Opening the Conversation — Quick Introductions

• To start, which role are you representing in this conversation? Options: Head of Digital Banking, Chief Experience Officer / CEXO, Chief Information Officer / CIO, Head of Retail/Deposit Operations, Chief Risk/Compliance Officer, Procurement/Legal, Other
• Who else do you expect will need to be involved as we decide whether to run a pilot? Options: CIO/IT, Compliance/Risk, Retail Operations, Treasury/Commercial Banking, Branch Operations, Marketing/CRM, Procurement/Legal, Executive Sponsor, Other
• What's the single most important outcome you want this conversation to drive for your bank?
• How urgent is this priority for your institution right now? Options: Immediate — must act this quarter, Next quarter, Within 6 months, Within 12 months, No firm timeline yet
• Have you recently run a digital account opening pilot or evaluated account opening vendors in the past 18 months? Options: Yes — pilot completed, Yes — pilot in progress, Evaluated vendors (no pilot), No recent evaluation

Who Really Holds the Keys?

• If a go/no-go decision on a new digital platform were needed tomorrow, who would have the final authority and why?
• List the formal decision-makers (name + title) and their primary decision criteria (pick up to two). Options: Cost / TCO, Speed-to-market, Regulatory/compliance risk, User experience / NPS, IT effort & maintainability, Vendor stability/references, Roadmap fit
• Who are the informal influencers (people or committees) that can accelerate or block a decision, and how do they typically surface concerns?
• How does procurement or vendor risk management typically structure vendor approval (e.g., evidence required, contract playbooks, reference checks)? Options: Standard RFP & contract, Vendor risk questionnaire + SOC reports, Executive approval required, Ad-hoc reviews per vendor, Other
• Which stakeholders must be convinced before you would greenlight a pilot (select all that apply)? Options: CEO/President, CFO, CIO, Head of Digital, Chief Compliance/Risk Officer, Head of Retail Operations, Board/ALCO

What's Causing The Most Heartburn Right Now?

• When you look at recent deposit reports, what outcome from competitors is most worrying to you? Options: Net outflows to digital banks, Loss of new-to-bank deposits, Attrition of younger customers, Decline in checking balances, Other
• How frequently has your quarterly reporting shown net outflows to digital-only banks in the last year? Options: Every quarter, Two consecutive quarters, Occasional quarters, Never
• Tell us about a real customer story (anonymized) where a digital experience cost you a relationship—what happened and what was the impact?
• How does losing these relationships affect team morale or executive sentiment? Choose words that fit. Options: Frustrated, Alarmed, Motivated to act, Resigned / incremental improvements only, Uncertain
• Which existing internal reports or KPIs (e.g., deposit flow, attrition rate, product penetration) are the ones that leadership tracks most closely right now? Options: Deposit inflow/outflow, New account conversion, Time-to-fund, Abandonment rate, Mobile NPS, Loan origination volume, Other

What Would 'Not Failing' Actually Look Like?

• If this engagement didn’t turn into a long-term IT burden or a partial, unfinished project, what would you see after 90 days that proves progress?
• Which single KPI would make you confident the platform is delivering (pick one primary)? Options: Time-to-fund (days/hours), Abandonment rate, Mobile NPS / CSAT, Number of funded accounts, Net deposit inflow
• What target threshold would represent success for that KPI (please provide a number or percentage)?
• Who will be accountable for tracking and reporting this KPI week over week during the pilot? Options: Head of Digital, CIO/IT Ops, Product Owner, Retail Ops Lead, Analytics/BI Team, Other
• What outcome would be a deal-breaker—i.e., cause you to stop the pilot or terminate discussions?

A Pilot That Actually Moves the Needle

• What would a pilot have to deliver so executives can’t ignore the results—dramatic metric improvement, customer stories, or something else? Options: Clear KPI improvement, Representative customer feedback, Smooth integration into core, Minimal IT maintenance required, All of the above, Other
• Which customer segment should the pilot focus on to be most persuasive (pick all that apply)? Options: New-to-bank retail consumers, Existing retail customers converting online, Small business / commercial customers, High-value deposit prospects, Specific geographies
• Which baseline will we compare the pilot against? Options: Current web account opening, Current mobile app flow, Branch-assisted paper onboarding, Third-party account opening vendor
• What pilot size and duration make sense to you (e.g., number of accounts, weeks/months)? Options: 50–200 accounts / 30 days, 200–1,000 accounts / 60–90 days, 1,000+ accounts / 90 days+, Volume-based rather than account-count
• Which acceptance criteria should be non-negotiable for pilot success (pick up to three)? Options: Time-to-fund target met, Abandonment reduced by X%, Mobile NPS improvement, API stability & uptime, Regulatory/compliance sign-off, No critical security issues

Integration Reality Check — Who Will Keep the Bridge Alive?

