Independent Banker - August 2024 - 22

PORTFOLIO INNOVATION STATION
4 natural advantages
of solution provider
partnerships
By Charles Potts, ICBA
have been evangelizing for a while
about the importance of strategic
partnerships, and now, we've come to
a place where these very relationships
are bolstering community banks'
businesses. Solution provider
partnerships create ways to capitalize
on opportunities and address
mounting, confl icting priorities.
Here are four practical advantages of
partnering with a solutions provider.
I
power allows us to continually look at
community bank needs and identify
new solution providers that address
business challenges and opportunities.
1. They enable you to compete in
today's digital-first environment.
Digital transformation remains a
priority as customer demand for a
seamless experience grows. With this
shift, we also are seeing increased
competition from neobanks, large
banks, direct-to-consumer technology
providers and others. The good news?
At ICBA, our aggregated buying
2. They off er systems to address
regulatory change. Regulatory
change is only getting more complex,
which makes solution provider
partnerships even more valuable to
community banks. With the right
technology partner, community
banks can focus on key areas and use
companies, like recent ThinkTECH
Accelerator participant Azimuth, to
simplify compliance requirements.
3. They introduce strategic,
cost-eff ective solutions for
operational and business needs.
I've said this even from the days when
I was building solutions: Bankers and
banks need to be good at banking, but
it's hard to stay on top of the technology
and the evolution in fi nancial services
simultaneously. Strategic solution
provider partnerships off er a best-ofbreed
technology approach, allowing
bankers to spend more time nurturing
customer relationships. When solution
providers directly target problems
community banks face, their products
become viable, cost-eff ective solutions.
In addition, with community banks as
their chief clients, the knowledge they
acquire breeds clarity that allows for
more rapid product deployments and
quicker ROI for banks.
4. They address staff ing demands.
Staffi ng and talent are persistent
challenges for community banks,
but leveraging technology to become
more effi cient and eff ective allows
you to maximize your existing staff 's
potential. New solutions, including
intelligent automation off erings like
what's presented from ThinkTECH alum
HuLoop, complement staff eff orts and
allow banks to augment or grow business
without adding head count as quickly as
would have been necessary in the past.
We have reached an interesting
infl ection point for community banks:
a chance to turn up the volume,
strategically lean into partnerships and
acquire the natural advantages that
come with partnering.
So, I encourage you to take another
look at ICBA's Solutions Directory
(solutions.icba.org) and identify a
provider that can support your bank.
Taking that action today may just
be the fi rst step toward the future of
your business.
Charles Potts (charles.potts@icba.org)
is ICBA executive vice president and
chief innovation off icer.
22 // ICBA Independent Banker // August 2024
Photo by New Africa/Adobe
http://solutions.icba.org
Independent Banker - August 2024

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