A merger or acquisition can generate major advantages for your financial institution, from new customers to new assets. But in order to gain those advantages, you need effective plans to address a wide array of challenges, including technology, security, and integration. Above all else, you need a plan that supports your people—both staff and customers.
M&A can be incredibly disruptive for staff and customers, both logistically and emotionally. The best way to minimize the disruption is to make them feel prepared for the transition with effective training and support. Here are some of the best ways to help staff and customers navigate these big changes.
Supporting Your Staff Through M&A
The most important thing you can do to prepare your staff for a merger or acquisition is to start early. Don’t wait until your new systems are live to begin training. Teach staff your new tech prior to launch so they’re well positioned to promote and support it to customers. The sooner you begin, the better prepared your staff will be on launch day.
It’s not enough to just start early—you also have to start organized. Create a rock-solid timeline of the major conversion events, so that you know when you have to meet each deadline. This schedule will then dictate your training timetable, so that staff members are ready when each major change hits.
One of the biggest disruptions occurs when you settle on your tech stack. Inevitably some staff members will need to learn new internal and customer-facing systems. The problem is that most FIs are stuck with antiquated learning systems that aren’t tooled for teaching tech. To drive digital fluency among staff members you need to educate them on three important elements.
Foundational Knowledge
If you’re introducing a new remote check deposit technology, for example, customers will want to know things like, “How long will the bank hold my check?” or “Is there a daily deposit limit?” If staff can’t answer these foundational questions, they won’t be comfortable enough to promote your tech to customers.
While this information isn’t the most exciting, staff need to know it so they can answer customer questions. Rather than teaching this with PDFs and PowerPoints, consider using a game-based learning approach that turns the content into a game so that staff learn through play. They’ll actually enjoy the experience and retain much more of the information.
Fluency
Teaching tech with static content doesn’t work. Have you ever mastered technology by reading the manual? Didn’t think so! That’s because you need to use technology to master it. The best way to teach new tech is to let staff experience it using technology walkthroughs. Walkthroughs provide staff with a risk-free environment in which to become familiar with your tech so they can promote and support it to customers.
Confidence
Once staff are up to speed on the new technology, they need practice applying their new knowledge in real-world situations. Virtual role-play scenarios provide a risk-free environment for staff to practice fielding customer questions. When it comes time for them to help a real-life customer, they’ll have the confidence they need to create an exceptional customer experience.
Supporting Your Customers
As important as it is to start early in training staff for a merger or acquisition, it’s even more essential to communicate early and often with your customers. Launch an awareness campaign as soon as possible to let them know that the changes are coming. Once you’ve developed your timeline of conversion events, advertise when each one is happening so that customers aren’t blindsided. Use as many different channels as possible, from in-branch communication to direct email marketing to media campaigns to social media reminders. Target your customers as often as you can, in as many ways as you can.
And once your customers know that things are changing at their financial institution, they’ll need help adjusting to any new systems. You can use some of the same tools you used to train your staff to teach your customers how to use new products. Consider repurposing the technology walkthroughs you built for staff training to support customers on demand. Online technology walkthroughs will help customers help themselves (reducing the burden on your contact center) and provide support tools for staff in the flow of work.
In preparing for a merger or acquisition, it’s important that both your staff and your customers feel supported as they navigate the inevitable disruption. With the right tools, an organized approach, and enough time, your financial institution will be on the path to success.
