Welcome To
The Bottom Line

In 2018, SRM expanded its operations to Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Europe. This division of our firm, known as SRM Europe (srmeurope.com), services a diverse set of industries, including financial services, music entertainment, food retailing, and architecture. While these are different markets, all have been affected by the pandemic and reports across these varied verticals virtually tell the same story.

The overarching message is that organizations, of all types, need to successfully adapt to change. As we’ve recently experienced, change happens, regardless of one’s level of preparedness. However, organizations often shy away from changing course, even after the tides have shifted. As change is the only constant businesses can rely upon, a culture of adaptability, clear communications, and good relationships will help ready any organization for the challenges ahead.

In mid-March, when Americans were beginning to absorb the notion of shelter-in-place orders, SRM reached out to our financial institution clients to get a snapshot of their mindset regarding approaches to meeting consumer needs in the age of the pandemic. The findings of that initial survey can be found here. 

To refresh this view and learn how time in the “now normal” was impacting banks and credit unions, a second survey was planned in late June. Of course, by the time the second survey was ready to go into the field, COVID-19 was re-asserting itself across the United States. We retooled the study to accommodate the circumstances, revisiting some of the questions from the March survey and drilling down into digital transformation and payments.  

There is a business cartoon that has been circulating around social media – a group of employees is holding court in a conference room. The manager at the head of the table declares, “Digital transformation is years away – I don’t see our company having to change anytime soon.” Meanwhile, outside the window just behind him swings a giant wrecking ball labeled “COVID-19.”  

The term “bank” never appears, but there is no sector for which the message rings truer. While the migration of banks and credit unions to digital channels has been underway for several years, of course, the national brands have been the most aggressive, creating an online capabilities gap over most community financial institutions. Given the pandemic-prompted closing of most branches and the energetic push of customers of all stripes toward remote channels, those investments by the largest institutions seem more prescient than ever.