Five New Sessions to Advance Your Digital Transformation - ICBA ThinkTECH Innovation Series: Digital Transformation Demystified

Digital customer engagement has risen as a top priority for financial institutions in 2023, according to new research from Anna Kooi, financial services industry leader at Wipfli LLP, a top advisory firm in this space. And with banks making investments in instant payments (54%), automated investing services (47%), and digital assets (31%) solutions, the path to transformation is wrought with conflicting priorities as banks also strive for digital efficiencies.

These competing demands can leave a banker feeling uncertain, whether they are taking the first steps in digital transformation or have a year or two under their belt. Fortunately, ICBA Community Banker University has partnered with Wipfli, to help community banks develop a personalized roadmap for embarking on or expanding their digital initiatives.

“Digital transformation or evolution is not about the technology,” Wipfli Principal and Strategic Advisory Leader Marcie Bomberg-Montoya said. “Fifty percent of that really is the mindset; 30% is how you go about it, your plan; and then 20% is the tech. That’s the key.”

This mix will be represented in each of the five sessions of the upcoming ICBA ThinkTECH Innovation Series: Digital Transformation Demystified [see sidebar]. To get a better sense of how that wisdom translates into concrete actions for community banks, we chatted with a few members of the Wipfli team, including Marcie and her colleagues, Sara Circosta, and Jeremy Solsaa, about what the webinar series will deliver.

First and foremost, the team stressed the importance of having an overall digital transformation strategy, aligned with business outcomes and measurable results. They say this strategy should incorporate leadership development, culture, process optimization and automation, data, updating legacy systems, organizational development, and timeframe/budget for implementation, the Wipfli team reiterated.

Self-Assessments & Shared Lessons

While that’s a lot to unpack, the sessions are methodically designed to offer a guided journey, with each subsequent session building on the last. For each session, participants will produce bank-specific resources to help with their digital transformation, including a leakage analysis (a review of the products the bank does not offer but should), self-assessment, evaluation of internal and external influences, the plan itself, potential partners, and anticipated challenges.

The interactive component of this webinar series is critical and is something that ICBA carefully considered when seeking a partner to help community banks create their own digital path forward. Through this unique webinar experience, community bank participants will perform exercises to help them rank and assess their standing on the digital transformation spectrum.

In addition, the team plans to share real-world case studies and examples of digital transformation, both from their experiences with clients and in peer-to-peer sharing. The goal is to provide community bank-specific examples that will help in guiding thought processes and ideas.

“We want this to be engaging and interactive to help personalize the experience for the banker,” said Marcie, when describing the team’s approach to building out the curriculum.

Lindsay LaNore is ICBA group executive vice president and chief learning & experience officer. Charles E. Potts is ICBA’s executive vice president and chief innovation officer.