• If integration problems surfaced after go-live, who on your side would be responsible for long-term maintenance and why is that comfortable or uncomfortable for you?
• Which core banking platform is your bank using today (select one)? Options: FIS (Horizon/CoreDirector), Jack Henry (SilverLake, Core Director), FISERV (DNA, Signature), Temenos, Q2, Other / Proprietary core, Unsure
• How would you describe your core’s integration capabilities today? Options: Modern APIs available, Batch files and legacy APIs, Requires middleware/custom adapters, Screen-scrape/unsupported
• Who would be the internal IT owner for vendor connectors and post-launch support? Options: Integration/Architecture Lead, API Platform Team, Core Ops Team, Managed Services/3rd party, No clear owner yet
• What level of vendor responsibility is acceptable for connectors and fixes (select all that apply)? Options: Vendor maintains connectors in production, Shared support model (vendor + internal), Internal owns connectors after handoff, Vendor provides runbook and training only

Compliance & Security — The Red Lines

• What compliance or regulatory requirements would make this initiative non-starter if unmet? Options: BSA/AML controls, KYC/ID verification standards, Data residency/privacy, Vendor risk program requirements, Auditability / logging requirements, Other
• Which security attestations or reports must a vendor provide before a pilot (select all that apply)? Options: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, Penetration test results, SaaS security questionnaire, Nothing formal — point-in-time review
• Do you require the vendor to run in your environment (VPC/hosted) or is vendor-hosted acceptable? Options: Vendor-hosted SaaS acceptable, Vendor-hosted but with strict network controls, Vendor deployed in our environment required, Depends on data processed
• How long does your compliance/security review usually take for a new vendor? Options: 2–4 weeks, 4–8 weeks, 2–3 months, Longer than 3 months
• Who is the final sign-off authority in security/compliance for vendor acceptance? Options: Chief Risk Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, CIO/Head of IT Security, Vendor Risk Committee, Other

Risk Appetite & Escalation — Who Decides When Things Go Sideways?

• If the pilot shows mixed technical results but clear UX gains, who gets to decide whether it continues to scale? Options: Executive Sponsor / CEO, CIO, Head of Digital, Steering Committee, Board-level
• What operational thresholds would trigger an immediate escalation (examples: X% API failure, Y customer complaints, Z compliance issues)?
• Would you accept a phased rollout where non-critical features are toggled off while core onboarding runs live? Options: Yes — staged feature flags preferred, Maybe — depends on risk, No — need full feature set for realistic test
• Which executives or committees must receive weekly pilot dashboards? Options: CEO/President, CFO, CIO, Head of Digital, Compliance, Board/ALCO
• Who should be on-call for an urgent issue during the pilot (names/titles)?

IT & Operations Handoff — From Pilot to Production

• What would make your IT team feel confident that the vendor won’t leave behind fragile, custom middleware once the pilot ends?
• Which ownership model do you prefer for connectors post-launch? Options: Vendor-maintained connectors with SLA, Internal ownership after vendor handoff, Managed services (third-party) takes over, Hybrid model
• What production SLAs do you require (select all that apply)? Options: API uptime %, Mean time to recovery (MTTR), Response time thresholds, Incident response window, Security breach notification timeline
• Describe your change control and release management expectations for any production integrations.
• Who on your team will be the day-to-day integration lead once the pilot moves toward production?

Reference Checks & Confidence Builders

• Which bank profiles are most persuasive when we share references (asset size, geography, same core, similar product mix)? Options: Same asset band (5–50B), Same core banking vendor, Regional banks in similar geography, Banks with recent go-live within 2 years, Banks with similar compliance/regulatory profile
• What specific questions should we ask references on your behalf (e.g., integration handoff, time-to-realize-deposits, product roadmap reliability)?
• Would you prefer supplier references to be live customers we can call or anonymized case studies and dashboards? Options: Live customer calls, On-site reference visits, Anonymized case studies + metrics, Dashboard snapshots only
• How many reference checks feel sufficient to build confidence? Options: 1–2, 3–5, 6+
• Are there any vendor behaviors that would immediately disqualify them during reference conversations? Options: Unwillingness to share details, Lack of post-launch support examples, High customization burden, Poor security posture, Other

