Smartphones are everywhere these days, and we’re using them to do just about everything, too. Some of you may even be reading this very blog post from your iPhone or Droid. And just as the rest of the world is going mobile, so too is banking.
Rapid adoption of smartphones is resulting in more consumers than ever using the mobile web to check balances, review transactions, or receive alerts, according to a report released recently by Forrester research (and frankly, you can probably look around you and observe this happening in real time). In fact, Forrester’s forecast indicates mobile banking will increase five-fold over the next five years, with one in five American consumers using online banking by 2015.
Yet while most people associate banks with physical branch locations (especially community banks like Androscoggin that have been around for more than a century), the truth is that we’re excited about this revolution and the opportunities it brings. Yep – you heard us right. We like the way things are changing. In fact, we’re doing everything we can to encourage it.
The rise in mobile banking is actually a good thing for banks, and it’s certainly good for all of you. Convenient access to services on-the-go is an obvious benefit, but so too is the fact that online banking and mobile accessibility also gives you more control over how often you want to check balances, make transfers, and communicate with your bank. There are a lot of reasons why visiting your local branch or even calling us by phone can provide a better opportunity to answer your questions or run through options, but on a day to day basis many of you would prefer to interact with us the same way you would your co-workers or friends: via quick, easy mobile exchanges. That’s why we’re developing new mobile services that will be rolled out over the next few months. Adapting to change isn’t about just reacting to shifts in the way you like to communicate, shop, and even bank using your phones – it’s about recognizing how the way we all communicate is transforming and figuring out ways to make sure we’re still making your life easier.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Fire Breather or Banker? Getting to Know Androscoggin Bank’s Genevieve Hering
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| Genevieve Hering |
Please share your title and a brief description of your role at Androscoggin Bank:As the Risk/Compliance Administrator, I conduct risk assessments on such areas as compliance, operations, and vendor management in order to help identify lapses in our control infrastructure and make recommendations aimed at improving our risk profile. My other responsibilities include monitoring regulatory changes to ensure the Bank is constantly aware and compliant and supporting personnel in incidents of fraud and suspicious activity.
How long have you been employed with the bank?I have been with Androscoggin Bank since September 2009. I started as a full-time teller at Route 4 and then grew to the role of back-up CSR for my branch. I was promoted to my current position this past April.
What’s one thing about you that we’d be surprised to learn? (Hobby? Favorite food? Quirky talent?) My greatest quirk is my love of adventure and where it leads me. My current ambition is fire-spinning. Last fall I attended a four day fire “retreat” where I learned such talents as poi and contact fire. This September I will be returning to learn to breathe and swallow fire (don’t worry; I’ll thoroughly assess the risks)!
What’s your favorite part of your job?My favorite parts of my job are my broad exposure and limitless learning prospects. In the course of my assessments, I have the privilege of “visiting” many different areas of the Bank and gaining an understanding that I feel would not have been possible otherwise. In addition, the banking industry is constantly changing and evolving. If I can rely on one thing, it’s change, and change is opportunity.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Different? Seriously? Not really.
In all my years of brand management and marketing, I’ve never been asked to ensure that the company I’m working with is the same as its competition. At the same time, I’ve never been asked to ensure that a company is really different.
The pros and cons are obvious. Being different gets you noticed. Being different delineates the boundary between you and the competition—making purchasing decisions easier. But being different is also tough.
You spend most of your life trying to fit in at school, at church, at family reunions and at work and now…just now…you want to be different? All of a sudden different is good? Seriously? Not really.
Different kids, by definition, don’t “fit in.” Maybe they don’t aspire to wear the right clothes, say the right things, buy the right tunes, hang out with the “popular” kids, get the right hair or have a real iPod or maybe they try…and just can’t get it right.
That’s what makes them different—and being different is tough. For those kids who are authentically different—the smartest, the most creative, the gifted—being like everyone else is not an option. Being different comes from the inside out—and no matter what they wear, say and do—people still see they are different. Different must rely on cues from within their own conscience, their uniqueness and talent to compete—not validation from their competition, peer groups or friends.
Another type of different kid is the one who is like all the others, but actively seeks to be different. I immediately think of those categorized as “goth.” All dressed in black with the makeup reminiscent of Gene Simmons and KISS, their spiky hair and dog-collar jewelry, they market a personal brand that says look at me, I’m different.
At Rhode Island School of Design, we could always identify a new student because they were still marketing that high school identity. After about a week, the marketing ended. The black wardrobe, spiky hair, piercings and other trappings quickly dissipated. Maybe they realized that at RISD, everyone wore black, had spiky purple hair and piercings in high school. The accessories didn’t make you different after all. This was usually a true shock to their ego.
