FirstBank, which recently announced its intent to go public, is the third largest Tennessee-headquartered bank with 46 branches across Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, as well as mortgage locations across the Southeast.

Jack Henry & Associates' unified suite of solutions enabled FirstBank to go from working with 14 mission-critical vendors to only four strategic partners. Such consolidation not only boosts efficiency ratios, but also decreases a bank's regulatory risk profile.

The bank outsourced SilverLake and moved its IT infrastructure to Jack Henry & Associates' secure cloud computing environment, Gladiator Hosted Network Solutions. Outsourcing its infrastructure management and maintenance enables FirstBank to devote IT experts to building the brand with customers and enhancing its employee experience.

Gladiator Hosted Network Solutions also increases network dependability and protects the integrity of FirstBank's data, providing the bank the support it needs for information security challenges and regulatory considerations.

FirstBank director of operations and technology Wade Peery said: “Nashville is currently one of the strongest banking markets in the US.

“Even with a solid community to recruit from, a multi-billion dollar bank could not assemble an IT team that measures up to what Jack Henry & Associates provides through its outsourcing. Its level of talent and physical back-up systems would be virtually impossible for us to recreate."

SilverLake has helped FirstBank gain additional efficiencies in the following ways:

  • By defining its transaction posting preferences electronically with SilverLake Real Time processing, FirstBank can now provide customers with a unified view of their accounts across channels. Previously, the customer would receive disparate results as processing occurred through the evening.
  • Moving to a teller capture platform saved the institution $300,000 per year in vendor-related processing expenses while also improving accuracy.
  • Implementing an enhanced account opening process has reduced the time required to open an account from 45 minutes and a day of delay to a 10-minute process. 

Peery continued, "Jack Henry & Associates works just as hard for our business as we do for our customers, and I do not say that lightly. They offer the power and flexibility to address all the complexities of a bank our size."

Jack Henry Banking sales general manager Stan Viner said: "FirstBank's goal in partnering with Jack Henry & Associates is to lead its peer group in customer experience, employee environment and financial performance.

“The SilverLake System is a customer-centric platform that is highly customizable and responsive to such goals. As a result, the bank is already experiencing significant gains in each of these areas. We are dedicated to continuing to push industry standards and deliver solutions that drive our clients' business forward."