Does Your Bank's Branching Strategy Need a Tune-up?
January 2019
Do you recall, several years ago, when you went to the airport and stood in line to see an agent to check in for your flight? I do, and I also remember when the kiosks appeared and I avoided them. Later, customer service agents began to "encourage" us to use the kiosks. I still avoided them until circumstances finally forced me to succumb to the automated
check-in. To my delight, it was actually an improvement. The ensuing reduction in gate agents and greater reliance on
automated check-ins have been going on in other industries for about ten years. I suggest the financial services industry
would have likely followed suit if we had not been preoccupied, recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. Teaching our customers to self-serve, as the airline industry did, will save our industry billions of dollars in the long run.
Emerging Leaders Update: The Power of Education
July 2017
I always think about my time at the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at SMU during this time of year. While I was there, a group text message started between myself and several classmates. We started talking about all of the incredible experiences we had both in and out of the classroom. The bankers on this group text were from all over the place, including Scottsdale, AZ; Dallas, TX; College Station, TX, and Jonesboro, AR. After not having seen some of these classmates since we graduated back in 2006, I realized again just the power of education.