These two types of “different” exist in community banking, too. First there are authentically different banks. They can’t help it. From the inside out, the organization’s culture, structure, strategy, customers and expectations are different. It may look just like every other bank, but your experience is obviously and noticeably different – whether you got the loan or not.
The other different is marketing’s version of accessorizing. We will say we are different in our campaigns. We’ll re-name bank teller position with pithy, customer-centric titles like “relationship managers.” And we’ll assert that being friendly and making sure we don’t make mistakes counting money is an industry-leading, competitive difference for which customers should recognize and reward us.
If that doesn’t work, we’ll do an advertising campaign and promise to “care about your small business as much as you do.” To which I say, if that is true, by all means take an equity position in my company, not a second lien on my house. The assertion that a bank can even conceive of the risk that a small business entrepreneur faces everyday is misrepresentation of the industry that borders on the sublime.
As community banks, we need to stop trying to be like other community banks, big banks or large regional banks. We need to look within, identify what matters most to us, know what we do well—and what we don’t—and stay true to the experience that results. Our customers will appreciate our fortitude and reward us accordingly.
As a banker and a consumer, the one who is authentically different—honest, comfortable, true to themselves—gets my business every time. I want a bank who understands the role of money in my life (the good, the bad and the ugly) and is going to support a decision-making process that produces a good result. I’ll continue admire those purple, spiky-haired kids who freely express themselves while in line to buy coffee. But when it comes to decisions about my money, I want an experience that is valuable, honest, authentic and real—and whose brand promise is made from the inside out.
The pros and cons are obvious. Being different gets you noticed. Being different delineates the boundary between you and the competition—making purchasing decisions easier. But being different is also tough.
You spend most of your life trying to fit in at school, at church, at family reunions and at work and now…just now…you want to be different? All of a sudden different is good? Seriously? Not really.
Different kids, by definition, don’t “fit in.” Maybe they don’t aspire to wear the right clothes, say the right things, buy the right tunes, hang out with the “popular” kids, get the right hair or have a real iPod or maybe they try…and just can’t get it right.
That’s what makes them different—and being different is tough. For those kids who are authentically different—the smartest, the most creative, the gifted—being like everyone else is not an option. Being different comes from the inside out—and no matter what they wear, say and do—people still see they are different. Different must rely on cues from within their own conscience, their uniqueness and talent to compete—not validation from their competition, peer groups or friends.
Another type of different kid is the one who is like all the others, but actively seeks to be different. I immediately think of those categorized as “goth.” All dressed in black with the makeup reminiscent of Gene Simmons and KISS, their spiky hair and dog-collar jewelry, they market a personal brand that says look at me, I’m different.
At Rhode Island School of Design, we could always identify a new student because they were still marketing that high school identity. After about a week, the marketing ended. The black wardrobe, spiky hair, piercings and other trappings quickly dissipated. Maybe they realized that at RISD, everyone wore black, had spiky purple hair and piercings in high school. The accessories didn’t make you different after all. This was usually a true shock to their ego.
These two types of “different” exist in community banking, too. First there are authentically different banks. They can’t help it. From the inside out, the organization’s culture, structure, strategy, customers and expectations are different. It may look just like every other bank, but your experience is obviously and noticeably different – whether you got the loan or not.
The other different is marketing’s version of accessorizing. We will say we are different in our campaigns. We’ll re-name bank teller position with pithy, customer-centric titles like “relationship managers.” And we’ll assert that being friendly and making sure we don’t make mistakes counting money is an industry-leading, competitive difference for which customers should recognize and reward us.
If that doesn’t work, we’ll do an advertising campaign and promise to “care about your small business as much as you do.” To which I say, if that is true, by all means take an equity position in my company, not a second lien on my house. The assertion that a bank can even conceive of the risk that a small business entrepreneur faces everyday is misrepresentation of the industry that borders on the sublime.
As community banks, we need to stop trying to be like other community banks, big banks or large regional banks. We need to look within, identify what matters most to us, know what we do well—and what we don’t—and stay true to the experience that results. Our customers will appreciate our fortitude and reward us accordingly.
As a banker and a consumer, the one who is authentically different—honest, comfortable, true to themselves—gets my business every time. I want a bank who understands the role of money in my life (the good, the bad and the ugly) and is going to support a decision-making process that produces a good result. I’ll continue admire those purple, spiky-haired kids who freely express themselves while in line to buy coffee. But when it comes to decisions about my money, I want an experience that is valuable, honest, authentic and real—and whose brand promise is made from the inside out.
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