Prior to 2015, Oak Bank’s new business clients would work with a variety of bank representatives on their specific needs. Opening a new account, creating an online banking portal, setting up a check-scanning device, and troubleshooting digital issues each required clients to rely on the skillsets of different individuals.
Now, Amber Lehnherr takes care of everything.
In her role as Oak Bank’s Cash Management Specialist, Lehnherr provides business clients with electronic services expertise via a one-on-one approach. She advises clients on the technology and digital tools available to help them manage their businesses more effectively and efficiently. Those services include eStatements, eXpress/remote deposit, mobile banking, mobile deposit, ACH services, fraud protection, and wire transfers.
“I bridge the gap between technology and client service,” says Lehnherr, who boasts 18 years in the banking industry, many of them at Oak Bank as a personal banker. “We don’t want to send our business clients to several different people in order to meet their needs, especially as the trend toward more online services increases. That’s why we consolidated everything.”
Lehnherr’s “Jill-of-all-trades” function is in keeping with Oak Bank’s mission to redefine the role of a community bank and maintain its focus on small businesses. As a small business itself — with approximately $320 million in assets and 33 full-time employees at a single location in Fitchburg — Oak Bank has made client relationships a top priority since its founding in 2000.
“Even as we grow with technology, we still want to be a small community bank and offer high-touch service from one person with a broad depth of knowledge,” says Jim McNulty, Oak Bank’s Senior Vice President of Business Banking, referring to Lehnherr.
Although the title “Cash Management Specialist” can initially be confusing to new business clients, they quickly understand the advantages Oak Bank provides. “I help them move their money in the easiest ways possible,” Lehnherr says.
“Cash isn’t ‘cash’ in the dollar bills sense,” McNulty adds. “But it is cash in the sense of how money is handled. A bigger bank might call what we do ‘treasury management,’ which to me is even more confusing.”
Although some businesses remain hesitant to enter the world of digital banking so completely, the tide is turning. “We’re seeing a transition happening as original owners retire and a new generation of employees move up,” Lehnherr says.
One of the newest electronic services offered by Oak Bank’s Cash Management Department is positive pay, an automated fraud-prevention system developed to help protect businesses against forged, altered, and counterfeit checks.
“There are a ton of digital tools out there that can take major banking tasks off someone’s plate — making things easier and more secure and allowing our clients more time to focus on actually running the business,” Lehnherr says, adding that she consistently participates in industry workshops and training sessions to stay on top of the latest developments. “It’s rewarding to see companies adapt to new technologies.”
CONTACT:
Amber Lehnherr
Cash Management Specialist
608.250.5526