Decision Timeline & Next Steps — From Pilot to Mutual Commit

• If a pilot meets your acceptance criteria on schedule, what internal steps remain before you can sign commercial terms? Options: Procurement negotiation, Budget approval, Legal review, Executive sign-off, Board notification/approval
• What is your typical procurement timeline from pilot success to signed contract? Options: < 4 weeks, 4–8 weeks, 2–3 months, 3+ months
• Are budget and funding already allocated for a project of this size, or is funding contingent on pilot results? Options: Budget already allocated, Contingent on pilot, Partially allocated, Unsure
• What would you need from us to present this pilot internally (materials, ROI model, risk assessment)? Options: Detailed ROI model, Pilot scope & acceptance criteria, Security/compliance artifacts, Integration runbook, Executive one-pager
• What date would feel like a realistic target to kick off the pilot (provide a month or specific date)?

Tell Us How New Accounts Actually Start (Warm up)

• In a few sentences, describe the primary customer journey today for opening a personal or business account (channel, steps, and who touches it).
• Which channels do customers most often use to begin an account (select all that apply)? Options: Mobile app, Mobile web (browser), Desktop web, Branch/assisted, Call center, Partner/affiliate, Other
• Roughly how many account-opening starts do you see per month across retail and business segments? Options: < 100, 100–499, 500–1,999, 2,000–9,999, 10,000+
• Do you currently offer funding-as-part-of-opening (instant funding, ACH push, card funding) or does funding happen separately? Options: Instant funding at open, Same-day funding (ACH/card), Funding after verification (micro-deposits), No digital funding — branch only, Varies by product
• Walk me through the typical elapsed time (minutes/hours/days) from a customer starting an application to seeing a funded balance for the first time.

If You Had to Apologize to a Lost Customer, What Would You Say?

• Where in the account-opening funnel do you see the bulk of abandonment today? Options: Identity verification, SSN or DOB mismatch, Document upload/verification, KBA or manual review, Funding step, Terms/consent page, Performance/timeouts, Other
• What is your current end-to-end abandonment rate (or the best estimate you have) overall and by channel? Options: <10%, 10–19%, 20–29%, 30–49%, 50%+
• Which customer segments abandon disproportionately (e.g., age groups, small businesses, referral vs organic)? Options: Retail: under 35, Retail: 35–54, Retail: 55+, Small business, Commercial, Referral channel, Digital-only customers, Other
• Tell a recent story or example of a signup that failed in a way that surprised your team — what happened and what did you learn?
• How do you currently capture why a user left (post-exit survey, analytics event, session replay, none)? Options: Exit survey, Analytics funnel events, Session replay/heatmaps, Customer support logs, No structured capture

Which Integration Pattern Is Slowing Down Product Velocity?

• Which core banking system(s) and versions power deposit accounts for the products in scope? Options: FIS (e.g., Horizon, Profile), Fiserv (e.g., DNA), Jack Henry (SilverLake, CIF, Symitar), Corelation, nCino, In-house / legacy mainframe, Other
• What integration methods are currently available between your systems and digital channels? Options: Real-time REST APIs, SOAP/XML services, Host-to-host batch, File drops (SFTP/flat files), Database-level writes, Screen-scrape or UI integrations, Proprietary middleware/ESB
• For account creation and funding, do you support true real-time posting, near-real-time, or batch-only processes? Options: Real-time posting, Near-real-time (minutes), End-of-day/batch only, Mixed by product
• Which identity verification / fraud / KYC vendors are in your stack today (if any)? Options: Socure, LexisNexis, Experian, IDnow, Onfido, In-house solution, None, Other
• Describe any custom middleware, adapters, or one-off integrations your IT team maintains that are directly tied to account opening.

Are Your Best Prospects Quietly Hitting a Wall?

• Which device or channel has the worst conversion performance and why do you think that is? Options: Mobile app, Mobile web, Desktop web, Branch/assisted, Third-party partner
• What proportion of starts originate on mobile vs desktop? Options: >80% mobile, 60–80% mobile, 40–59% mobile, 20–39% mobile, <20% mobile
• How long do customers typically wait (seconds) for critical API responses (identity check, SSN validation, core write) — provide ranges if possible. Options: <1s, 1–3s, 3–7s, 7–15s, >15s / often times out
• Which validation rules or UX flows cause the most customer frustration (e.g., strict name matching, inflexible document upload, repeated retries)?
• Do you record session replays or use user recordings to diagnose drop-offs, and if so, what patterns have you seen? Options: Session replay in use — we have patterns, Session replay in use — limited insights, No session replay, Planning to implement

What Compliance or Security Requirement Would Stop the Project Cold?

