West Monroe, a business and technology consulting firm, and Backbase, the global leader in Engagement Banking, today announced their strategic partnership to help accelerate the digital transformation of the U.S. banking industry. 

The partnership harnesses the unique strengths of West Monroe's financial services advisory and digital experience capabilities and combines them with Backbase's Engagement Banking Platform. This platform acts as a robust foundation for banks and credit unions to simplify and elevate their digital banking experiences, ensuring flexibility and scalability in an ever-evolving landscape.

Whether attracting new deposits, lending relationships, or treasury management clients, financial institutions (FIs) are seeking new ways to acquire customers, boost revenue, and meet the evolving needs of customers. With Backbase, banks and credit unions can progressively modernize or build on top of their legacy IT systems and quickly customize and personalize their digital banking capabilities. The result is a better customer and member experience, operational efficiencies, and the ability to bring products to market quickly. Together, West Monroe and Backbase will help FIs deliver a seamless digital experience across all channels. Already, more than 120 financial institutions around the world leverage the Backbase platform.

Empowering financial institutions with seamless digital experiences

"Backbase is dedicated to spearheading digital transformation through progressive banking modernization," stated Jouk Pleiter, Founder and CEO of Backbase. "The partnership with West Monroe allows us to accelerate this mission, as it is designed to push the boundaries of what banks and credit unions can offer to their customers and members."

"At Backbase, we help banks and credit unions to continuously innovate, upgrade their member and customer experiences and go to market with new products and services quickly in order to remain competitive," said Vimal Sethi, Global Vice President for Partnership & Alliances at Backbase. "Part of our mission is to align with partners who share the same vision. With West Monroe, we can consult with our joint customers to provide the best solution for their needs and expedite implementation."

Banks and credit unions that want to differentiate and customize their digital banking offerings have historically faced a limited choice when looking for a digital platform provider, leaving them unprepared for their online banking implementation journey. West Monroe recognizes the unique challenges banks face as they seek to create a seamless experience across platforms. The Backbase Engagement Banking platform, enhanced by West Monroe's strategic guidance, aims to empower banks and credit unions with unparalleled flexibility to customize, innovate, and differentiate their offerings.

"This flexible digital banking platform with off-the-shelf functionality is going to make an immediate impact for our clients in both retail and commercial banking," said Neil Hartman, senior partner, financial services at West Monroe. "It brings out the best of West Monroe—not only in the functionality that Backbase has built, but the ability to leverage the platform to highlight our digital-first mindset, AI and development capabilities, and industry expertise. This gives our clients additional value to help them become digital organizations."

West Monroe's Financial Services practice has vast experience working with both the mid-market and the largest financial services institutions, partnering on hundreds of commercial digital transformation implementations to help them meet the demands of a rapidly changing industry. The West Monroe team delivers work across the commercial, treasury management, and retail lines of business on issues around payments, digital strategy and technology implementation, growth and productivity, M&A integration, as well as risk and regulatory compliance. 

"We actively look for like-minded partners focused on the industries West Monroe helps to drive outcomes for, quickly and predictably," said Casey Foss, chief commercial officer at West Monroe. "Our clients are looking for proven solutions that leverage technology, data, and digital products to improve the experiences of their own end users — and ultimately, drive value to their bottom line. We're excited to enhance our offerings with this strategic partnership."