availability of seasoned IT professionals, this option may be more strategic than ever for your organization. The Value of Outsourced Help Desk Services Help desk services impact both employee and customer satisfaction. We all know that a customer who is dissatisfied with banking services is likely to leave. So too is the case with employees who are consistently dissatisfied and frustrated with IT support. After too much frustration involved with broken applications or equipment, they may have a reason to leave.
In these times of limited resources, one key imperative of corporations everywhere is retention -- of both employees and key customers. Improving help desk services will have an incremental impact on both priorities. |
|
RSS Feed
