Changing INB’s online banking platform isn’t just a job for our technology department.
INB’s online banking will be converting systems on Oct. 17, and we’re gearing up across all departments and branches to make sure it will be as simple as possible for our customers and our staff.
This type of major transition filters into each area of INB, where every single staff member plays an integral role in ensuring a seamless switch.
“We have 225 employees, and we formed a steering committee to oversee the dozens of staff members who need to address major portions of this conversion,” said Tom Gihl, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Here’s what is happening behind the scenes, inside our walls, so that our online banking conversion is easy for you…
Training Our Team
INB formed the Employee Education Committee for the months leading up to the conversion. The committee is focused on learning the new service and developing materials to train more employees – as both users and teachers of the new online banking system.
“We are educating and training employees who will have administrative capabilities – from unlocking accounts to resetting passwords – while continuing to follow our strict process for identifying customers prior to helping them with online and mobile banking issues,” said Sue McGill, assistant vice president, corporate trainer and deposit compliance officer.
And we’re certainly not trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to employee training and overall conversion. The best way to learn is from others who have undergone similar experiences, so we’ve been doing our research in coordination with other banks.
“We’ve talked to many banks who have made the same conversion to the new online banking platform we’ll be using starting Oct.17 in order to learn best practices – what worked well for them and what didn’t,” Tom said.
Getting Technological
On the “back end,” our technology team is preparing all of the conversion files.
“You can think of it as though we’re bundling up everyone’s accounts to send over to our new guys,” said Greg Floyd, vice president, deposit operations. “Each of our customers is tied to certain accounts, and many have specific restrictions in place. While most can be done automatically, some are not as straightforward, so we might have to pull reports on those and complete their conversion manually.”
As those files are being worked on, the team is also trying to mitigate any issues they perceive as a possibility. Beta-testing has been hugely beneficial.
“We’ve gotten some sneak peeks and been able to try out various components,” Greg said. “We’re really looking forward to using the new product. The digital enhancements enabled by this conversion are seemingly limitless.”
Customer Care
Servicing customers is what we do best, and when it comes to a change like this, we are increasing efforts to make sure all systems are a go.
“We’ve been reviewing what time of day our customers access their online banking,” said Steve Miller, client services and sales development coach. “This will help us determine staffing needs and see if our teams need to be available before or after normal business hours.”
INB’s Customer Care Center team has begun reviewing the new system’s features and benefits and have been developing an FAQ component to guide customers through commonly asked questions and answers.
“We know that if we can help our customers understand how it works, and we can anticipate their needs or questions, we can make the transition much easier,” Steve said.
We have no doubt, though, that all of the effort to ensure a seamless transition is more than worth the outcome for our customers.
“Although it’s a huge change, it will have so many positives for our customers,” Sue said. “INB’s vision is to minimize financial pressures to help our customers live better lives, and we’re putting that into action to accomplish this transition.”