First Commerce Bank of Georgia
Looking to get on the World Wide Web quickly yet cost-effectively, this community financial institution based its state-of-the-art Internet branch on nHome, the Microsoft® BackOffice™-based Internet banking solution from nFront, Inc., a Microsoft Solution Provider. Now First Commerce is providing round-the-clock service and attractive special rates to an expanded customer base, even as it slashes overhead expenses.
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Solution Overview
Company Profile
First Commerce Bank of Georgia serves nearly 10,000 customers from five locations. In business since 1904, the Commerce, GA-based institution currently has $120 million in assets.
Situation
Eager to compete more effectively, First Commerce sought to open an Internet branch that would offer the same services as a "brick and mortar" branch yet also serve as a powerful sales tool. Developing such a site itself would be expensive and time-consuming, so First Commerce needed to find a vendor able to deliver a secure, full-featured Internet banking solution cost-effectively.
Business Solution
First Commerce based its Internet branch -called nBank - on nHome, the comprehensive Internet banking solution from nFront, Inc., a Microsoft Solution Provider. A fully interactive system powered by Microsoft BackOffice technologies, nHome enables users to do everything from transfer funds to apply for a mortgage. The system provides sophisticated marketing tools as well, and comes with all of the services banks need to get on the Internet fast, from web site design to hosting and maintenance.
Benefits
Through nBank, First Commerce is delivering service and product information around the clock to a larger customer base and saving thousands on overhead. Those savings, in turn, have enabled First Commerce to boost sales by offering nBank clients lower lending rates and higher interest rates. The bottom line is that nFront got First Commerce on the Internet quickly and affordably, empowering it to compete effectively in an exploding market.
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Internet banking is the biggest technological revolution to hit the banking industry since the ATM, enabling financial institutions to provide better service to more customers, while cutting operating costs in the process.
Yet getting a bank on the Internet is easier said than done, especially if you're working with a limited budget. So when First Commerce Bank of Georgia wanted to open a state-of-the-art Internet branch, it turned to the experts at nFront, Inc., a Microsoft Solution Provider, for a cutting-edge, cost-effective Internet banking solution.
Not a Glorified ATM
Charles Blair, President and CEO of First Commerce Bank, knew by the fall of 1996 that the future of banking was on the World Wide Web. In this he was hardly alone, but what set Blair apart was his determination to make that vision a reality not some day but now. The challenge was to take full advantage of all the Internet had to offer cost-effectively.
"We saw the capabilities of the Internet and wanted a fully interactive site, not a glorified ATM," says Blair. Yet creating a secure, full-service Internet banking site from scratch would be not only expensive but time-consuming, and Blair knew the market was getting more competitive with every passing day.
The more practical route was to work closely with a vendor who already knew the ins and outs of Internet banking and had a complete, "out-of-the-box" solution ready to go.
Internet Banking Visionaries
First Commerce evaluated solutions from several vendors and found most of them disappointing. "They were a little pricey for a small bank," says Blair, "and we didn't want something that looked like everyone else."
What First Commerce wanted was a distinctive, full-featured Internet banking solution that would be up and running fast and made bottom-line sense. Ultimately, Blair decided there was only one company that could provide that: nFront, Inc.
An early proponent of Internet banking, nFront registered the domain name www.banking.com back in 1993. Today www.banking.com provides both banking industry information and access to a variety of fully interactive Internet banks.
Rare Combination of Skills
nFront's Internet banking solution, named nHome, comes with everything a bank needs to open and operate a state-of-the-art Internet branch, from web site design to hosting and maintenance. nHome gets banks on the Internet fast, and enables them to offer web-based services without hiring new staff.
Moreover, nHome is a web-based solution, so it's easy to use, doesn't require specialized client software, and allows banks to embrace the latest technologies or add exciting new features without distributing updates to thousands of customers.
Finally, nHome is a carefully secured system that doesn't attach a bank's sensitive core applications to the Internet. Equipped with its own databases, nHome communicates with other banking systems only over traditional dial-up phone lines.
Blair found nFront's expertise in banking technology impressive: "There are companies that understand core banking issues, but don't know the Internet. And there are companies that understand the Internet, but don't know banking. nFront knows both, and that's a rare combination of skills."
That nHome runs under Microsoft BackOffice technologies made it even more appealing to First Commerce, which was already happily running a BackOffice-based check imaging system. Says Blair, "I think Windows NT® is eventually going to be the Internet standard, if it isn't already." Developed with the Microsoft Visual Basic® programming system, nHome gets its speed, security, and reliability from the Microsoft Windows NT operating system, Microsoft SQL Server™, and Microsoft Internet Information Server.
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