Independent Banker - April 2022 - 29

Next: Look to small businesses for growth 
the advantages of the change, such as
the ability to see card management
information from the teller platform.
" Our strategic 'why' was very
simple, " says Hurst. " We were going
to be able to offer modern banking
systems that we [had been] locked
out of through pricing. ... With the
transition, we got more product that
we could hand to our clients for less
money overall. We got our cake and
could eat it, too. "
Hurst credits the smooth transition
both to regular communication and
to an innovative idea championed by
an employee: hiring some exceptional
high school students to staff the
phones during the frenetic week of
the conversion. With these temporary
hires answering routine questions
and helping customers change their
passwords, bank employees were
freed up to focus on learning the new
system and resolving thornier issues.
Go-live-and beyond
" The data piece-taking data from
point A to point B and making sure it
still is the same-is the easiest piece
for both DCI and the bank, " says
Sarah Fankhauser, president and CEO
of Data Center Inc. (DCI), based in
Hutchinson, Kan. " The hardest part is
making sure we've all communicated
and everyone is on the same page. "
Fankhauser insists that the
" The data piece-taking data from point A to
point B and making sure it still is the same-
is the easiest piece ... The hardest part is
making sure we've all communicated and
everyone is on the same page. "
-SARAH FANKHAUSER, DATA CENTER INC.
education her team provides be
" uninterrupted as much as possible. If
employees are in and out of education
all day, they won't have gained
the information they need to run
the system. "
So convinced is Fankhauser of
the importance of education that a
few weeks before a go-live date, she
and her staff typically administer a
simple quiz to make sure a bank's
employees have mastered and
retained the lessons.
What's more, many processors
travel to their customers' locations
to assist before and after the golive
date.
Megan Copeland, director of
marketing for IBT Apps in Cedar Park,
Texas, emphasizes the importance of
the core processor trainers working
QUICK STAT
16%
of community banks
changed their core processing
vendor in 2020
Source: 2020 ICBA Core Processor Survey
side by side with bank employees.
" We've stayed on site over a month [at
one of our current client banks], " she
says. " Our people live there. They're
there on the go-live date. "
Copeland notes that some of
the deepest learning comes during
the frantic days of the conversion
itself. " Most people are kinesthetic
learners, " she says, meaning they
absorb information best when they
can try the system themselves. In
combination with professional
support when needed, this hands-on
approach, she explains, also gives
bank employees " someone on the
hook " should problems arise later.
Asian Bank's Wang says
communication and education should
last long after the new core is up and
running. " The day you convert, you
have the basics, " he says, " but as you
use the system more, you'll see other
things you didn't think to ask. The
conversation doesn't stop the day of
the actual conversion. It continues for
a while. "
Fankhauser agrees, noting that
during the conversion, employees
learn what it takes to do their daily
jobs, but they rarely grasp all the
capabilities a system has to offer. She
notes that DCI's videos and learning
modules can answer some questions,
but she also likes to review processes
several weeks later so bankers " can
start digging into all the things they
didn't know to ask on day one. "
Viewing education as a longterm
process is critical. In the
end, Fankhauser says, " Making
sure everybody is informed and
feels positive about the change
is the biggest thing about a
successful conversion. " 
Elizabeth Judd is a writer in Maryland.
independentbanker.org Q 27
http://www.independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - April 2022

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