Jack Henry Sharpens Digital Marketing with ‘Kernel’

December 9, 2014 Alex Woodie

Banks are sitting on a treasure trove of data about their customers’ purchasing activity, but largely lack the tools to enable them to capitalize on it. Bank software giant Jack Henry & Associates hopes to reverse that trend with a new offering from its ProfitStars division.

Despite having an extraordinary level of access to customer data, retail banks still do not understand the needs of their customers, according to a recent survey by NGDATA. That leaves much to be desired when it comes to building a good relationship and delivering personalized customer service, the firm noted.

Jack Henry is aiming to help its banking customers get much more personal with their own customers with Kernel, a new one-to-one marketing tool unveiled recently by its ProfitStars division.

Kernel is designed to help banks serve relevant marketing content to consumers and also enhance lead generation by providing a more granular and personal understanding of individual consumers. The software “adjusts advertisement delivery between mobile, online banking, and other channels â€¦ based on users’ interest and interaction with each channel,” Jack Henry says.

It’s an attempt at delivering “behavior-driven marketing” in a banking context, says the Monett, Missouri, company. “Financial institutions of all sizes are in a race to know their customers better and communicate accordingly,” says Russ Bernthal, president of ProfitStars, which is a subsidiary of Jack Henry. “Kernel allows banks and credit unions to address consumers’ interests with purpose and accuracy, and improve service levels by delivering the right product messages and promotions to their preferred devices.”

Kernel integrates with core banking applications from Jack Henry, although it’s unclear if this includes its flagship SilverLake system that runs on IBM i. The initial beta tester for the product is Great Southern Bank, a Jack Henry customer based in nearby Springfield, Missouri.

Great Southern adopted Kernel with a website redesign about six months ago, and is now using the software to monitor its prospects’ interests in various products, like consumer loans, auto loans, savings, and mobile banking. It uses the software to send weekly promotions, such as discounts on loans, to customers who have indicated interest in the bank’s offerings, but who haven’t taken action.

“The ability to pinpoint our customers’ activities and interests brings us one step closer to winning more of their business,” says Great Southern marketing manager, Diane Zipf. The software is now generally available from ProfitStars.