Whether you’re a bank, credit union, or financial services firm, you can find success without necessarily scaling to the size of your larger competitors in traditional ways.
Banks, financial firms, and credit unions challenge larger competitors by way of technology planning and execution. This work leads to attracting new clients and delighting current customers with enhanced communication and security.
There are so many approaches you could take to grow your organization using your existing technology infrastructure. Here are some obvious examples of ways to grow with technology resources on your side:
- Network online (MeetUp, LinkedIn)
- Access prospects through social media and online resources
- Hire remote contractors or employees
- Build a sales funnel using a CRM, and use marketing automation with that
In light of all of the options, here are a few proven methods for today’s financial services firms, banks and credit unions to challenge their competitors (large and small) using tech resources.
Business development on the web.
Technology, such as Skype, Google Hangouts and the like, gives you the opportunity to effectively represent customers from right where you are.
When it comes to finding customers and clients, whether local or regional, smaller financial services companies have marketing and advertising options that are effective, efficient and low cost.
For instance, instead of running expensive ads on radio and tv, smaller guys can promote themselves by reaching audiences on social media, like Facebook and LinkedIn, through paid ads.
Smaller firms can also attract clients by publishing marketing content like blogs and by performing effective website SEO to generate leads through positive search engine results.
Even if these activities are outsourced to a favorite freelancer or digital marketing firm, the initial outlay still tends to be much lower than the required investment in traditional media buys.
What this means for your IT:
Make sure you have a documented process of handling websites that tend to be less secure, first and foremost. We always stress the importance of security and IT being everyone’s business. So, as the Manager or Director of IT within your company, be sure and follow our simple security best practices process when you’re leveraging technology to grow online.
Virtual back offices.
Hiring employees is expensive.
80% of all business expenses are typically driven by payroll.
That said, the financial burn continues when that same employee requires expensive software in order to do their jobs. With the invention of technology, like cloud-based software, smaller organizations are able to level the playing field when it comes to competing against larger entities.
Using websites like Upwork, as just one example, is a great way to find contractors to help you with smaller projects so you can support your employees in doing their jobs. It also doesn’t significantly increase your payroll, and you develop a virtual Rolodex of help.
Upwork is an online community of contractors seeking work. You simply create an account, post your project and specialty, and you can now find those contractors to help you execute on the projects that you, or your team, cannot.
It’s not a surefire method, but it will definitely help you compete with larger competitors.
What this means for your IT:
Before you dive into Upwork, or other contractor sites, be sure and define a process of finding help for IT projects. You need to have your requirements specifically defined and documented, otherwise your project will be derailed. We’d also suggest a tight scope creep process to eliminate any communication frustrations.
Remote workforce.
Suppose you want to expand your company.
Bringing on additional staff requires capital and revenue to hire employees. Thanks to technology, those involved in financial services are taking this one step further and hiring remote employees.
Whether your email admin is remote, or one of your managers, the beauty of the web coupled with technology means you can accomplish your tasks every day, while not having to worry about support tickets not being reviewed.
What this means for your IT:
As we mentioned before, you need to have a well thought out and documented process to manage your remote team members. Especially when it comes to your IT.
Don’t skimp on this, and don’t cut corners. If you’re not an expert, then hire a consultant and learn about what security tools you need to avoid the headaches that often times come along with managing a remote workforce.
There’s never been a better time.
At Cooperative Systems, we are aware of the dozens of challenges that can potentially arise from the parts involved in running a business.
We’re here to help. We can help you to design and execute your technology plans so you can grow and scale your organization.
For more help with this and the whole host of relevant IT concerns you may have, email us here.