In the dynamic and challenging landscape of community banking, collaboration stands to be key in unlocking new efficiencies, innovation, and opportunities. As industry participants know, the most valuable time as a banker is when you are in the room with other bankers and collaboration ignites. But what happens when you leave that physical room?
Perhaps it's time to rethink collaboration among peers and not solely rely on in-person interactions, but instead lever‐age technology to continuously harness the power of collaboration. It's about lowering our guards and embracing a new approach to enable us to truly come together as an industry, ensuring that community banking not only continues to exist but thrives in our country.
Join us in exploring a fascinating case study featuring Dan Yates, CEO at Endeavor Bank. Hear how they are leveraging a digital network, True Digital, designed exclusively for bankers to glean valuable insights, save time, cut costs, and create additional value for their bank.
Endeavor has been a member of the True Digital Platform for 5 months. Since joining, they’ve added 5 additional employees to the Platform (every bank’s membership comes with unlimited seats). They leveraged True Digital’s vendor database to clean and update their own vendor list, and benefited from new relationships and conversations with fellow bankers regarding products such as: nCino Deposit Account Opening and DocFox Commercial Account Opening.
Dan Yates was the inaugural participant in the True Digital podcast series, called Mindshift. This podcast welcomes thought leaders who are on the network to share their stories with other bankers. Dan’s session was focused on the EOS Framework (Entrepreneurial Operating System), which is a strategic operating model designed to establish a clear and consistent process for decision-making, goal-setting, and accountability within an organization. Although this model has not traditionally been widely utilized in the banking sector, Dan Yates took the bold step of integrating the EOS framework into his institution a few years ago. As a result, Endeavor Bank has experienced remarkable adaptability, enhanced performance, and continued relevance in today's ever-evolving landscape. In the podcast, Dan shares in‐sights into his journey towards embracing the EOS framework, including the triumphs and obstacles encountered along the way. Dan’s story sparked the interest of existing True Digital members and non-members alike.
One example of the success of Endeavor’s EOS Framework is the quality of its vendor list. Of all the vendor lists True Digital has received (over 100+), Endeavor’s has proven to be one of the most streamlined and least redundant. Endeavor has only 3 categories containing multiple products (Business Intelligence, Document Management, and News & Research). One of the many ways banks benefit through this digital network is by using True Digital’s Vendor/Software Redundancy Optimizer, a tool that highlights potential cost savings for member banks by identifying product category overlap.
Endeavor has connected with two unique banks, Chesapeake Bank, a $2B Virginia based bank, and Midland States Bank, a $9B Illinois based bank, about nCino Deposit Account Opening.
Endeavor uses the same core as each of these banks and was able to directly engage with their respective Operations teams. True Digital enables members to find the right banks that can answer questions and collaborate based on shared vendors (like a Core), as well as the right personnel or specific department for highly targeted requests.
Message: Hello- Reaching out through True Digital for some information as it relates to Treasury Management and the nCino Deposit module. Do you have a separate TM module to engage your TM department or is everything done through your deposit module?
Endeavor also connected with Vantage Bank, a $4B Texas based bank, about DocFox Commercial Account Opening (asked to speak with Operations).
Message: We just rolled out DocFox New Account system and noticed you utilize DocFox as well. One challenge we have is integrating with ChexSystems. I would like to know if you use ChexSystems and if so, were you able to integrate or did you develop a work around for this? Thanks in advance for your help.
Both of these conversations took place right around the recent acquisition news (nCino acquiring DocFox). Not only are these important conversations in their own right, but with the recent acquisition and questions of what happens next, the knowledge and connections with peers using both systems will be invaluable.
Each of these requests resulted in prompt responses from the recipient bank and allowed Endeavor to apply valuable and practical real-world insights from peers to its own internal issues and questions. Notably, by using True Digital, Endeavor was able to benefit from the knowledge and experience of banks outside of its typical network that it likely wouldn’t engage with otherwise.
Within the True Digital Platform users can see the products and technology solutions peers are using, as well as the related systems in use (e.g., core, middleware, online banking). This information can be useful, for example, to determine whether your bank is or would be an early adopter of a new technology, or whether it is already widely used among your peers. Furthermore, the contacts at peer institutions can share valuable insights and advice to help your bank, such as:
By collaborating with peer banks that have had similar experiences with the same vendors, you can learn from their successes, avoid potential pitfalls, and work together to address common concerns or problems. This partnership can lead to smoother implementations, more effective integrations, and better overall outcomes when working with these shared technology providers.
Of the 8,500+ products cataloged to date on the Platform, below you’ll find a list of the most commonly used products across member banks.
The Platform empowers bankers to swiftly identify which products other banks are utilizing and seamlessly communicate via messaging. As hundreds of connections and relationships have now occurred through the Platform, it has become a vital tool for industry collaboration.
Before reaching out, users can filter and sort to gain insights into the related technologies employed by the target bank, streamlining the connection process and maximizing relevancy and efficiency. Below, you'll find a compilation of the products that have sparked the most connections among banks on the Platform. Interestingly, there's minimal overlap between the products driving connections and those commonly used by banks, underscoring the diverse range of discussions and insights exchanged within the banking community on a daily basis.
Utilizing the Platform's native search function allows users to explore products based on specific Categories or Goals, providing valuable insights into the priorities of bankers nationwide. Below are the top 5 banking Categories and Goals searched over the past 6 months. Not surprisingly, growing payments and deposits are among the predominant goals pursued by most banks.
Banks need to be constantly looking for and implementing new technology and solutions to stay relevant and competitive. However, just adding new solutions won’t solve every problem. The reality for many banks today is that they use more products and vendors than full-time employees! Figuring out how to find, use, and optimize vendors has become paramount to many bankers’ day-to-day job functions. It’s also a massive time drain due to the challenges and limited information any one bank or banker has. True Digital is one solution that may very well represent the type of practical innovation we need as an industry.
Read the entire report here.