• Which regulatory or compliance controls are non-negotiable for any onboarding solution we bring to you? Options: CIP (Customer Identification Program), BSA/AML monitoring, OFAC screening, State licensing/registration, Data residency/state-specific storage, Audit trail and logging, Other
• Who signs off on vendor security posture (title/role) and what documentation do they expect up front? Options: CISO/Vp Security, Head of Compliance, Risk Management, Procurement, Line of Business owner, Other
• What certifications or reports would you need before a pilot (SOC2 Type II, ISO27001, penetration test, vendor risk assessment)? Options: SOC2 Type II, ISO27001, Recent penetration test, Application security review, Third-party vendor questionnaire, None required for pilot, Other
• Are there specific data handling constraints for PII or BI data (e.g., encryption at rest, encrypted transport, masking, retention limits)? Options: Encryption at rest, Encryption in transit, PII masking/redaction, Limited retention windows, State-specific rules, No special constraints, Other
• Describe any previous regulatory reviews or compliance delays you’ve experienced with digital onboarding (what held up sign-off and how long).

How Much Hidden IT Work Are You Carrying?

• Who will be the primary technical owner for integration and ongoing operations on your side? Options: Head of Digital, CIO/CTO, Integration/Platform Lead, Operations Manager, Shared between teams, Other
• Estimate the IT effort currently required to support account opening integrations (FTEs or hours/week). Options: 5–20 hours/week, <5 hours/week, 20–80 hours/week, 1–2 FTEs, 3+ FTEs
• What access types will IT provision for a pilot (select all that apply)? Options: API keys / sandbox APIs, Core test instance access, SFTP file drop, DB read-only, VPN or private network, No test access available
• Which maintenance or change-control windows constrain when we can deploy updates or run integration tests? Options: Business hours only, Nightly maintenance window, Weekend releases only, Monthly scheduled windows, Ad hoc with approval, Other
• Are there ongoing support costs or long-term maintenance concerns your team expects from middleware or adapters we should know about?

If We Fixed One Thing in 90 Days, What Would It Be?

• What single customer metric change would convince you the solution is working (choose up to two)? Options: Reduce abandonment %, Time-to-fund (minutes/hours), Increase funded accounts, Improve mobile NPS, Reduce manual reviews, Shorten time to revenue
• What numeric targets would you set for those metrics for a pilot to be considered successful?
• Which stakeholders must see clear improvement for the project to keep priority (select all that apply)? Options: CEO/President, Head of Digital, CIO/CTO, Head of Branch Ops, Head of Compliance, CRO/Commercial, Board/Steering Committee
• What risks or organizational behaviors would make you withhold a success declaration even if metrics improved?
• How would you like us to demonstrate improvements—live demo with real data, dashboard comparison, or formal pilot report? Options: Live demo with sample data, Side-by-side dashboard comparison, Formal written pilot report, Customer testimonials / reference visits, Other

What Does a Minimal, Convincing Pilot Look Like to You?

• Which of these minimal pilot scopes would best de-risk your concerns fastest? Options: End-to-end funded account opening for retail (limited users), Sandbox integration + core-write validation only, End-to-end business account opening (selected segments), Authentication + identity flow validation, A/B test against baseline process
• What legal, compliance, or procurement steps must be completed before a pilot kicks off?
• What specific test data, environment access, or sample transactions do you need from us to validate integration? Options: API keys / sandbox endpoints, Core test instance credentials, Synthetic PII test dataset, Test funding rails (ACH/card), Other
• Who are the mandatory participants for pilot kickoff and weekly reviews (names/titles or roles)?
• What cadence and format for pilot progress would make your stakeholders comfortable (e.g., weekly 30min, dashboard plus biweekly steering)? Options: Daily stand-up (15m), Weekly review (30–60m), Biweekly steering (60m), Asynchronous dashboard updates, Monthly executive summary

