Charles Potts
Charles Potts is ICBA executive vice president and chief innovation officer.
Charles Potts's Articles
Charles Potts: ICBA's legacy of success
In 2022, ICBA’s award-winning ThinkTECH Accelerator program reached more community banks with innovative solutions and partnerships than ever before.
Charles Potts: Opportunities in the fintech landscape
A convergence of economic and marketplace factors presents community banks with new opportunities for innovation and growth as they look to the new year.
Charles Potts: Fighting cybercrime one innovation at a time
Community banks are at a critical juncture when it comes to cybersecurity. ICBA has extensive knowledge, expertise and education you can tap into to help you chart the path ahead.
Charles Potts: Agtech’s innovation opportunities
Agtech—the application of technology to every aspect of the food production process, from farm to table—is growing in importance to the mission of ICBA and community banks.
Charles Potts: Strengthening human connections
Community banks are the lifeblood of communities, but people are the lifeblood of community banks.
Charles Potts: Fueling growth through innovation
Innovation is taking place all around us at a pace unlike anything we have ever experienced. We’ve developed an ecosystem to foster growth through innovative partnerships and community involvement.
Charles Potts: Being comfortable with discomfort
We live in unprecedented times, filled with new challenges and opportunities for small businesses. Fortunately, community banks have greater access than ever before to advanced solutions and technologies to meet those needs.
Charles Potts: Back-office innovation
Community bankers are embracing innovation like never before—with impressive results. But with so much emphasis placed on customer-facing products and technologies, innovating back-office operations can fall to the bottom of the priority list.
Charles Potts: Growing small business banking
We live in unprecedented times, filled with new challenges and opportunities for small businesses. Fortunately, community banks have greater access than ever before to advanced solutions and technologies to meet those needs.
Charles Potts: Unlocking better customer connections
When assessing providers, keep in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all marketing solution. The beauty of innovation is that it comes in all shapes and sizes. Your marketing capabilities must fit your community bank and your customers.
Charles Potts: Next-level collaboration
ICBA has a growing network of people and resources community banks can tap into as they continue their innovation journeys. The ThinkTECH Accelerator is one of several initiatives underway this year to foster community bank-enabled fintech partnerships.
Charles Potts: Challenging the status quo
ICBA has preached the importance of innovation, not as a project or something to silo inside a department but as an inclusive cultural and philosophical endeavor that should be part of an organization’s DNA.
Charles Potts: 2021: A year of awakening
Community bankers’ awakening to new possibilities has made for an impactful year and will help position community banks to flourish in 2022 and beyond.
Charles Potts: Know where you’re going
As you begin thinking about your goals and objectives for the year ahead, ICBA’s Preferred Service Providers directory is a great starting point to research potential vendors selected by community bankers for their excellence that can help you on your journey.
Charles Potts: Integrating cybersecurity
Banks have a clear demand from their customers for more digital offerings and an opportunity to increase efficiencies, operate more effectively and grow revenue. Therefore, it is incumbent upon community banks to incorporate all aspects of their cybersecurity practices into their strategic thinking.
Charles Potts: Embrace the digital experience
Consider ICBA your partner and advocate on the digital transformation journey. That’s why ThinkTECH exists and why we continually innovate to introduce new resources as the industry evolves.
Charles Potts: A culture of innovation
Innovation is a high priority for many community bank leaders, so it’s critical that we have a foundational definition of innovation.
Charles Potts: Innovation drives performance
With the advent of new, innovative solutions ranging from artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to automated governance and digital onboarding, community banks have many opportunities to eliminate or reduce inefficient manual processes and replace them with innovative technologies to enhance performance.
Charles Potts: Next-level collaboration
ICBA has a growing network of people and resources community banks can tap into as they continue their innovation journeys. The ThinkTECH Accelerator is one of several initiatives underway this year to foster community bank-enabled fintech partnerships.
Charles Potts: 6 innovation trends for 2021
As we start the new year, much remains uncertain. In general, “uncertainty” implies a state of limited knowledge that makes it impossible or impracticable to describe a future outcome.
Charles Potts: 4 Natural Advantages of Solution Provider Partnerships
How do your partners contribute to your bank's overall success?
Charles Potts: Making the Case for Responsible Innovation
The rapid pace of today’s financial services landscape pulls community banks in varied directions. You must balance technology upgrades with budgetary constraints and identify your bank’s pressing priorities.
Charles Potts: Setting the Stage for Banking the Next Generation
In recent years, community bankers have embraced constant change to drive the future of banking.
