In what is a recurring feature, Finopotamus spotlights innovative women who are positively impacting technology applications in the credit union industry, and beyond. For this issue, we visited with FIntegrate Technology’s Customer Success Manager Linda Lockhart. The Birmingham, Ala.-based company provides solutions designed to automate and simplify collections, recoveries, and transaction disputes for financial institutions.
By W.B. King
While attending Drexel University, Linda Lockhart worked part-time in a local community financial institution (FI). Upon graduation, and inspired by the work, she accepted a full-time job as assistant manager in operations, which led to a 40-plus year career in the space.
“I always enjoyed the challenge in operations that you never knew when you came in that morning what the day would bring. The only constant was change,” she told Finopotamus. “It enabled a lot of opportunities for problem solving and collaboration with fellow employees.”
Over the years she has gained expertise in the areas of implementing wide-area networks (WANs) s and in-house core processing platforms, as well as being a team member on various system conversions, among other projects. Regarding technology and regulations, she noted that there have been considerable changes throughout her career.
“When I first started, we processed thousands of paper checks, and they were transported to the FRB (Federal Reserve Board) by couriers for the exchange of cash letters. Hundreds of pages of green bar reports were our reference points for all information. Computer workstations, telephone banking, IVR (interactive voice response), check imaging, document imaging, and online banking all brought us a long way in efficiency and customer service,” she continued. “The technology has worked toward achieving information security while enabling customers to be more self-sufficient and for the staff to be more self-sufficient which makes for more efficient and less costly operations.”
Valuable Lessons Learned
Prior to joining FIntegrate Technology, first as a banking systems specialist, then to her current role as its customer success manager, Lockhart worked at several organizations. She served, for example, as SVP of customer support for Firstrust Banks and executive director of strategic initiatives at BM Technologies. Today, she sees far more women working in the fintech and FI space than when her professional journey began.
“Women can no longer be discounted for a position or advancement because they might get married or have a family and possibly leave the company or not be as dedicated as their male counterparts. And now there is so much online educational opportunity for tech folks to constantly add to their skill set and credentials,” she told Finopotamus. “There was a time when educational opportunities meant time away from work in a classroom setting off premise somewhere. They weren’t encouraged because it meant time away from your desk.”
Years ago, Lockhart learned a valuable lesson, which she continues to pay forward. Her manager at the time didn’t share information, procedures and knowledge. This was due, Lockhart inferred, to job insecurity or the fear of being replaced. When that same manager became ill and was out of work for an extended period, Lockhart had to step in. It was at this point she truly understood how much she wasn’t told about management duties and responsibilities, including having access to board reports and the like.
“As a result of that experience, my management style was always one of inclusion and of believing in those who worked for me and encouraging them to grow and move up to higher levels of responsibility when they had the desire and the talent,” she shared, noting that FIntegrate Technology supports 17 employees, 10 of whom are tech-facing, and has 74 FI clients—half of which are credit unions. “It was as rewarding for me as it was for the employee when I could promote them or expand the scope of their responsibilities.”
Integration and Openness
Among technology advancements that excite Lockhart are software platforms that make FI-related processes and procedures simpler, without sacrificing efficiency.
“The FIntegrate software, CRS for credit recovery, has so much up to date customer information right at your fingertips. And no more paper files to keep at your desk because the documents and emails are all stored right on the platform. The system can text and auto dial for you. The same with the dispute management system for processing debit card claims,” she said. “It’s an incredible tool that walks any customer facing employee through the process to get the claim filed while the customer is in front of you or on the phone with you.”
She also noted technological trends on her radar, such as open banking and artificial intelligence (AI). “As application programming interfaces (APIs) and integrations become more open to all, it allows for many different data sets to be pulled in and analyzed from lots of different third-party services,” Lockhart continued. “With the added benefit of AI and NLM’ing (natural language modeling) we should be able to quickly ask the new system specific questions related to business and data analytics and get detailed answers and reporting.”
Partnerships Create Solutions
Credit unions, she added, are generally more progressive, usually picking up on noted technological trends faster than their banking counterparts.
“It seems like credit unions upgrade their technology stack and hardware more often than traditional banks. They are also more willing to work with smaller fintech firms to enable new solutions and find interesting alternatives to traditional or manual processes,” she said, noting the importance of credit unions partnering with progressive, like-minded fintechs.
“Typical fintech companies are subject matter experts in their products only and may not completely understand the relation those products have to the bank operations or opportunities their output could present to other solutions inside the credit union,” she told Finopotamus. “If the credit union is working closely with the fintech, together they can use technology to solve problems or create solutions they may not have thought of outside of their own product experience.”