Opening the Door: Your Immediate Concern

• What prompted you to start exploring a new digital account opening and engagement platform right now? Options: Recent quarterly deposit outflows, Competitive pressure from digital-only banks, Board or executive directive, Customer complaints or low mobile NPS, Regulatory or security concerns, Other
• How urgent is this problem for your leadership team—are you on a timeline to show results this quarter, this year, or longer? Options: Immediate (this quarter), Short (next 3–6 months), Medium (6–12 months), Longer (>12 months), Unsure
• Who in your organization will be the primary sponsor and the primary day-to-day owner for a pilot? Options: Head of Digital Banking, Chief Experience Officer, CIO, Head of Retail Banking, Operations Director, Other
• What is your institution’s asset size (this helps us compare relevant benchmarks)? Options: <$1B, $1B–$5B, $5B–$10B, $10B–$25B, $25B–$50B, >$50B
• Briefly describe one recent customer story or complaint that made leadership say 'we need to fix this'.

Are You Losing Customers Faster Than You Think?

• How many deposit relationships do you estimate were lost to external digital competitors in the last 90 days? Options: None or unknown, 1–50, 51–200, 201–1,000, 1,000+
• Where do you source that estimate from—analytics, call center feedback, account closures, or executive intuition? Options: Core analytics / reports, Digital analytics (Google/Firebase), Branch/retention team feedback, Support tickets / calls, Executive/board estimates, Other
• When you see net outflows, what’s the emotional reaction from the Head of Digital and the Board—is it panic, steady concern, or dismissed as noise? Options: Panic / urgent, Serious concern and action, Monitor but not urgent, Dismissed / low priority, Mixed reactions
• Tell us about a recent competitor experience (app or site) that customers are comparing you to—what feature or moment do they praise?
• How confident are you that your current analytics capture abandonment and time-to-fund accurately? Options: Very confident, Somewhat confident, Not confident, We don’t track these well

When Integration Becomes a Full-Time Job

• If adopting a new digital layer meant your IT team had to build and maintain custom middleware indefinitely, how would that change your willingness to proceed? Options: We’d halt the project, We’d proceed with reservations, We’d demand vendor-managed model, It wouldn't change our decision
• Which core banking platform(s) are you using today? Options: FIS/Corelation/Core+ (select), FISERV (Signature/Core), Jack Henry, Temenos, Other legacy core, Multiple cores
• Describe your current API posture for the core: modern REST APIs, some SOAP/legacy endpoints, or screen-scrape/batch only? Options: Modern REST APIs, SOAP / dated services, Batch files / scheduled extracts, Screen-scrape / custom adapters, Unsure / need to check
• Have you run a full core integration project before? What took longer than expected and why?
• What level of ongoing ownership do you expect your IT team to hold after go‑live—full maintenance, co-managed with vendor, or vendor-managed? Options: Full internal ownership, Co-managed, Vendor-managed, Undecided
• Which middleware or integration strategies have you tried or considered (select all that apply)? Options: Custom in-house middleware, Enterprise service bus (ESB), Pre-built core connectors, API gateway + adapters, Point-to-point integrations, No integration yet

What Would 'Good' Actually Look Like for Deposits and Experience?

• If you could cut abandonment by 50% overnight, what would that mean for quarterly deposit inflows and executive support? Options: Meaningful uplift and executive buy-in, Material but not decisive, Marginal impact, Unsure / depends on conversion to funded accounts
• What are your target success metrics for a pilot—pick the ones that matter and, where possible, give numeric targets. Options: Time-to-fund (target days), Abandonment rate (target %), Mobile NPS / CSAT target, API success rate / latency targets, New deposit volume target
• Please state numeric targets for the top metric you chose (e.g., time-to-fund = 2 days; abandonment < 20%)
• Which success signals would make you confident to move from pilot to production (select up to 3)? Options: Statistically significant reduction in abandonment, Time-to-fund meets target, Stable API performance under load, Positive customer feedback / NPS lift, Operational readiness (SLA/ops), Regulatory/compliance sign-off
• How much weight does each stakeholder put on these outcomes—Digital, CIO, Retail Ops, Compliance, Board? Options: Digital (product/marketing), CIO / IT, Retail Operations, Compliance / Legal, Executive / Board

