Our Journey to Better Banking Continued

Unlock the full potential of your business with Centric's groundbreaking online banking upgrade, "Journey to Better." Join me and our insightful guest, Casey Messer, Centric's training manager, as we explore how this innovative platform is designed to streamline financial management for business owners. Experience the freedom of customized user access, enhanced security, and seamless integration with tools like QuickBooks and positive pay. Discover how the app's new "conversations" feature ensures quick, efficient communication with Centric staff, making transaction inquiries a breeze. As we prepare for the platform's exciting launch in March, you'll gain valuable insights into how these changes can transform your business operations.

As we conclude our dynamic two-part series, Casey and I share our enthusiasm for the Journey to Better living and business management. We express heartfelt gratitude for your support and encourage you to stay connected by subscribing to the Live Better podcast on your favorite platforms. Keep up with us on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and YouTube, for the latest updates and content that enriches both your personal and professional life. Don't forget to visit our monthly blog at MyCentric.org for more in-depth exploration of these topics. Together, let's embrace a future of improved living and thriving business practices with Centric!

Episode Transcript

Kelli Green (00:00):
Welcome back to the Live Better podcast, and I'm
your host and Centric SeniorVice President of Marketing,
Kelli Green.
Today we're diving intosomething exciting that's going
to make managing your financeseasier than ever Centric's new
online banking upgrade, journeyto Better.
Join us as we dive into thissecond part of our two-part
series and in this episode we'llexplore what this upgrade

(00:22):
really means for you as abusiness owner.
We'll discuss how this newplatform can streamline
operations, make transactionssmoother and provide insights to
help you grow.
And today we'll be joined withlead expert and Centric training
manager, Casey Messer.
Welcome to the Live Betterpodcast, Casey.
Thank you, we're glad to haveyou back again for another month

(00:44):
.
So, as we've talked about thistoo, we've discussed Journey to
Better, and it is a two-partseries to introduce our members
to all things upgrades whatthey're going to see through
their mobile app changes, theirmobile app upgrades, what's new
to them, what maybe they neverhad before and we talked a
little bit about that last monthwhat that looks like for our

(01:05):
members.
But today we really want tofocus this month's attention to
what does that look like for abusiness member?
So just maybe take us backthrough for those that didn't
necessarily hear you know whoyou are and what you do for us
here at the credit union.
So tell us a little bit aboutwho you are, what you do for us
and throw in some personalinformation for us.

Casey Messer (01:25):
So I'm the training manager here at Centric
, train and develop new staffand our existing staff.
So I'm obviously a part of thisbig project that we're doing
here at Centric, just as we getstaff ready and as we work out
everything to deliver this toour members.
Just a little bit about me I'mmarried.
I have two kids.
We're local here in West Monroe, born and raised and been here,
so the community is reallyimportant to me in this area.

(01:47):
I'm excited to be here atCenter again to be a part of
this.

Kelli Green (01:50):
Oh yeah, this is wonderful.
You've been here for many yearsand had the opportunity really
to see our credit union evolveand work in so many different
departments but with reallylarge initiatives and big goals,
and you've been a part of thosethings and I think you would
agree that this program thatwe're doing right now will
probably have lasting effects onour members.

(02:11):
Yeah, well, and to that point.

Casey Messer (02:13):
I think there's been members who have been here
for a really long time andthey've seen the evolution of it
too, and they're going to be soexcited to see what's coming.

Kelli Green (02:20):
I agree it's a lot, and change is kind of awkward.
You know we don't always enjoychange, so to speak.
You know some of us like itmore so than others, but I think
it's the biggest piece for usas a credit union is to
communicate it well to ourmembers, and we want them to
understand that you're hearingabout this well in advance.
So the upgrades we're talkingabout today are really going to

(02:43):
be live in March.
We're hoping to have all thingslive in March 3rd and then
we'll be open for business andcan answer any questions on
March 4th for our members.
So this will be exciting.
All right, so let's take itthrough.
As a business owner, let's kindof think about you know, how
could this new online bankingplatform really make managing my

(03:04):
business easier easier for me?

Casey Messer (03:06):
So there are a lot of tools that are going to be
added, and so, as a businessowner, there's a lot of things
like, maybe, positive pay oreven QuickBooks that you need
access to and really you want toutilize to make managing your
finances for your businesseasier, quicker, more efficient.
There's also things like usermanagement, so maybe you have a
team of people working for youand they do different functions

(03:28):
within your organization.
You're going to, as a businessowner, have the ability to set
all that up and to manage thatso that that workflow can happen
seamlessly.
Oh, I love it.
I think that is great.

Kelli Green (03:40):
So, as a business owner, you know we may have
someone that you know handlesour bookkeeping even to you know
how do they manage thisinformation?
A CPA, it could be whomever.
I think what's most importanttoo is that we think about is
you can genuinely assign exactly.
If you only have someone that'smaybe writing a check and

(04:01):
they're limited to, say, $500,you can limit that.
If it is, say, you're limitedto pay utility expense or
whatever that might be, you asthe business owner, can set
those access points.
That's right and that securityto me.
I think you know that someonewould really want to consider
from a financial institutionthat's helping manage your
finances.

