2023 Community Bank Case Study Competition Journal

2023 COMMUNITY BANK CASE STUDY COMPETITION

Lastly, a technology change that occurred at CBTC is the adoption of the gold standard of endpoint detection and response security (EDR), CrowdStrike Falcon. Security is a priority, and with the adoption of CrowdStrike Falcon security, CBTC can protect clients against the modern, growing threat of cyber attacks that endanger the bank’s reputation and clients’ funds. The importance of security in the banking industry and the peace of mind that CrowdStrike provides cannot be underestimated. Handling New Technology & Customers’ Questions Training staff to answer client questions regarding the new technology of CBTC is not only a priority of the bank and its staff but is an objective at all levels of the organization. When new technology is introduced, the staff who are affected by the changes are introduced to the change and prepared to learn about the technology well enough to serve clients and

answer questions. Chief Operating Officer, Clint Davis, encourages his team to focus on serving clients as the bank’s end goal, and new technology is a tool introduced at CBTC to serve clients. Training sessions on new technologies are hosted by the executive team to prepare employees for changes; however, building trustworthy relationships and focusing on serving clients is a team effort. The mission and culture at CBTC focus on satisfying clients, and a significant factor in satisfying clients is for staff to understand technology and how changes benefit the clients. Having informed staff can lead to having informed, satisfied clients (Davis, personal communication, April 1, 2023). One Great Story of Technological Success in the Past Five Years The technological capabilities of CBTC have improved drastically over the past five years. However, the combined change that exemplifies the bank’s technological success is the bank’s recent technologically driven security improvements. Through exemplary succession planning, the current Chief Information Technology Officer, Scott Freschi, joined the CBTC team and initiated the immediate improvement of the bank’s technology beginning with security. Through CITO Freschi’s initiative, the major implementations of the last five years include the improvement of the bank’s endpoint detection and response security and the reconstruction of the bank’s employee email phishing test program.

The importance of security in the banking industry and the peace of mind that CrowdStrike provides cannot be underestimated.

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