Across six standout sessions, attendees heard directly from industry leaders on how to refine onboarding, drive deposit growth, optimize treasury management, and win the commercial relationships that matter most. Whether you’re a community financial institution just starting your business banking solutions journey or a growing bank or credit union ready to scale, this track delivered practical strategies, real-world examples, and forward-thinking insights to power your next move.
In this session, Amy Driscoll from Kennebec Savings Bank and Kyle Guest from Mountain America Credit Union (MACU) shared how their institutions approach business client onboarding—from initial contact to post-implementation training. Amy detailed a high-touch, relationship-driven model that supports Maine’s rural communities through hands-on guidance, customized digital packages, and direct training via Microsoft Teams. Her institution emphasizes personalized service, tight operational coordination, and maintaining a strong community presence despite geographic challenges. Meanwhile, Kyle showcased a scalable, tech-forward model that supports rapid business growth across five states. By integrating Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, leveraging digital tools like DocuSign and Coconut, and embracing self-service options like Alkami’s Sub User Management 2.0, MACU has been able to streamline onboarding while maintaining a strong member experience.
Despite their differences in scale, both institutions align on the importance of delivering an excellent onboarding experience. The key differences come down to how they achieve that goal—Kennebec Savings Bank focuses on personal, white glove service with manual oversight, while MACU relies on automation and structured workflows to meet high volumes efficiently. Both emphasized the value of leveraging data, streamlining communication, and aligning onboarding with long-term client success. The session underscored the importance of meeting businesses where they are, using technology to reduce friction, and tailoring onboarding to institutional size and strategy.
The Bottom Line: Whether you’re a community or a large financial institution, a successful business onboarding strategy balances personalization with process efficiency—investing in the right tools and workflows to scale your unique service model.
Panelists from Mascoma Bank, Community Choice Credit Union, and consulting firm Cornerstone Advisors shared firsthand insights into launching business banking solutions on the Alkami online banking platform. A consistent theme across the session was the value of a phased implementation approach—especially for business clients, whose operations rely heavily on consistent access to tools like wire transfers, ACH, and entitlements. Samantha Pause of Mascoma Bank emphasized that segmenting users allowed for white glove service, risk reduction, and iterative learning, ultimately improving the customer experience with each rollout wave. Cameron Fitzgerald of Community Choice echoed the importance of that approach and added that vetting third-party vendors early is critical, as not all claimed integrations meet functional expectations.
Alkami’s Katie Doll outlined the evolving support model that now includes vendor management services, assisted file conversion, and guided testing, helping institutions offload technical burden and reduce risk during implementation. The panel also discussed project management as a crucial factor in success—emphasizing the need to dedicate proper internal resources, align stakeholders early, and not be afraid to delay launch if the institution isn’t fully ready. Across the board, the panel praised Alkami’s partnership and responsiveness, noting that launch day was smoother than expected thanks to thorough testing and collaborative planning.
If You Remember One Thing… A successful business banking implementation hinges on planning ahead—using a phased rollout, involving the right internal stakeholders early, and leveraging vendor and data support services. Most importantly, treat it like a strategic project, not a side task, to ensure long-term success for both your institution and your business clients.
Chassidy Butler from Arriba Advisors joined banking leaders Christina Trayers from Valley Strong Credit Union and Matt Singleton from STAR Financial Bank as they unpacked three strategic pillars that help community financial institutions compete with megabanks: foundation, white glove service, and expansion. The conversation opened with data highlighting how megabanks dominate small business market share, yet many businesses feel underserved—creating opportunity for regional and community institutions.
The panel emphasized that building a competitive foundation starts with offering tailored products (like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integrations or merchant services), establishing a strong digital footprint, and maintaining personalized, flexible service. Christina and Matt shared how their institutions balance innovation and industry standards by focusing on vertical-specific solutions, technology adoption, and deep community ties. Both also spoke about white glove service as a key differentiator, supported by tools like CRM systems, payment platforms, and Salesforce. Finally, they discussed expanding their footprint by leveraging existing account holder loyalty, community engagement, and consistent brand messaging in both legacy and new markets.
