By Ron Daly, President/CEO
Virtual StrongBox, Inc.
Source: https://www.cbinsight.com/banks-corporate-immune-system-killing-innovation.html

While today’s technology is disrupting all industries, those of us in financial services think of it mostly in terms of digital bank services and marketing. We ask, How do our customers want to interact with us? Which digital strategies will make us most competitive? When will see a bottom-line benefit from our investment?

But when I recently got my annual flu shot, I started thinking about the ways new technologies are put to use in other areas, like fighting disease. The first flu vaccine was developed in 1945, and now researchers are closing in […]

By Ron Daly, President/CEO
Virtual StrongBox, Inc.
Source: http://www.cutoday.info/THE-feature/Pitfalls-Of-Delaying-Key-Tech-Decisions

Members have no complaints about the credit union’s tech offerings, so it’s all good, right?

Wrong, says one expert.

“It isn’t wise to mistake radio silence for member satisfaction,” said Ron Daly, president and CEO of Virtual Strongbox, who added that it is essential to get out ahead of any potential issues before members start walking out the door due to dissatisfaction over the CU’s digital service delivery.

Daly underscored the urgency of sound technology decisions, pointing to digital banking milestones that show the shift toward mobile is now happening at an ever increasing pace, leading […]

By Ron Daly, President/CEO
Virtual StrongBox, Inc.
Source: https://www.cbinsight.com/banks-customer-experience-really-3-questions-consider.html

It’s a sad fact, but the financial industry has a history of being slow to adapt to new technology. While many banks have spruced up their branches with customer Wi-Fi bars and touch-screen banking stations, most still use legacy core systems. But beyond the cost, core vendors, themselves, haven’t been very responsive to changing demands, so financial institutions mostly follow a “chewing-gum-and-bailing-wire” approach – tacking digital apps onto existing systems designed for physical branches.

Who’s in charge now?

The add-on approach may have worked when banks’ only competition was each other, and it was hard for […]

By Ron Daly, President/CEO
Virtual StrongBox, Inc.
Source: http://www.cutoday.info/THE-tude/Time-For-Reinforcements-Against-Cyber-Attacks

Today, anyone with an Internet connection (and that’s pretty much everyone) is worried about identity theft, hackers and ransomware, and with good reason. Following a Reuters report in May, the Federal Reserve announced it had detected more than 50 breaches of its computer systems from 2011 and 2015, while denying that any critical operations were affected.

Meanwhile, the Fed issued more guidance on assuring adequate levels of security at financial institutions. And more recently, the OIG said it is auditing current exam processes to see if they accurately assess whether institutions are meeting those […]

By Ron Daly, President/CEO
Virtual StrongBox, Inc.

No. 1 on my list of overused, misunderstood phrases is “mobile first.” Google it and you’ll likely see: Mobile first means …

1. “smartphones, tablets and task-specific apps employees use as work tools.”
2. “a customer who manages his bank account on a mobile app instead of online or the branch.”
3. “millennials, who do everything on their phones.”
4. “advice for marketers to rethink their ‘customer experience’ and remap their ‘customer journey.’ ”

One prominent bank core-processor’s definition of mobile first is depressing: “It’s consumers who prefer to bank only on their mobile devices, or turn to the mobile channel […]

Ron Daly, President/CEO
Virtual StrongBox, Inc.
Source: https://www.cuinsight.com/financial-services-nice-becomes-necessity.html

Wouldn’t it be great to have a steady supply of Godiva chocolates anytime you want? How about Dom Perignon? Even better, season tickets to all your favorite teams’ games? Nice, but hardly necessities.

When banks first offered “convenience” services, like remote deposit and electronic bill payment, they were seen as “nice to have” for customers but not something a bank really had to offer. That’s changed. Retailers and service providers are expected to offer easy-to-use apps that consumers can access on their own tech devices anytime they want. In fact, 90% of the time Americans […]

Ron Daly, President/CEO
Virtual StrongBox, Inc.

To many people outside the industry, “bank examiner” conjures up Carter, the no-nonsense examiner in “It’s a “Wonderful Life”, who chooses Christmas Eve to examine George Bailey’s Building & Loan books. To say the least, it was bad timing. But it turns out Carter was a pretty good guy, even making his own donation to keep the co-op afloat after a series of mishaps.

The examiners I worked with in my “first” career, as a CFO, were good people, too; most just want to do a good job – be thorough, but efficient. Still, no matter when they […]

Ron Daly, President/CEO
Virtual StrongBox, Inc.
Source: https://www.cbinsight.com/drive-exam-innovation-regulator-regulated.html

Back in my days as a bank CFO, we had a few tricks for making the regulators feel welcome when it came time for the annual exam. If it was summer, my favorite was housing them in the sunniest room in the building, where they could enjoy natural lighting. We’d set the temperature at a toasty 90 degrees … you know, to save on the A/C. And when the weather turned cold, we liked to give examiners a feel for what it’s like to participate in winter sports.

Of course I was kidding. The examiners […]