8CIOReview | | JUNE 2022IN MY OPINIONAs bank CIOs and IT departments manage the technology underpinnings of operations,they face the challenge of balancing transformation, data analytics, regulatory compliance, and business agility.Sometimes the biggest transformative experiences involve how we deal with the uncertainty and spontaneity of unexpected events.Responding to the healthcare and economic crises of COVID-19, our elected officials passed the Federal Government's CARES Act and, along with it, the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). As a new and evolving effort, PPP was clearly a transformative experience for smaller community banks, especially those not traditionally active in the small business lending space.Prior to the PPP, OceanFirst historically did not participate aggressively in the SBA space. Yet, our senior leadership quickly recognized, the positive impact the program could have for our commercial customers, especially in terms of job preservation in the communities we served. The direction came quickly to embrace this solution to assist our customers.Our recent acquisition of a bank with a small SBA capability allowed us to springboard into the segment rapidly. However, implementation would test how well our internal digital transformation efforts could deliver. Some of the lessons learned from our experience are outlined here.Go Digital Natively & be AgileWe often hear those words in the technology realm, but rarely take them to heart. Fortunately, we had recently completed an IT organization change that empowered us to deliver more nimble and rapid innovation. We thus embarked on an Agile Scrum change to our development space prior to the PPP effort. Buy, Build, and Integrate your Assets; There is No Single Correct By Karthik K. Sridharan, Executive Vice President & CIO, OceanFirst BankTAKEAWAYS FROM THE PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM
< Page 7 | Page 9 >