F&M Bank, Corp. Brings Big City Banking To Rural Communities

By teaming with Carousel, F&M Bank Corp. is able to reach its communities in a whole new way with cloud-based messaging and collaboration.

F&M Bank Corp. (OTCQB: FMBM), parent company of Farmers & Merchants Bank (“F&M Bank”), has completed a significant technology upgrade to better support the organization’s rapid local growth and provide more efficient and personalized banking services to businesses and consumers in multiple rural communities.

The primary driver for F&M’s investment was to stay ahead of the technology trends that enable digital banking services customers expect today. As a small community bank, F&M balances the need to provide a local, familiar presence while delivering the option of a convenient and efficient digital banking experience. To help accomplish this, F&M partnered with Carousel Industries as part of a cloud migration strategy, which included Microsoft Office 365. Carousel designs, implements, and supports technology solutions that change the way businesses connect and collaborate with their employees and clients. Through Carousel’s installation of the Office 365 platform, F&M gained an agile and secure path to roll out digital services in branches spanning Rockingham, Shenandoah, Page, and Augusta counties in Virginia–affecting up to 100,000 customers.

“F&M has grown from five to fifteen banking locations in just over two years. As we continue to expand, we remain committed to providing highly individualized attention to our business and individual clients,” said Neil Hayslett, Chief Administrative Officer and EVP, F&M. “Carousel and Microsoft have made it possible for a seamless migration to the cloud, enabling us to grow our business exponentially without a substantial increase in cost or staffing. We are much more efficient and able to expedite decision making at the local branch level. This also means we can provide enhanced customer service and programs to our remote locations—a benefit only our urban customers have previously enjoyed.”

“We are excited to expand our business relationship with F&M through the adoption of Carousel cloud services. Carousel’s Exchange Migration and Office 365 set-up and consumption plan ensured F&M received the most efficient return on their cloud investment,” said John Drolet, Senior Director, Microsoft Business Unit, Carousel Industries. “Now F&M and its customers will jointly benefit from increased efficiencies, easier access to information and data, as well as a technology platform that is easy to deploy, manage, and grow with their business. Carousel’s Office 365 day-two services offloads a support burden that F&M had with on-premise (Exchange™) equipment. Carousel’s support for Office 365 provides help desk support, while providing ongoing education in the ever-changing opportunity within the Office 365 platform.”

New Technologies, New Capabilities

F&M’s adoption of the latest technologies benefits their business clients and individual consumers, as well as their own employees. Business clients are able to speed the onboarding process, effect remote deposits, and more conveniently utilize loan services. Individual bankers benefit from mobile and online banking–including person-to-person money transfers and account management. A personal financial management tool is also underway. Following the adoption of the Office 365 platform, F&M’s employees can receive the full Office 365 suite of productivity tools without waiting for workstations to be updated. Mobile employees gain 24×7 access to shared information through OneDrive™, whether they are in the office, on the road, or at other branch locations. Administrators are rolling out services with confidence in both the run-time consistency of the Office 365 platform, powered by Carousel, as well as built-in compliance and security capabilities.