How Bank Forward Streamlines its Meetings and Loan Approval Process with Convene

Starting as a small bank in 1927, Bank Forward has served satisfied clients across North Dakota and Minnesota for over 90 years. With over 230 employees and roughly 900 million dollars in assets, they continue to provide the utmost service across different financial entities, namely banks, tax, insurance, and investment. They truly “Take Care of their Customers.”

Liz Jessen, Assistant Vice President of Risk Management for Bank Forward, shares the value of Convene in their meetings and beyond—the loan approval process.

The Search for the Perfect Meeting Software

When seeking software to help manage their board meetings, Liz shared that they were considering a platform that was reliable and would streamline their administrative meeting processes. “When I started at the company, we had electronic meeting software but the company servicing us no longer supported the software. We experienced regular software glitches, requiring us to triple-check that the information we stored was complete and correct,” she recalls.

Since Bank Forward’s directors were located across the United States, they needed a meeting platform that could connect directors remotely while having access to the most up-to-date board documents. “We scoured the competition and chose Convene for its smart features for meeting preparation and document management. It is perfect for us,” says Liz.

Simpler Meeting Preparation, Better Collaboration

Before using Convene, Liz recalled how difficult it was to organize meetings. “We would have to mail out meeting packets individually. If there was a switch among the recipients, it was a no-go.”

Now with Convene, the process of preparing for board meetings has been much easier. Bank Forward saved so much time and effort in preparation, and one of the capabilities Liz praised is Convene Agenda Builder’s drag-and-drop feature, as “it significantly reduces overall preparation time.”

Liz is also delighted with how Convene made the circulation of information faster than ever. “If there are last-minute changes in the packets, we can just re-upload the latest version. Board members [will have the latest information and] are good to go,” she quoted. Having all information updated and available for Directors to access created a more engaging board environment.

In addition to efficiency, Bank Forward has also seen improvement with their Document Library. “Board members have easy access to the planning files and can view them at any time. If there is something Directors refer to a lot, we put it in the document repository. They can reference whenever needed,” Liz shared.

A Versatile Platform for Efficient Loan Approval Process

Bank Forward initially used Convene for board meetings and document management, but they have also leveraged the software to help with their core business workflows. “The Loan Committee has witnessed the biggest change by using Convene. We started with board meetings and then slowly developed ideas or ways we can utilize Convene more,” Liz recalls enthusiastically.

Previously, the Loan Committee did their loan approval process manually. “Committees present the loan requests and are then sent to the chair for approval. The chair had to print, sign, and scan the approved presentation, and then email it back to the committees for funding.”

By introducing Convene to the Loan Committee, the approval process has greatly improved. Convene is all they need. “The Loan Committee can simply upload the presentations to Convene, create a review room, and everyone receives notification automatically once the loans have been signed off,” Liz said.

Liz also shared that one of Convene’s best features for loan committees is the Digital Signature, as it allows committee chairs to easily sign off requests securely. She further revealed how convenient it is to export individual PDF presentations and be added to the next committee meeting’s agenda. Trouble-free export has been beneficial for easy handing to examiners and auditors.

Convene has been a game-changer for Bank Forward in streamlining its board and committee processes. With Convene’s smarter features and intuitive interface, Bank Forward has achieved more efficient and secure board meetings and a simplified workflow for loan approvals — ultimately serving their customers better. Liz proudly says, “We don’t know what we would do without Convene anymore.”