What You Need to Know: Financial institutions gain their winning edge by combining targeted product offerings, personalized service, and strategic market expansion—all supported by the right technology and internal alignment. It’s not about competing on scale, but about being relevant, responsive, and deeply embedded in the communities they serve.
Peter Andon from Alkami, Teri Wagner from First Fidelity Bank, and Bob Koehler from Strategic Resource Management, Inc. (SRM) delivered a deep-dive into how financial institutions can strengthen business deposit growth by combining data-driven strategy with tactical treasury tools. They began by reinforcing why deposits matter more than ever in today’s economic environment: they are not only the cheapest source of funding, but also critical to loan growth, profitability, and financial stability. Teri shared how changing interest rate environments and recent banking collapses have renewed focus on deposit strategies across the industry, especially as consumers and businesses now expect more yield and service for their funds.
The session explored a focused set of tools: zero balance accounts (ZBAs), investment sweeps, account analysis, and earnings credit rates (ECRs). The panel outlined how each of these options supports both deposit retention and attraction, depending on business size, complexity, and investment goals. These strategies were tied to a broader liquidity framework, helping bankers understand which products align with which clients—and which provide the most value to both the institution and business account. Education, internal collaboration, and thoughtful execution were highlighted as essential next steps for turning these concepts into outcomes, with a strong emphasis on aligning deposit-focused efforts with treasury management for long-term relationship growth.
TL;DR Moment: Banks and credit unions can unlock meaningful deposit growth by pairing personalized, relationship-driven service with strategic treasury tools like ZBAs, sweeps, and ECRs—but success starts with internal education and cross-functional collaboration.
A panel of experts including Jeff Luczak from Landmark Credit Union, Todd Lindsey from Heartland Bank, and Tracy Berriman from Strategic Resource Management, Inc. (SRM) shared how financial institutions can elevate their treasury management offerings to drive business growth, commercial deposit acquisition, and client loyalty. Moderated by Jerry Adona from Alkami, the session began by addressing the increasing importance of treasury management as “table stakes” in today’s competitive banking landscape—especially as small and mid-size businesses seek personalized, tech-forward solutions that large banks often fail to deliver.
The panelists emphasized that successful treasury management isn’t just about products—it’s about educating staff, defining a focused strategy, and building internal alignment across departments. Jeff and Todd highlighted the importance of frontline education, ongoing support, and internal incentive programs that empower staff to identify and refer commercial opportunities. Tracy added a broader perspective, noting that financial institutions often struggle with building out treasury management infrastructure due to unclear definitions, technology gaps, or trying to be “everything to everyone.” The session also featured real-world success stories—where Landmark Credit Union and Heartland Bank beat out megabanks by asking better questions and offering more tailored solutions, not lower prices.
What Matters Most: To win business banking relationships, financial institutions must align their people, processes, and product strategy—investing in training, referral networks, and intentional growth planning rather than relying solely on competitive pricing or technology. Treasury management success is built on understanding the client’s needs, not just responding to them.
This roundtable brought together financial institution leaders to exchange strategies on how to meet the evolving needs of business banking users. The discussion focused on four key discussion areas: business householding vs. login grouping, business package configuration, ACH and wire limits, and risk mitigation through permissions and controls.
Participants shared how they’re using Alkami’s business banking platform features—like Login Grouping and Business Householding—to support multi-entity business relationships and streamline user management. The group also explored how to design scalable business banking packages, set appropriate transaction limits, and empower business clients with flexible options while maintaining strong security protocols.
🔑 Business clients expect more—more flexibility, more control, more transparency. Financial institutions that can deliver secure, intuitive digital experiences will be positioned not only to compete, but to lead.
