Photo courtesy of First Country Bank
Karen Kelly
Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Banking Officer, First County Bank
Industry experience: 30 years
Age: 62
At Stamford-based First County Bank, it’s Karen Kelly’s job to help the community bank stay abreast of consumers’ changing digital demands. With banking continuing to become more digitally focused, First County Bank has “digital ambassadors” that help customers work through any potential challenges that arise within the app. While it might seem like banking is moving away from physical locations, branches still play an important role, especially for community banks.
Q: Now that consumers expect to be able to perform a lot of functions within a banking app, what goes into making sure that they are able to do that?
A: As we continue to enhance our digital products, we know from our customers and from being a community bank that’s over 170 years old that our branches and our people are key to providing high level of service. We have digital ambassadors in each branch, and this has been something we’ve had over the last several years. We have more than one in each branch that are available to help customers, because we know even though digital is very prevalent, customers still come in, they still have questions and we need to be able to support our customers when they have those questions. So we have skilled employees in the branches that are trained to help customers and answer questions and show them how all these features work. So we think that’s very important to have both the high-tech and the high-touch in our branches.
Q: What goes in to that training? How do you go about finding these digital ambassadors?
A: We started this program when I took on this role as chief digital banking officer, probably in late 2018, and we put together a certification program for branch employees. These employees are all levels. Some are branch managers, some are assistant branch managers, some are tellers. They’re identified as being curious – certainly, they have to be using our products – and they go through a digital certification program that I developed. It’s two half-day sessions, and then there’s ongoing reinforcement exercises throughout the year to keep everybody on top of what’s going on because certainly the digital channels change frequently so we have to keep reinforcing and we have to have continuing education. We also have quarterly check-in calls to keep everybody up to speed. The branch employees also take it upon themselves to conduct training with peers. They’ll do, a quick skill-builder on a particular topic, just to make sure that their colleagues in the branch are also well-versed on our digital product.
Q: There is lots of competition out there, and lots of consolidation pressures. What role does digital banking play in allowing community banks to stand out against competitors?
A: Our audience is a local community audience. We’ve been in this community, Fairfield County, for 170 years. We’ve had online banking, we’ve had a mobile app for many years. We’ve just been continuing to enhance the offering, because we know that we have to keep relevant for all audiences. Digital products are being used by all segments of the population. It’s not just Gen X or Millennials. All customers are using their phone, and in every walk of life the phone is prevalent – you want to get your medical records, you have to use your phone. So we know how important it is to keep up on technology and to make sure that our customers are educated and that they’re proficient with these tools.
Q: Just where have customers’ needs changed in regards to digital and online banking?
A: The branch used to be prevalent for transactions. People used to come in, but you want to deposit a check? You can do it with your phone. It’s easy, it’s secure. So those kinds of transactions have become more quick, more on the go. Twenty-four-seven, you can deposit a check. You don’t have to necessarily wait to come into a branch. I think the branches are now more focused on more complex transactions: Somebody wants to get a mortgage, somebody wants to borrow against their home with a home equity loan. So, we’ve got branch employees who are well versed in those kinds of products. I think the transactional nature, the money movement process is definitely focused on digital – Zelle, for example. You know, you can send your son or daughter money, pay your babysitter and it moves instantly. The instantaneous nature of banking is really where the digital has flourished and where customers expect to be able to do those things.
Kelly’s Five Favorite Musical Performances
- Roxy Music
- Anita Baker
- The Bee Gees
- U2
- Sade
