Independent Banker - November 2023 - 55

the rich information we have about
our customers in order to serve
them better, make better business
decisions [and] contribute to longterm
profitability, " he says.
As part of this, Merchants Bank
partnered with KlariVis, a platform
that provides centralized data
analytics for banks. The company is
also an ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator
alumni and ICBA preferred
service provider.
" [KlariVis' solution] has allowed us
to accelerate significantly with the
front-end deliverables in the form of
reports, dashboards and drill-down
utilities, " Evans says.
The community bank's lenders,
market presidents, risk management
personnel, executives and others
responsible for managing portfolios
and customer relationships use the
platform. Evans says he's quickly
seeing a need to expand the bank's
usage into other roles throughout
the organization. The bank has
also formed a business intelligence
steering committee that works on
specific use cases.
" We want to try to do that in a
way that's consistent across the
enterprise so that there's a clear
set of action-oriented performance
expectations of how to use the tool
and how to use the information, "
says Evans. " We're getting insights
on a daily basis ... real-time access
at our fingertips. "
" I THINK AS BANKERS,
ESPECIALLY
COMMUNITY
BANKERS, WE
HAVE REALLY RICH
INTUITION ABOUT
OUR CUSTOMERS,
OUR COMMUNITIES
AND OUR
PORTFOLIOS. "
-Greg Evans,
Merchants Bank, N.A.
SOLVING BANK
PROBLEMS AND
IMPLEMENTING
SOLUTIONS
with the technical aspects of implementation. A no-code
platform doesn't help if someone internally doesn't know
what to do with it, and it shouldn't be a priority when
comparing vendors.
As community banks look
to add more sophisticated
products to their tech stack,
they must consider the technical expertise and resources
required. Banks with limited internal resources should vet
their vendors and fintech partnerships for support and
training assistance.
" Low-code " and " no-code " solutions have been the
buzzword-y, do-it-yourself response from many tech
companies. In reality, these apps can only take a bank so
far. The bank still needs someone with the skills, aptitude
and strategy know-how to take on a no-code or low-code
solution. It might be easier and more cost-effective for a
bank to pay the vendor or an outside consultant to assist
Banks must think beyond the initial implementation
and assess whether the technology will solve the real
challenges that the bank is facing. Will the technology live
up to its promises? Will the vendor be a true partner as the
challenges continue to evolve? Can the bank lean into the
culture change required to adapt to the new technology?
It's about balancing the " latest thing " to hit the market
with vendors that truly understand community banking
needs. Even if the technology itself is new, the challenges
themselves have existed for years. The only thing that's
changed is the speed with which new solutions emerge and
how quickly banks must evaluate and make decisions. 
Anna Burgess Yang is a writer in Illinois.
independentbanker.org // 55
http://www.independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - November 2023

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