Business View Magazine | December 2020

180 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2020 World Class ECM Solutions for Financial Institutions www.mviusa.com the market leader for indirect auto loans in their area and have been for the past 20 years. “We’re extremely efficient at what we do,” says Kempf. “We’re really good at putting together that lending product and getting it out there. We can turn around a decision in under six minutes.” With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the closure of so many workplaces, 4Front has used the opportunity to firm up its plans for providing online banking solutions. “Our technology, especially our member-facing technology, has always been forward-thinking and if not first to market, then a fast follower,” says Zach Eychaner, Senior Vice President of Strategic Innovation. “When the pandemic hit and businesses started shutting down, we had a fleet of interactive teller machines (ITMs), a state-of-the-art mobile app, and a virtual banking platform already in place to support our members. Since then, we’ve rolled out online scheduling to keep things easy and focused, leveraging the technology to make things simpler. We’ve seen spikes in mobile deposits that have stayed strong even after our branches re-opened.” Despite some of the pandemic’s challenges, Eychaner insists 4Front has lost no ground with members. “We let members handle their finances the way they want to,” he says. “We’ve seen higher adoption rates and we didn’t have to figure out how to start delivering these things on a digital channel. We’d been building that for years. But we’ve really reaped the benefits of it over the last few months.” Putting their people first has been part of 4Front’s DNA from the beginning, and they have a list of accolades to show for it. They’ve been recognized as a Red Hot Best awardee in the category of Bank or Financial Institution every single year they’ve existed and, in 2020, both their Traverse City and Cadillac locations earned the title of ‘Top Financial Institution’ in their respective communities. They’ve even