Forward Bank is aiming to improve client interactions and to spend more time and effort in the advisory space with the launch of new automated capabilities. 

The $897 million bank seeks to increase customer engagement through its automated “geofencing,” process, which uses mobile location services granted through the bank’s app, radio frequency identification (RFID), Wi-Fi or cellular data to pinpoint a customer’s location, allowing the bank to send an automated notification to a client’s phone based on where they are and what they might need from the bank, a company release said.

For example, the technology could recognize that a client is at a car dealership and Forward Bank could recommend auto loan services, Jennifer Sobotta, the bank’s vice president and marketing director, told Bank Automation News.  

The same goes for home loans, credit lines and investment advising, according to a release from the Marshfield, Wisc.-based bank. 

Forward recently partnered with customer engagement fintech Larky and is looking to provide better insights to clients via automated messaging, Larky Chief Executive Gregg Hammerman told BAN. 

“Most banks rely on communication channels designed to reactively respond to customer queries creating missed opportunities for the bank to champion the customer relationship-building experience,” he said. “FI’s like Forward Bank are better positioned to foster stronger customer relationships, keeping them top of mind with their account holders and maximizing opportunities to help the customer meet their unique banking needs and goals.”

The need to automate to better cater to Forward Bank’s customer base is one of the chief priorities of the financial institution in the next several years, Sobotta said.

“[Automation] is getting to be increasingly important,” she said. “Being able to automate the pieces in client interaction that makes the client lives easier, so that we can spend more time advising is part of it. We’re sort of at the midpoint in the process. But automation, from an efficiency standpoint and a customer service standpoint, has to be there.” 

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