Business View Magazine | April/May 2022

144 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 that people don’t want the physical locations. I pay a lot of attention to various studies, and they show that even though people don’t come into the branch, they still want a bank. They want to deal with a bank that has a physical presence within three to five miles of where they either live or work.” Although Alden State Bank already had an online banking app, it was updated during the early days of COVID, and there was a notable increase in customer adoption of this and other technologies across all demographics. Woodard also notes an increase in phone traffic, with customers calling in with questions about COVID protocols, bank hours, and technology use. Supporting small businesses in the form of PPP loans and loan deferrals was a focus of Alden State during the pandemic. The bank partnered with Pursuit, an innovative lending solutions company formerly known as the New York *Kasasa Analytics, 2021 Kasasa can help your financial institution bring in: * 68% higher loan balances 45% more non-interest income 63% more annual debit card activity Alden State Bank has served northwestern New York for more than a century — Kasasa is proud to support that legacy. Our partnership is bringing the best products and services to their community. Visit kasasa.com/community to learn more. country that has a license and agreement with Starbucks. It’s theirs to run, it’s their operation. We were excited to partner with them because they work with a lot of at-risk communities. They started in the city of Niagara Falls, to teach and train some of the youth there on working with the public and those soft and hard skills that come with working in a cafe.” Although lobby traffic at each of Alden State Bank’s three locations has slowed down during the pandemic, Woodard reports that the bank has remained busy, with the majority of transactions taking place at drive thru and ATM options. He explains, “This is not an indication