Bank of Montreal webinar: Bank innovation and digital transformation with a paperless experience

In our recent webinar hosted by American Banker, industry experts came together to discuss how banks can unlock the full potential of eSignatures and eForms and achieve significant ROI by scaling up across hundreds of use cases. Here are the highlights.

Setting the stage: A new era of customer experience in banking

Janet King, Head of Research and Content at American Banker, opened the session by discussing the strong push among banks to simplify customer interactions. According to a recent survey by American Banker, 65% of banking leaders are prioritizing process automation to enhance customer experience this year, with similar numbers emphasizing the need for a low-friction experience. The reasons behind these priorities are clear: 71% of leaders aim to boost customer satisfaction, 63% want to streamline operations, and 57% are focused on improving data security.

However, Janet noted that many banks still struggle to make the most of available technology. 54% of leaders find it challenging to streamline onboarding and product origination, and 55% feel only somewhat effective at improving overall customer experience. To bridge these gaps, more than half of banks plan to establish innovation teams or centers of excellence within the next two years, with large institutions taking the lead.

Janet’s introduction set the stage for a presentation from Kumar Sidhartha, Head of Sales and Service Modernization at the Bank of Montreal (BMO). He spoke about how the bank has tackled these challenges by scaling eSignatures and eForms throughout the organization, achieving impressive results in both efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Spotlight on transformation: BMO's success in scaling eSignature and eForms

Kumar Sidhartha highlighted how the bank has embraced eSignatures and eForms to drive digital transformation, moving more than 30 million paper documents into a centralized digital library since 2015. With over 20 million signatures collected electronically, this initiative has saved significant time across branches, enhanced customer experience, and simplified compliance.

Kumar emphasized the importance of a standardized, end-to-end digital journey across BMO’s channels, from in-branch to online, supported by a dedicated center of excellence. He walked through BMO’s key transformation milestones, including the shift to digital in-branch experiences, the creation of a center of excellence, and the evolution of capabilities from just eForms to digitized letters, statements, and reports. Together, these efforts have created a seamless experience across channels, making banking simpler for customers.

Fireside chat: Insights on change management and adoption

In a fireside chat moderated by Janet King, the two speakers, Kumar Sidhartha and Sameer Hajarnis, who leads the Digital Agreements business at OneSpan, discussed managing large-scale change and driving adoption across an organization.

Kumar explained that a critical factor in adoption was eliminating the paper process altogether, supported by a robust change management strategy that provides an intuitive, valuable solution for users. Additionally, the capability to prefill documents and streamline workflows has made digital tools indispensable for employees.

The speakers also discussed the importance of talent in achieving a successful digital transformation. Kumar shared BMO’s approach of combining technical and business skills within the center of excellence.

Looking ahead: What’s next for digital banking?

Kumar concluded by sharing BMO’s goal of becoming a fully paperless bank, with continued focus on enhancing customer and employee experiences. He stressed the importance of integrating digital technology smoothly while working closely with partners like OneSpan to keep advancing BMO’s capabilities.

In closing: Driving customer-centric bank innovation

This webinar underscored the need for financial services organizations to embrace a customer-centric digital transformation journey to stay competitive and meet evolving customer expectations. By adopting automated, secure, and scalable solutions like eSignatures, banks like BMO are setting the standard for seamless, paperless experiences that enhance customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.