Helping a bank adapt its process and approach for a more digital future can be tough.
It requires a shared vision, common terminology, buy-in and daily work that pushes all parts of an institution forward. And, importantly, it requires accountability. It needs to be someone’s job to make sure this gets done.
At ConnectOne Bank, the bank unit of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey-based ConnectOne Bancorp, that job falls to Siya Vansia, chief brand and innovation officer. Vansia’s focus on promoting and furthering ConnectOne’s vision as an institution made it a natural fit for her to add innovation to her title.
In this episode of Reinventing Banking, Vansia shares that ConnectOne, which had $9.8 billion at the end of 2024, is focused on how it can reimagine systems and processes, truly digitizing paper-based and manual workflows. Vansia can’t go at it alone — part of her role is building partnerships and stakeholders across the bank. This allows the bank to centralize knowledge sharing and brainstorming about workflows, client needs and how broader trends in the economy and technology space could impact the bank.
“I believe that if you look at innovation as just being a person or a role that sources technology, you will fail,” she says. “True innovation requires rethinking, reimagining processes.”
ConnectOne thinks about using technology the same way it thinks about “electricity and running water.” But even with that utility approach, she sees the banking industry’s orientation toward technology shifting to emphasize continuous improvement and evolution within the institution. She says she increasingly thinks bank executives understand that they need to improve their institutions to take advantage of technology opportunities.
In that vein, Vansia shares tips for other financial institutions pursuing data strategy initiatives. For example, ConnectOne is thinking about how it can keep breaking down information silos to communicate and use data more effectively, and she’s excited about what’s possible.
“Many of us have invested in our data, our infrastructure, our tools. So to me, that ground is fertile for new growth and development,” she says. “Yes, there’s a lot coming, but I think our industry has never been more well-positioned to take on these technological challenges than it is today.”
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