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Webinar
Essential Innovation: How Banks Transformed During COVID-19
December 8, 2020
Today’s consumers are increasingly choosing digital options and virtual services to meet their demands for a personalized, seamless banking experience. These trends have been accelerated due to COVID-19, the shift to remote work models and the enormous pressure banks faced when they found themselves serving as the channel for one of the largest business stimulus packages the U.S. has ever seen. Adapting to COVID-19 was and continues to be an unprecedented experience and has permanently shifted the way banks operate, now and in the future.
In the American Banker webinar “Essential Innovation: How Banks Have Transformed During COVID-19,” Frank Sorrentino, President and CEO at ConnectOne Bank, and Pierre Naudé, CEO at nCino, discussed lessons learned from the pandemic and shared key takeaways on how innovative financial institutions can embrace and implement the cutting edge tools and efficiency-creating technologies that will help them serve their customers, empower their employees, cultivate an internal culture of change and thrive in today’s increasingly competitive landscape.
ConnectOne is a $7.5 billion financial institution serving customers in New York and New Jersey. Frank was one of the founders of ConnectOne and has been instrumental in developing and executing the Bank’s digital transformation strategy. ConnectOne has been a customer of nCino since 2017 and has adopted additional nCino solutions since their original partnership.
“As a technology-forward bank, we’ve always believed in investing in tools that help us improve processes to better serve our clients as they grow, and we found a natural fit with nCino.” – Frank Sorrentino, President and CEO, ConnectOne
Throughout the webinar, Frank and Pierre share their experiences navigating the COVID-19 pandemic by answering a series of questions, including:
  • Are your small business customers bouncing back? Are they still struggling?
  • Why are some organizations able to adapt, shift their whole business model quickly and survive, while others don’t make it? Is it a culture and/or leadership issue?
  • What are the key things that make a company like nCino rank highly among employees? What are the key qualities for a “best fintech to work for,” as nCino was named by American Banker?
  • What attitude do you look for in employees?
  • How has technology helped you through the pandemic?

Frank offered insight into the different outcomes small businesses have experienced following the pandemic. He also explained the incredible impact technology has had on businesses both small and large as they recover from the pandemic.

“We’ve seen some businesses that have struggled terribly. However, we’ve seen others that have done phenomenally. It could be in the same industry.” – Frank Sorrentino, CEO at ConnectOne Bank
Pierre dedicated his time to discussing the importance of people within an organization. He explained how important it is to have a team of dedicated individuals who feel valued and respected. He also described the importance of having strong leadership as well as a culture of innovation and how this combination can propel an organization through changing times, such as the pandemic.
“Organizations that believe in the empowerment of their people and actually hire them for their intelligence and creativity adapt a lot easier because you have this collective set of brains that say ‘we can do better’ and challenge each other.” – Pierre Naudé, CEO at nCino.
To listen to the full conversation, download the on-demand webinar here.
  • Small Business Banking