Charles Potts: How Community Bankers Are Leading the Financial Evolution
One of my favorite reads is the story of Ted Turner’s rise. I’m struck by how it points to exactly the path community bankers are taking to drive the future of financial services.
Charles Potts: How Core Providers Are Becoming Core to Innovation
Let's reflect on the dynamic between community banks and their fintech and core partners.
Charles Potts: Today's Data Marketing Mindset
Business planning functions as a life cycle. Strategy overlies everything, but it’s discovery that informs, leading to tactics and activation.
Charles Potts: Convening With the Spirit of More
Innovator Thomas Edison once said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” The message resonates, but the standout word for me is “more.” It signals the desire to not just explore a version of what has already been attempted, but also to take it to the next level.
Charles Potts: The Powerful Role of Data in Community Bank Innovation
Data is king. Everyone—from Big Tech to retailers to systems providers—prioritizes data for its ability to deliver on revenue expectations.
Charles Potts: The Innovation Journey Moves into 2024
For me, the close of the year signals a time for reflection, for taking stock of our accomplishments and formulating a plan to embrace the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. And this year, there’s been a lot to contemplate.
Charles Potts: The Great Digital Strategy Reset
Digital first. How many times have community banks heard that refrain over the past few years? It’s been a repetitive beat in an ongoing banking evolution, and with it comes ever-increasing pressures on the technology stack.
Charles Potts: Put Innovative Thinking to Work in Risk Mitigation
Risk mitigation—supported by innovative thinking—drives reward for our banks, our customers and our communities.
Charles Potts: How Curiosity Leads to Innovation
How many times have you asked your customers what they need or how you can serve their needs? Asking these questions is crucial to improving the customer experience and ultimately ensuring lifelong relationships.
Charles Potts: Budgeting for the Future
We’re in a tricky economic environment, but by focusing further down the line, we can get ahead of industry evolution and prepare for what’s next.
Charles Potts: The Myth, Lure and Reality of AI
AI has become more advanced, but in a cost-effective manner, making it available to the masses.
Charles Potts: The Importance of Curiosity
What makes an innovation leader? By its very nature, innovation doesn’t conform to a particular series of checkboxes, yet all innovation-focused leaders exemplify one critical trait: curiosity.
Charles Potts: Why you need a digital back office
A bank’s innovation investment in back-office automation will deliver a streamlined, digital approach that increases efficiency and enhances front- and back-end experiences.
Charles Potts: 4 great places to recruit tech talent
Upgrade your community bank's efforts to recruit qualified innovation candidates.
Charles Potts: How to use data to drive bank growth
Working hand in hand with digital transformation, data provides a powerful tool for community banks. Its accessibility, readability and applicability in today’s digital-first environment has enhanced community banks’ ability to serve their customers, creating a heightened experience.
Charles Potts: Assesing potential fintech partners
Maximizing each step in the innovation journey, including the fintech evaluation process, will set you on the right path to a fruitful fintech partnership.
Charles Potts: Innovation trends for 2023
As we turn the page to a new year, the innovation evolution continues. ICBA is leaning into it, bringing its ThinkTECH Accelerator program and innovation efforts in-house to provide community bankers with targeted solutions.
Charles Potts: How the Regtech Revolution Represents Banking Today
In many ways, ICBA’s core pillars—advocacy, education and innovation—define today’s community bank priorities. Extending those areas to the products and services driving bank investments, regulatory technology solutions emerge as a major player.
Charles Potts: The Process of Bringing Innovation to You
Technology has become an integral part of success in banking.
Charles Potts: Turning Strategy Into Success With the Right Tech
In the current economic environment, your bank’s strategy is worth its weight in gold.
Charles Potts: Putting the "Person" in Personalized Banking
Today, personalization reigns supreme. According to Deloitte, about half of Gen Zers and millennials find personalized experiences important in their banking and business relationships.
Charles Potts: The Innovations We'll See in 2025
They say the only constant is change, and 2025 is shaping up to prove that point. We are in for a dynamic year, influenced by customer demand, product accessibility and partner potential.
Charles Potts: Banking and Staffing Gen Z Into the Future
As Gen Z graduates into the full-time workforce, they are looking to community banks as financial partners as well as potential employers.
Charles Potts: Driving Strategy With AI as a Tool
Artificial intelligence has become the buzzword for financial services, but it’s moved beyond just hype.
Charles Potts: Tackling Fraud With Technology
Can tech help solve community bank's fraud and risk concerns? Here's what we think.
Charles Potts: How Fintech Relationships Can Lessen Compliance Burdens
What bank compliance benefits can fintechs provide?