Established in 1934, First Community Bank of the Heartland in Clinton, Kentucky, specializes in unique loan types that make the bank a cornerstone of agricultural communities in Kentucky and Tennessee. In fact, the bank’s commitment to its community and focus on providing the best possible banking solutions, delivered by happy and empowered employees, has led to astronomical growth in the last few years. Between 2013 and 2016, First Community added four branches, doubled its full-time employees and increased its total assets by 126 percent.
However, with increased growth and profits comes the necessity of managing a greater influx of customer data. Cheryl Hartsell, First Community’s senior vice president and chief operations officer, needed a business intelligence solution that she could use to turn her bank’s data into detailed, fully customizable reports–without having to spend substantial amounts of time preparing them.
Intelligence Fully Integrated Into the Core
Since First Community became a CSI customer almost 40 years ago, Hartsell says the bank looks to CSI first when a technology solution is needed to enhance operations. That’s why they turned to CSI for CSI IQ, because it’s fully integrated into their core.
“We try to look to CSI to provide us with everything, as long as it’s comparable in service and cost, and meets our needs,” Hartsell says. “Having the ability to easily integrate a new solution like CSI IQ into our existing platform does wonders for the bank.”
Not only does full integration into the core make CSI IQ easier for the bank to use, but it also means all of the bank’s core data flows through it, giving Hartsell and her staff a complete and unfettered look at the data.
Building Complex Reports in a Matter of Clicks
Hartsell recalls a specific report that has been particularly complicated to construct: “There was one report–our account stratification report–that was giving me all sorts of fits.”
In order to complete the account stratification report, which she uses to analyze and validate the quality of the bank’s account level data, Hartsell had to compile various elements, including the balances of all deposit accounts, how long the accounts had been open, service charge codes, branch locations, etc. Then, she had to include all of the data in multiple reports because she couldn’t get everything she needed in a single report. On top of that, this report required hours, sometimes even days, to complete.
CSI IQ provided her with a more efficient alternative. After receiving hands-on training from members of the CSI IQ product team, Hartsell built the exact report she needed in a much shorter amount of time–and in one place. Now, her account stratification report is available with a few clicks, in a matter of minutes.
“I love the ability to change and manipulate reports, even after they are built,” Hartsell says. “The functionality of CSI IQ is so much more robust than the previous reporting platform we were using.”
Cross Department Functionality
“One of our loan employees creates different types of reports all the time. She’s doing some pretty amazing stuff,” Hartsell says. “Our marketing manager is doing quite a bit in CSI IQ, as well.”
This cross-department usability is a huge key for the bank. In the past, if Hartsell needed to know how many households the bank represents, or how many of the bank’s new accounts have online statements, she would have gathered this information from different sources throughout the bank.
“But with CSI IQ, you can pull all of this information into a summary report and see everything you need in one place,” she says.
Looking Toward the Future
In addition to everything First Community has accomplished so far using CSI IQ, Hartsell says the bank is exploring the possibility of taking a deeper dive into account data in order to enhance asset liability management.
They are also looking at ways to leverage the comprehensive debit card analysis available within CSI IQ’s Payment Services Scorecard. With the Payment Services Scorecard, banks can access detailed reports about their debit card activity featuring an array of metrics, including peer comparisons and a suite of penetration, activation and usage information.
“Something that would take me hours, or even days, to do is automatically set up in CSI IQ. And all you have to do is run it.”