Where Your Customers Drop Off — Tell Us the Story

• Which specific step in your current account opening or loan application flow causes the most abandonment? Options: Identity verification (KYC), SSN / tax ID entry, Funding step (ACH verification), Mobile capture / document upload, Unexpected fees / disclosures, Other
• Can you share an example of a recent session or complaint that illustrates that abandonment moment?
• What channels see the worst drop-off—mobile web, native app, branch-assisted digital, or phone? Options: Mobile web, Native mobile app, Branch-assisted digital, Phone/Contact center, All similar
• Which third-party checks (fraud, credit bureau, eKYC, AML) are required mid-flow and how long do they typically add? Options: None, Credit bureau (instant), Enhanced KYC (minutes-hours), Third-party fraud checks (varies), Multiple batch checks
• Do you have session replay, funnel analytics, or logging that can show step-level abandonment? If yes, which tools? Options: Yes – full funnel analytics (mixpanel/Amplitude), Yes – basic logs only, Session replay tools (Hotjar/FullStory), No / limited visibility, Unsure

Compliance and Audit: The Bottlenecks You Can't Ignore

• What compliance or legal requirement has derailed launches in the past 12–18 months? Options: KYC/AML reviews, Regulatory change requests, Data residency/privacy, Third-party vendor risk, Audit or SOC2 gaps, Other
• Which internal sign-offs are mandatory before a pilot can accept real customer data? Options: Compliance, Legal, Risk, IT Security, Board/Executive, Other
• How long does your typical compliance review take for digital workflows—from initial submission to sign-off? Options: <2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, 1–3 months, >3 months, Varies widely
• Are you comfortable sharing redacted flow documents, policy exceptions, or controls we should design for during a pilot? Options: Yes – ready to share, Yes – with NDA, Not yet, need internal clearance, No
• What audit trails, encryption, or logging capabilities are mandatory for your security team? Options: Full audit trail with immutable logs, Encrypted data at rest + in transit, Role-based access controls, SOC2 / ISO controls required, Other

Pilot Reality Check — Can We Make This a Win You'd Defend?

• What single outcome from a pilot would make your executive team unanimously recommend moving to production?
• What minimum sample size or duration do you expect before deeming pilot results valid? Options: <100 users, 100–500 users, 500–2,000 users, 2,000+ users, Time-based (e.g., 30–90 days)
• Which product modules do you want to include in the pilot (select all that apply)? Options: Digital account opening, Consumer lending origination, Commercial cash management, Deposit funding flow, Customer engagement / notifications, Other
• What are your non-negotiable go/no‑go criteria at pilot close (e.g., abandonment < X, time-to-fund < Y, compliance sign-off)?
• Who will present pilot findings internally and who needs to be convinced? Options: Head of Digital, CIO, CEO/President, Board, Retail Ops, Compliance

Who's Saying Yes — And Who's Doing the Work?

• If the pilot is approved, who will be accountable for day-to-day integration work and post-launch maintenance? Options: Internal IT team, Dedicated vendor team, Shared responsibility, Third-party systems integrator, Undecided
• Do you have designated test environments, sandbox access, and a process for granting connector credentials to vendors? Options: Yes – ready, Yes – but needs setup, No – will require IT time, Unsure
• What level of data mapping and field-level transformation will be required between our platform and your core? Options: Simple 1:1 mappings, Complex transformations and enrichment, Batch-to-real-time mapping, Unsure / need discovery
• How many FTEs (or % of a team) can IT commit to the pilot sprint schedule? Options: <0.25 FTE, 0.25–1 FTE, 1–3 FTEs, 3+ FTEs, Depends on vendor-managed work
• Who should be on our weekly governance call from your side (roles, not names)? Options: Product/Digital lead, CIO/Integration lead, Compliance/legal, Operations/fulfillment, Customer support/retention

Will People Actually Use It — Adoption, Training, and Change

• If a new experience reduced friction but branch staff and contact center agents kept defaulting to old scripts, would you call the project a success? Options: Yes – as long as customers adopt, No – internal adoption is equally important, Depends on business impact metrics, Unsure
• What training, incentives, or process changes would help staff actively promote the new digital flow? Options: Formal training sessions, Playbooks / scripts, Incentive / KPI alignment, Shadowing / pilot champions, Minimal changes preferred
• How do you plan to surface and act on customer feedback during pilot (surveys, CSAT, NPS, session replay)? Options: Surveys/NPS, Support ticket tagging, Session replay / heatmaps, Qual interviews, No plan yet
• Who owns the customer experience vision—do you have a CX owner empowered to change processes? Options: Head of Digital / CX, Chief Experience Officer, Retail Ops, No single owner / cross-functional
• If adoption lags, what remediation levers are you willing to use (retraining, UI changes, incentives, removing legacy options)? Options: Retraining, UI/UX adjustments, Incentives for frontline, Deprecate legacy paths, Other

