Challenge Your Processes- Your Customers Will Thank You

Banking is one of the world’s oldest and most established industries, with its roots going back to 2000 BCE, where gold could be deposited for safekeeping in Babylonian temples and palaces. In the United States, the first bank was established in 1782 by the Continental Congress to serve the needs of the newly found US colonies. With such a long-standing history of best practices, it’s not surprising that banking often lags in advancements, both technical and procedural when compared to other industries.

To be clear, this is often the strategy of most banks. To protect customer and shareholder value-- banks are typically conservative when it comes to investing in new ways of working. The adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” typically comes to mind. Unfortunately for banks, customers have more options than ever before which are no longer tied to physical locations. Neobanks (usually an online bank without traditional branch locations) are not tied down by years of enterprise growth and procedure. This is becoming clear to fraud fighters who continue to fight fraud with old and antiquated technology. Worse, we are being handcuffed from agility by having to cut through red tape created by old procedures. This is creating an interesting paradigm for us as we have become some of the strongest advocates for the customer experience-- sometimes even detracting from our enterprise-wide mission of limiting financial crimes.

Fraud Fighter: Hey, we were recently attacked and had to restrict users from a service that was abused by fraudsters.

Business Owner: Okay, do you have numbers around the loss and number of good customers impacted?

Fraud Fighter: Yes, we are stopping one fraudster for every five good customers, and the loss looks like it will exceed $200,000 over a three-day attack.

Business Owner: That’s okay. Do we have a better process in place to help restore access for good customers?

Fraud Fighter: Improvement to the process we have implemented? No, but we can implement a new technology solution that helps solve the problem at the root cause.

Business Owner: How much would that cost, and how long would it take to implement? Fraud Fighter: About $500,000 annually and six months

Business Owner: That is too long, and the budget won’t allow it. Maintain the current process until the fraud subsides, and then we can readdress it.

5 Years Later

New Fraud Fighter: Wow, I just had a chance to review this process implemented before I got here, and it’s impacting customers- can we investigate?

New Business Owner: No, it was before I got here and is likely in place for a good reason. Our losses are still high for the channel, so we should keep it.

So what can we do? I have found success with the following best practices:

Identify The Root Cause Of An Issue

Often, we take a procedure at face value without truly understanding why the process was implemented in the first place. Typically, a manual process is implemented because the system cannot support the required process at the time. However, this should not carry over to a new system. Challenge each of the processes implemented by a business to ensure better workflow in the new system.

 Calculate The Cost Of Delay

• Answer the following question: What is the total financial impact to the organization if we do not bring in the technology or challenge the procedure?

 • Be sure to include metrics such as customer impact (customer retention for negative events, customer growth for positive events), financial impact (fraud loss or relationship growth), operational impact (improved/delay to speed of an outcome), and reputational impact (expected growth/abandonment from customers).

• Dollars saved or revenue created. Even if you don’t have exact numbers, so long as you are estimating in good faiththat is totally okay!

Identify Your Change Advocate

• People generally want to do what’s best for their customers. Identifying the person within the business to help you lead the effort is critical for success. Getting buy-in from someone within the business increases the likelihood of success and helps to cover any blind spots you may have.

Persistence Is Key

• Change is scary for a lot of people and regardless of your delivery, the first reaction for most people is hesitancy. Remember, you are effectively asking someone to change a practice that in some cases has been around longer than you. It’s uncomfortable, and that’s okay.

• Meeting regularly with the person(s) you’ve identified as a change agent is critical. Do not rely on them to set up meetings or follow-up. Be respectful yet persistent.

• Any events or issues that may have been avoided due to your proposed solution should be escalated with an analysis of what your solution may have done better.

In my opinion, the last point is where the hardest but most needed changes often die. People create great presentations, sell the solution effectively then rely on their change agent to pick up the work from there. Often, the person you’ve identified to help advocate for a new fraud solution is the same person someone else has identified for their needs. With so many fires to put out, the most persistent person will win.