(04:21):
It is.
So tell us about you know whattools would help your team
handle transactions andapprovals really, you know, more
efficiently handle transactionsand approvals, really, you know
, more efficiently.

Casey Messer (04:32):
So I think, just kind of going back to the user
management side of that, I thinkthat really to me brings out
the word efficient.
You know before this tool, whatwere you doing and what did
that process look like.
And so now having the abilityto, from your phone or from your
desktop, go in to your primaryfinancial institution and have
everything under one roof reallyis what you call it Right and
manage.
That, I think, is going to makeit more efficient.

Kelli Green (04:53):
So if, say, me as a business owner, I have some
questions about maybe adifferent check that came
through, or asking has thischeck come through?
Or a particular transactionthat maybe I'm not aware of, how
might I jumpstart aconversation and just really be
communicated with in thequickest way possible?

Casey Messer (05:11):
Yeah, so inside of the new app we will have what's
called conversations.
You can message us and we willbe able to help you with a
specific transaction.
So maybe you're speaking withthe secretary of your
organization and you are tryingto understand what a particular
transaction or something thatcame through is.
Not only can you speak frombusiness to business staff

(05:32):
member, but you can also add ina centric staff member.
So if you have a question, youcan't identify something or you
just need to ask additionalquestions about it, you can
actually click from thetransaction to talk more about
what you see.
If you have questions, you canattach an image or a seat and
start that conversation there.
Oh, that's wonderful.

Kelli Green (05:51):
There's long gone are the days of just exchanging
emails and have a delay ofcommunication there.
You can still always pick upthe phone and call someone who
helps manage.
You know from the businessdepartment.
You can speak with them, ofcourse, but this is something
that really dials in.
Specifically, you're logged inthrough Two-factor authenticator

(06:11):
.
You have the ability for wehave the ability really and
truly to identify who you areand you can choose that
transaction and immediately havea conversation about that
specifically.
You don't have to say go withme and my account to look at
this particular month.
You pull the transaction andall the data that we need is
right there.
It's not research that ourmembers have to go through and

(06:35):
do.
It's just a click of a button,and that, to me, is so seamless,
I love it.
So you know, we know thatthere's probably some payroll
systems, or even accounting too.
For that regard, take usthrough.
What does that look like from abusiness member?

Casey Messer (06:51):
Yeah, so being able to manage the payroll from
within the app or online bankingis huge to me, I think.
So, going back to theaccounting side, too, we're
talking about user management.
You can allow your CPA accessand give them the access they
need to view and even haveconversations with them inside
of the mobile app or the onlinebanking platform to say, hey,
this is what's going on, ormaybe they have questions for

(07:13):
you on a transaction.
So being able to see all ofthat, I think really helps.
That's amazing.
That's it.
Yeah, you think about for taxprep.

Kelli Green (07:23):
You think about if they're meeting with their CPA
for maybe, a purchase of a newbusiness or purchase of a new
large item or what have you.
This can be taken care ofLiterally.
They can take a look at thedocuments as necessary, review
the cash flow if they need to,just by you saying, hey, we will
create a login that would workfor them and they only have

(07:44):
certain limitations.
Yeah, that's huge, that'sawesome.
I love it.
I think that's so great.
So, thinking about this too,you know it's all under one
umbrella.

Casey Messer (08:11):
You log in and you have all these tools at your
fingertips and you can accesseverything.
So, like we're talking aboutyou know, from the accounting
side, talking about maybemanaging your QuickBooks or your
ACHs that you have All of thatis together under one roof, so
when you click, you can navigatethere and you don't have to
worry about logging into thesedifferent areas.

Kelli Green (08:31):
That's awesome One single login.
You have access to what youneed and you can take care of it
there.
You think of the efficienciesand the time that that's going
to save our business owners, andthat's really what this is all
about.
I love it.
Well, casey, you know, is therereally anything else that maybe
we've missed that our businessowners would really benefit from

(08:52):
knowing?

Casey Messer (08:53):
I just think looking forward to what's coming
, and you know how can you usethese new tools.
They're coming in.
Connect with Kalinda, who workshere at the credit union.
She is ready to set you up onthe treasury side, the treasury
management side.
If that's not something thatyou've already engaged with us,
go ahead and get thatconversation going and see what
options are out there and how wecan set you up.

Kelli Green (09:15):
But go ahead and become a user.
You can go ahead and if you'reeven listening and maybe you're
not a member but you'reconsidering maybe even opening
up a business account, let's goahead and get that started.
That's one thing.
That's out of the way.
As we mentioned earlier, we'regoing live March 3rd of this
year and it's important that wewant to make sure that we cover
anything and everything that wecan ahead of time so that when

(09:37):
we go live, you have our newmobile app, you'll register as a
new user and you're ready to go.
That's right.
I love it.
Well, Casey, thank you so muchfor being here with us today and
also last month, as we'retalking about our journey to
better.
But this wraps up our two-partseries, so thank you for
listening to our podcast andtune back in next month for

(09:58):
another episode of the LiveBetter podcast by Centric.
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(10:19):
on our monthly blog and more atMyCentricorg.
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