Quick intro — who are you and what you're trying to solve

• Please tell us your name, title, and the single outcome you’re most accountable for right now (one sentence)
• Which best describes your institution's asset size? Options: $5B–$10B, $10B–$25B, $25B–$50B, Other / Prefer not to say
• Which team will be the primary sponsor for a digital account opening pilot? Options: Digital Banking, Retail Deposit Ops, IT/Infrastructure, Compliance, Commercial/Business Banking, Other
• What is your ideal decision timeline for selecting a digital platform? Options: Immediate (30 days), Near term (60–90 days), Quarter (3–6 months), Longer (6+ months), Undecided
• If you had to name one number that matters most next quarter, what would it be (e.g., net deposit retention, time-to-fund, abandonment rate)?

Are we quietly losing customers to digital challengers?

• When you look at last quarter’s deposit movement, where did the largest outflows come from? Options: Direct-to-consumer digital banks, Fintech account origination, Large national banks, Attrition / closures, Other
• How confident are you that current reporting shows the true scale of digital-driven outflows? Options: Very confident, Somewhat confident, Not confident — holes in reporting, We don’t track this
• Tell a brief story of a customer (or cohort) you know you lost to a digital-first experience — what happened and why it mattered?
• Which signals do you currently use to identify customers at risk of leaving (select all that apply)? Options: Multiple logins without deposits, Abandoned applications, Mobile app uninstalls, Reduced transactions, No signal tracked, Other
• How worried would you say leadership is about permanent loss of deposit relationships to digital competitors? Options: Very worried — it’s urgent, Somewhat worried — watchlist, Aware but not urgent, Not a priority

What’s actually happening when customers try to open an account?

• Describe your current account opening flow in a sentence — web and mobile differences if any.
• Which back-end integration pattern describes how applications reach your core today? Options: Modern REST API / direct connector, SOAP / legacy web services, Batch file / nightly sync, Screen-scrape or RPA, Proprietary middleware / custom adapters, Not sure
• Where do applicants most commonly drop out of the process (pick top 3)? Options: Identity verification step, Funding/ACH step, Document upload, KYC/Compliance questions, Slow load / mobile issues, Core error / timeouts, Other
• Do you have current benchmarks for time-to-fund and abandonment? If yes, please list typical ranges. Options: Time-to-fund <24 hours, 24–72 hours, 3–7 days, >7 days, Abandonment <20%, 20–40%, >40%, We do not track
• What compliance or regulatory constraints shape your account workflows (briefly — e.g., manual review triggers, documentation retention, state restrictions)?

Who really holds the keys to a successful launch?

• Who must approve a pilot and final purchase (list roles and any required executive sponsors)?
• Which stakeholders tend to be the most skeptical about cloud/digital overlays on the core? Options: CIO/IT, Compliance/Legal, Retail Ops, Risk, Board/Finance, Other
• What are the top three objections the CIO or IT team raises when evaluating a platform like ours?
• How do your procurement and legal teams prefer to structure vendor contracts (pilot-first, PO-based, milestone payments, term length preferences)? Options: Pilot-first then production, Standard SAAS term (3–5 years), Milestone payments, PO + SOW, Other
• Who will be the day-to-day technical contact for integration and can they commit time for a 6–8 week pilot sprint? Options: Yes — dedicated resource, Yes — shared across projects, No — limited availability, Undecided

If you could change one metric overnight, which would move the needle?

• Rank the following metrics in order of importance for a pilot (1 = highest): time-to-fund, abandonment rate, mobile NPS, API stability, conversion to deposit Options: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• What is your target time-to-fund for a successful pilot? Options: <24 hours, 24–72 hours, 3–7 days, >7 days, No specific target
• What abandonment rate would you consider an unacceptable outcome for the pilot? Options: >50%, >30%, >20%, No threshold defined
• Beyond raw metrics, what qualitative signals would make you confident the experience is superior (examples: NPS lift, fewer support calls, faster branch follow-up)?
• Which KPI is a hard stop for go/no-go decisions after the pilot? Options: Time-to-fund, Abandonment rate, API error rate / stability, Compliance sign-offs, Executive reference checks, None — holistic decision

What’s the smallest scope that proves value without overcommitting IT?

