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Danvers
Savings Bank combines creativity and common sense
with technology as solutions to today's
economic and regulatory environment.
"The
biggest IT management challenge we're facing
right now is that we're forced to do more
with less," said Lisa Rose, Senior Vice
President and CIO, Danvers Savings Bank. "But
we're
certainly not alone. The lack of interest margin
due to the economy, and the regulations imposed
by the USA PATRIOT Act and The Gramm-Leach Bliley
Act
are impacting all financial institutions."
According
to Rose, she's been fortunate in
maintaining the same IT budget in 2003 that was
available last year, though a great deal of time,
know-how
and dollars have been allocated to addressing
system, information and privacy issues in response
to regulations.
That said, she's pleased that the IT department
is simultaneously reaping the rewards of the
solid infrastructure they put in place for Y2K,
and from
their early entry into online banking and e-commerce.
"For
one, we were very creative in how we designed
and implemented our voice and data communications
system at that time. We have voice-over IP
(VoIP) technology in place so we can easily
branch out into
new areas like expansion of our call center
functionality," said
Rose.
As
another means of leveraging IT investments, Danvers
Savings Bank has created the wholly
owned subsidiary
Partnership Processing Corporation as a
core and item processing service bureau for themselves
and
other community banks. Additionally, their "pre-Y2K" equipment
is still in place and functioning as a live
disaster recovery site that's also
used for training and testing purposes. The
bank plans to outsource
disaster recovery services to smaller institutions
as well.
"We're
an $820 million institution who is challenged by the
current regulatory environment, so you can only imagine
how overwhelmed smaller banks and credit unions are
with the need to adapt to these demands," added
Rose.
For
2003 and into 2004, Rose has specific goals in
mind that will continue to rely
on creative
technology
solutions. In their quest to "stop
creating paper" and become more
of an electronic society, Danvers Savings
Bank is looking to increase storage,
create digital signatures, and improve
their image-based and workflow-based
processes. Better use of current
data to improve customer service is also
a continuous objective.
"Much
of what I'll put in place during the next year will
rely on third-party software with a modular approach
that makes integration over time easy," said
Rose. "But the solution's features and ease-of-integration
need to be matched with a vendor who is in tune with
the banking market, and can creatively help me to
continue to do more with less."
Want
to know more? Talk with Lisa in Austin on September
10-12 at Midsize
Enterprise
Summit.
About
Danvers Savings Bank
Serving the community since 1850,
Danvers Savings Bank is an
$820 million financial
institution
operating out of twelve full-service
locations in Andover,
Beverly, Chelsea, Danvers (2),
Middleton, Peabody, Reading,
Revere, Salem,
Wilmington and Woburn;
and one Representative Office
in Boston. The Bank is
an acknowledged leader in small
business lending, earning the
status of Preferred
SBA (Small
Business Administration) Lender
in both Massachusetts and
New Hampshire. The Bank is
likewise recognized as "Outstanding" by
the FDIC for its community reinvestment activities.
For more information, visit the Bank's
website at www.danverssavings.com. |
