We are proud of our reputation of being the most thorough and highly detail-oriented consulting firm in the business. This approach has enabled us to consistently assure the highest levels of predictability, Member transparency, and dedicated advocacy across our country’s diverse field of financial institutions.
A partnership with Samaha & Associates offers the essential components and experience your financial institution needs to optimize services and return on investment (ROI). We offer a comprehensive set of methodologies, tools, and services that support progressive, battle-tested and proven solutions. This allows our team to consistently provide your Credit Union, and in turn your Members, with significant competitive enhancements.
Put our veteran experience to work for you.
Core System Searches And Implementations
Staying up to date with your financial institution’s core system is more vital than ever. The optimal time to begin searching for a new vendor is when you are half-way through the term of its contract for the current system. In the search phase, we ensure that:
- Request for Proposals (RFPs) to vendors will result in competitive, predictable and clearly-stated pricing
- Vendor responses to functionality questions will be compared
- All gaps of functionality and third-party interfaces will be addressed prior to contract and conversion
- Contracts will be comprehensive and favorably negotiated
- Long-term maintenance responsibilities will be clearly delineated
Third Party Vendor Searches And Implementations
Samaha & Associates’ consultants pride themselves on staying ahead of the technological curve. This allows us to assist your financial institution in establishing progressive, beneficial relationships with third-party partners. Toward this goal, we will:
- Identify top-tier suppliers to be invited to propose
- Guide your staff through the extensive Request for Proposal (RFP) process
- Require that interface, core module, and downstream third-party gaps will be coded and tested
- Negotiate highly-favorable terms and conditions to significantly reduce costs
- Establish strong service level agreements with penalties for non-performance
- Ensure the best fit between your financial institution and vendor(s)
- Guarantee new vendor services will deliver optimum enhancements
Vendor Contract Negotiations
Strong vendor management is vital to the success and fluid functioning of any financial institution. This begins with well-negotiated or re-negotiated contracts that put the ball in your court and not that of the vendor. With our expertise backing every decision and contract, your financial institution will:
- Work with high-level, tier-one vendors
- Address functionality gaps prior to contract and conversion
- Identify favorable terms and conditions to appropriately protect your institution
- Negotiate comprehensive and favorable contracts
- Conduct detailed negotiation of contract updates
- Course-correct vendors back to the interests of your financial institution at every stage
Process Improvement & Implementations
As a best practice, your financial institution should undertake periodic reviews of operating processes and procedures. This ensures continuous process improvement and compliance with ever-changing regulatory requirements. A Samaha & Associates Assessment identifies areas that can be improved by better workflow or automation. Your Samaha & Associates' consultant will:
- Interview all department staff in the discovery of key processes
- Review departmental processes, including workflows and procedures
- Document internal processing times by major process category
- Review the use of technology systems including core and technology infrastructure
- Review internal customer service and Member service response times
- Identify any bottlenecks in the current departmental processes
- Recommend methods to improve internal communication
- Suggest any new technology currently not utilized
- Prioritize a list of process improvements with recommended operational workflows
- Identify best practices and monitoring metrics that the financial institution should maintain and continue to enhance
Mergers And Acquisitions Projects
When financial institutions merge, there are countless overlapping system redundancies that can be costly and overwhelming for the acquiring institution.
For instance, your institution might have redundant core systems or core service bureaus, redundant ATM or credit card processors, redundant online banking or bill payment processors, business continuity providers, or even security system vendors.
Our collaborative approach to merger and acquisition projects will help you identify, eliminate, save, and improve service by:
- Inventorying existing systems and vendors
- Evaluating current contract termination dates and deconversion issues
- Selecting the most appropriate vendors to best serve the continuing institution
- Negotiating with remaining and outgoing vendors
- Creating merger implementation project plans for predictable and positive outcomes
- Identifying and implementing process improvements for retained systems
- Ensuring member transparency and notifications
- Seeking growth opportunities
Revenue Optimization
Samaha & Associates' consultants will optimize your financial institution’s revenue and reduce your costs by identifying new products and services. Going forward, you can bring more value and a better user experience to your valued Membership. As always, we’ll leverage our in-house expertise to ensure that the appropriate services and cost reduction measures are in place. Working with our team, we will assist you in:
- Understanding of current vendor contract details, including termination clauses
- Understanding your institution’s strategy, leading to current products and services
- Working with each vendor to identify proven ways to enhance member services and revenue
- Re-evaluating vendor costs to periodically ensure products and services are properly priced based on current market conditions
- Creating tangible project plans to yield predictable outcomes
- Resolving all outstanding issues
Comprehensive Technology Planning
Samaha & Associates will assist your financial institution in "Defining a Comprehensive IT Strategy and Roadmap" that ensures you are leveraging the appropriate technology, including telecommunications technologies with minimal risk, to provide a competitive edge and meet compliance requirements. Information Technology is an essential part of any organization, and with rapidly changing technologies, funding challenges, and conflicting priorities, it's imperative to have an effective plan. Our consultants will guide you through the following:
- Discovery Phase: information gathered and feedback from internal stakeholders garnered
- Analysis Phase: data analyzation, peer analysis, leverage best practices to determine current deficiencies
- Document Phase: provide a goal-based written plan to help organize and guide IT’s financial, technical, human resources, and future decision making processes.
- Review and Revise Phase: ensure improved alignment between business and IT, and among internal stakeholders, including delineation
Business Resumption Planning
A crisis or disaster can come from anywhere and at anytime. To this end, localized, widespread, or cataclysmic events and human behavior or technological breakdowns can cripple your entire operation. In the case of a disaster or crisis, you want to minimize the impact to Members and employees. To assist you in developing the requirements to your critical path to recovery, Samaha & Associates will:
- Create a list of different triggers that would set your plan in action
- Perform a Risk Analysis of potential threats and prioritize the risks based on the potential business impacts in terms of human resources, operations, technology, security, financials, and communications
- Implement Internal and Remote Business Resumption Planning, Command Center setup, and Crisis Communications protocol
- Create Reciprocal Agreements with partner institutions
- Testing and Plan Certification
- Restore critical systems and Member-facing operations immediately