• Which modules do you want to include in an initial pilot? Options: Digital account opening, Funding/ACH, ID verification/KYC, Basic deposit servicing, Lending originations, Cash management features, Other
• How deep does the integration need to be for the pilot to be meaningful? Options: Full real-time posting to core, Partial real-time + reconciliation, Read-only validation with manual posting, Synthetic/test posting only, Unsure — need guidance
• Which core banking system are you using today? Options: Fiserv, FIS, Jack Henry, Corelation, Symitar, Other / Custom
• What technical constraints on your core should we know about (rate limits, batch windows, supported APIs, maintenance windows)?
• Who will own integration work and ongoing support after go-live? Options: Our internal IT, Shared (vendor + IT), Vendor-managed, Third-party integrator, Undecided

If a pilot truly proves the case, what would leadership want to see next?

• What commercial terms or contracting structures would make a pilot-to-production path easy for you? Options: Pilot credit toward license, Short-term production option, Performance-based pricing, Standard multi-year SaaS, Other
• Which reference checks would satisfy your team (select all that apply)? Options: Similar asset-size banks, Same core implementation, Banks launched within 12 months, Banks in same geography, No references required
• What compliance milestones must be completed before pilot customer-facing traffic can be routed to the platform? Options: Policy review sign-off, Regulatory filing, Internal audit approval, SOC / Pen Test results, Other
• What commercial or operational risks would make you decline moving from pilot to production even if metrics improved modestly? Options: Vendor lock-in concerns, Insufficient SLAs, Security/compliance gaps, Unclear support model, Budget limits, Other
• What would you need to see in a reference conversation to feel comfortable (specific questions we can ask for you)?

Designing a pilot that actually proves the experience

• Describe in one sentence the pilot scenario you believe would convince your executives (include channels, sample size, and key success metric).
• How long should a meaningful pilot run to collect statistically and operationally relevant data? Options: 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 6–8 weeks, 3 months
• What minimum volume of applications or traffic would you expect to validate time-to-fund and abandonment changes? Options: <100, 100–500, 500–2,000, >2,000, Unsure
• Which sample selection method would you prefer for the pilot? Options: All new traffic, A/B split traffic, Targeted cohort (e.g., mobile users), Manual selection / branch referrals, Other
• How will you collect and validate pilot data — internal analytics, vendor dashboard, or third-party measurement? Options: Internal analytics, Vendor-provided dashboard, Third-party measurement, Combination

What would your customers need to feel delighted — not just less annoyed?

• When customers complain about account opening today, what are their most common words or phrases?
• Which experience improvements would most likely lift mobile NPS for your customers? Options: Faster funding, Simpler identity checks, Clearer progress UI, Fewer manual steps, Better mobile responsiveness, Other
• How important is brand consistency (look/feel) between your app/website and any platform we deliver? Options: Critical — must match exactly, Important — should feel native, Nice-to-have, Not important
• What customer communication is required during the pilot (email templates, disclosures, IVR updates)?
• How will you measure customer sentiment qualitatively during the pilot (interviews, NPS, CSAT, support ticket themes)? Options: NPS, CSAT, Customer interviews, Support ticket analysis, All of the above, Other

Red flags we should be honest about up front

• What integration or compliance issues have caused the longest project delays in past vendor implementations?
• Which of these would be a project showstopper for you? Options: No real-time core integration, Failed security / pen test, Unresolvable compliance requirements, Lack of internal staffing, Unclear SLA for production support
• How much implementation risk are you willing to accept to achieve faster time-to-market? Options: High — speed is everything, Moderate — balanced, Low — stability first
• Have you ever paused or cancelled a pilot? If yes, what was the reason? Options: Yes — compliance issues, Yes — technical integration failed, Yes — metrics not promising, No
• What would make you say ‘we tried it and it wasn’t worth doing’ at the end of a pilot?

Next steps — how do we move from conversation to commitment?

• Based on this discussion, what is the single next milestone you want to hit (e.g., pilot SOW, technical kickoff, exec brief)? Options: Pilot SOW, Technical kickoff, Executive briefing, Reference calls, Security review
• Who will sign the pilot SOW and by when (name/role and target date)?
• What access can you commit for a pilot test environment (sandbox credentials, test data, core connector access)? Options: Full sandbox + test data, Limited test endpoints, No access yet — need approvals, Unsure
• What would success look like at the technical kickoff (deliverables, timeline, owners)?
• On a scale from 1–5, how ready is your organization to start a pilot in the next 60 days (1 = not ready, 5 = ready now)? Options: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5