DECEMBER - JANUARY19As technology continues to change, it is important to create an upskilling and reskilling program that aligns with your technology roadmap. Give everyone a chance to develop their own career path while ensuring they have the skills they need to meet changing demandsAs an example, Arvest gathered data internally, looking at our bank as well as our competitors, and found that across the board, customers wanted longer branch hours, more ATMs, and more days of availability for in-person interactions. However, when we looked at the data from a different angle, we found that an overwhelming majority of this same group of customers prefer a digital channel.This signals to us that customers are not having consistent experiences across channels and are having to go into a branch to do something that they should be able to do online. This reveals a completely different pain point that the customer would like resolved. Instead of working on lengthening branch hours or adding more ATMs, what would be most impactful is working to provide consistency across channels and allow customers to engage when and where they want to engage.Understanding your customer and taking time to look at the problem from different vantage points, as opposed to relying on a single data set, can reveal how organizations need to adapt in order to streamline their services.What are some of the technology programs you have spearheaded during your term as the transformation and operations officer for Arvest Bank?Recently, Arvest announced a five-year partnership with Google Cloud to enable and accelerate our multi-year digital transformation strategy. The partnership will provide Arvest with the tools, technology, and expertise to deliver community banking in a digital world and transform the customer experience. Arvest will overhaul its current IT architecture and systems, including the migration of Arvest's data centers to Google Cloud, and we are undertaking a full-scale data transformation. We will also leverage Google Cloud's artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools to enhance customer experience and streamline banking services.Moving our operations to the cloud is a key part of Arvest's digital transformation journey and a direct response to rapidly changing customer needs. Customers today expect streamlined digitally enabled experiences, and this partnership will help us continue to serve our communities with best-in-class tools and services, regardless of whether they choose to receive services digitally, in their local branch, or through our contact centers.As part of the partnership, Arvest will also be decreasing our overall data center footprint with the migration of its current IT architecture to Google Cloud. Sustainability has been a core value at Google for 20 years and reducing the consumption of energy that it takes to power our data centers is something we at Arvest are excited to be able to do.How are you utilizing digitalization to easily and quickly identify different ways to streamline your banking services?As we began to implement various aspects of our transformation journey, we have found that in some cases, solving an operational efficiency problem can be the fastest way to streamline customer services. For instance, right now, we are considering using Google's document processing platform DocAI for its ability to automate the data from loan documents and integrate them into the system. Right now, this is all done manually at Arvest, as at most banks across the industry. However, automating this process can help streamline this tedious process and allow our associates to spend more time building customer relationships and finding solutions to complex problems. In that vein, going forward, APIs and third-party integrations will be a major strategy for our bank in our goal of meeting customers where they are and creating a more streamlined experience for customers.As an ending note, what is your advice for other senior leaders and CXOs working in the banking sector?In order to succeed in this role, senior leaders need to embrace a "quick wins" mindset while being ready to adapt to change and develop strong communication skills. Although this may sound overly simplistic, it is important to be willing to adapt to change quickly, figure out how to bring your team on board, and communicate what this means for your team, as well as the company, in order to move forward together. One way I have done this is through our series of 90-day initiatives that addressed particular customer pain points. These quick plans allowed employees to see how their work was impacting change at the bank while simultaneously addressing customer pain points. It also served as a way for me to communicate updates in a timely manner and opened up opportunities for discussion.Leaders also need to be thinking about how to develop existing talent. As technology continues to change, it is important to create an upskilling and reskilling program that aligns with your technology roadmap. Give everyone a chance to develop their own career path while ensuring they have the skills they need to meet changing demands.BC
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