Conferences are on our mind right now as we’re preparing for the annual Teslar User Conference coming up this September. Navigating conferences in this post-pandemic/lingering pandemic atmosphere poses its own challenges as we seek to meet the needs and preferences of our clients.
Community banks have always been good at creating lifetime customers, but evolving technology and customer demands can complicate your ability to satisfy customers post-pandemic. There is a running joke in the banking industry that the pandemic took five years of technology growth and pressed it into one. With the additional demands put on bankers by the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), that joke is one hundred percent true. Now that these digital expectations have been set, there’s no going back. Bankers can’t revert to doing things the same way they did before the pandemic. It’s just not an option.
The banking industry is completely changing (and fast!) due to this global pandemic. While banks are typically slow to adopt technological changes, the pandemic has accelerated this process by years. Digital offerings are not just conveniences anymore, but legitimate necessities for customers now. This adaptation can be more difficult for community banks with more limited resources than it is for large banks, but community banks still want to be players in the game.
Teslar Software’s own David Hamrick participated in an Expert Panel Discussion ICBA webinar on April 22nd, 2021 on consumer experience and post-COVID trends in the banking industry.
At Teslar Software, we are in the business of creating highly efficient banks. We build tools designed to improve productivity and increase data accuracy throughout your entire institution. We provide community financial institutions with automated workflow and portfolio management tools to streamline and improve processes with easy access to relevant information needed to operate. Our innovative software is built on four pillars that we believe are essential to any financial institution that is eager to increase efficiency: Integration, Empowering Bankers, Streamlining Processes, and Scalability.
Consumer behavior is an important economic driving force. Although holidays are never about gift-giving or spending money, these cultural norms are still major factors for the economy. V Day is a staple day for retail industries like floral, candy, and jewelry. To get a deeper look at just how much we are spending, who is spending it, and what we are spending it on, we turned to NRF (National Retail Federation), who has surveyed consumers about Valentine’s Day plans annually for almost 20 years.
While the economic effects of coronavirus have led to business closures, job losses, and a drop in GDP, some are taking this as an opportunity to pursue passions and take risks. That’s right, entrepreneurship is on the rise. Americans are starting businesses at the fastest rate in more than a decade. As of September 2020, applications for EIN numbers had surpassed 3.2 million for the year1, with over 500,000 of said applications occurring from mid-Mach to the end of May alone2. This number is, unironically, up 500,000 compared to the year prior1.
During the 2019 ICBA ThinkTECH accelerator, Mark Marionneaux, president and CEO of Zachary, La.-based Bank of Zachary, visited the Venture Center and spoke with several participants, one of whom was Joe Ehrhardt, CEO and founder of Teslar Software. Bank of Zachary has since partnered with Teslar Software for exceptions management and workflow tools to streamline manual processes.
The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 shook the American economy and uprooted day-to-day life for most Americans. We saw a lot of back and forth when it came to economic outlook and predictions. One factor that stayed strong was the housing market. In fact, demand increased and we saw record-breaking sales numbers in 2020. Despite increase in building materials in 2020, demand for new homes also stayed strong.
Community bankers and small business are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the next stimulus bill, which will more than likely include another round of funds for the Paycheck Protection Program. At this time, there is no official ruling, and all details are based on probability and speculation, but we learned last time that this program is fast-moving and ever-changing. By our commitment to helping make PPP an easier process for community bankers and their customers, we’re back with an all new module for this new round.