We interviewed BMO’s US head of digital on how the bank has adapted operations to pandemic-driven needs

• We interviewed Brianna Elsass, head of US digital at BMO Financial Group, during our second Bank Insider panel. 
• Elsass spoke to us about the pandemic’s impact on the bank’s operations, digital priorities, and partnerships.
• Click here to view the full presentation and panel discussion.

On October 13 and 15, Insider Intelligence hosted its inaugural Bank Insider presentations and panels. The second, “Adjusting to a New Reality,” covered how banks are adapting their digital and channel strategies as the pandemic reshapes customers’ needs and behaviors.

Insider Intelligence

Among the panelists was Brianna Elsass, head of US digital at BMO Financial Group, who afterward spoke with Insider Intelligence about the pandemic’s impact on the bank’s operations, digital priorities, and partnerships.

The following has been edited for brevity and clarity. 

Insider Intelligence (II): It’s been a while since the beginning of pandemic-driven lockdown. Could you talk about the impacts you’ve seen at BMO as we’ve settled into our new normal? 

Brianna Elsass (BE): We have a fairly in-person culture historically and were trying to get everybody co-located as much as possible pre-pandemic. Now, everybody is permanently at home, and we’re looking at providing associates and leadership with ways to connect with their teams and customers in a virtual environment. So we’re finding new ways of leveraging technology for expanding how we interact with each other. For example, branch associates who may have been predominantly face-to-face with customers have been able to pitch in and help us when it comes to overflow for our call centers. People are becoming a bit more multiskilled and really looking at addressing customer needs first, in the channel that they’re able to connect with them.

II: Following these adaptations, what’s the longer-term strategy for customer contact?

BE: I don’t know that we’ve landed on a long-term strategy. I think we’re still waiting to see where the next iteration of the pandemic comes. It’s made us more versatile, and there will definitely be components coming out of this that we continue to use and add into our repertoire. But I don’t know if we’ve completely rewritten the book on our personal interactions with customers. The high-touch connection is still something we value quite significantly.

II: What can you share about your digital priorities?

BE: We found a lot of time this year to integrate additional functionalities. We worked with our credit card team to make sure that we were expanding features and servicing capabilities online. Driving digital acquisition was a big one for us—making sure that the customer was able to get the deposit product they needed, or that we could meet their Paycheck Protection Program needs. We worked to ensure that people felt safe, and that we were still able to satisfy their banking needs. We did see an uptick in digital adoption, with customers finding our website and creating a digital credential. We also expanded remote deposit limits and made sure that customers knew on the site where our demos were, so that they could understand our website or mobile app on their own, without having to have somebody walk them through it.

II: How do you view third-party apps and partnerships relative to in-house development, given plans for the digital experience?

BE: We look at third parties and partnerships pretty favorably, at least within the US. We can focus on our core functionality, what we do really well, and allow fintechs [that are experts in their own areas] across the industry to help us stay at parity. A really great example is Zelle. It’s better for us to bring in and leverage that functionality than to try and create something on our own. We will look at fintechs to deepen the futures we’re able to provide our customers, help accelerate our ability to drive functionality to our customers, and provide a more holistic experience.

II: BMO is one of the banks working with Google to introduce checking accounts managed through Google Pay. How does this benefit the BMO brand and fit into its digital strategy?

BE: It’s still pretty early on for us. But it’s a great opportunity to deepen our relationship with a fantastic software and technology company. I think the brand we’ll have is very deep—you have people who are either Apple or Google people, right? Looking at that partnership, we expect a lot of really digitally engaged customers. We’re excited about Google’s technology. I’m looking forward to some of the challenges that this group of consumers may put on us with their expectations. And this is an opportunity for us to deepen our relationship with a young or tech-savvy type of customer.

Interested in hearing from the rest of our panelists? Click here to view the full presentation and panel discussion.