Pub. 6 2017 Issue 1

The CommunityBanker 6 Chairman’s Message M E S S A G E ByAlice Frazier VACB Chairman Cardinal Bank D ear Fellow Community Bankers In April 1977 Apple Computer introduced their first personal computer, the Apple II. For approximately $1,300, a household could have a stationary 24-pound machine with all the computing power of an 8 bit processor and 8 Kilobytes of RAM; this machine would fly. We just didn’t knowwhat to do with it at that time. Funny, how our perspective has changed over the past forty years. For nearly the same money, the Apple MacBook is thousands of times faster with an equal multiple on mem- ory and storage. By the way, the machine is nowmobile and weighs only 2 pounds. At times, I feel like the expectations of our customers have had a similar transformation. In 1974, only six banks in the New England states were authorized to have Negotiable Order of Withdrawal (NOW) accounts. Today not only is the NOW account a standard product, we offer access to their accounts online, the ability to deposit checks through their phones, pay their bills at no additional charge, trans - fer money to their friends and the list goes on. As Apple has introduced new products it has learned that the average consumer needs help learn- ing how to use these products. Hence the “Genius Bar”, a place where their customers can work with Apple associates to learn how to use their products efficiently, have questions answered and by the way, I bet a fewmore sales are made at the same time. While solving a problem, or teaching a customer, the Apple associate is developing a relationship and is learning more about how the customer wants to use the prod- uct. I know the Frazier household has walked out with a new cover, screen protector, wireless keyboard - I think you understand. Risks and Changing Technology In most any branch transformation discussion, someone brings up a “Genius Bar” concept. It makes sense given the number of ways our clients can bank today. The new features of banking can benefit all age demographics if they know how to use it properly. For instance, deposit account fraud concerns consumers as much as identity theft. The text and email alert features are an early alert system for potential fraud on an account. However, are all our associates excited and trained on how the new online and mobile banking enhancements can help our custom- ers with their financial priorities? Are our associates ready to share the new features but also educate our customers on how to use the features to prevent fraud? This quarter’s issue of Community Banker is focused on the many facets of how technology is changing our lives as well as the new risks that come with new technology. The Internet of Things is an ever-evolving use of technology to connect everything we do as the article in this issue notes, this concept introduces many elements of risk. Just ask Amazon’s Alexa, she will be listening for your question regarding risk. We should embrace the new technolo- gies that can benefit our relationship with our clients. We can adapt howwe present our products and services around the evolving expectations of our clients. I do believe educa- tion of our associates and our clients will be the key to successful adoption and full utiliza- tion of the products and most importantly, mitigation of risks in the future. Siri, do you agree?