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Heartland Financial Launches Corporate, Wealth Management and Flagship Bank Websites with T8 Webware

^{Published on 2011-01-11 07:26:10 - Market Wire}
 

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--T8 Webware, a provider of [ Web development ], [ management ] and [ hosting ] services for the financial industry, today announced that Dubuque, Iowa-based [ Heartland Financial USA Inc. ] (NASDAQ:HTLF), its [ Wealth Management Group ] (WMG) and its flagship bank, [ Dubuque Bank and Trust ] (DB&T), launched new websites.

"Heartland will gain a significant competitive advantage as it introduces this cohesive branding with individualized, local branding aspects important to each one of its community banks. The new, interactive sites will drive new business by providing timely, accurate and relevant information to customers."

Heartland selected T8 Webware to provide one cohesive platform for its 17 affiliate bank and corporate sites while still supporting the individualized aspects important to each. Its corporate site, WMG and DB&T are the first of these websites to be introduced.

aT8 Webware knows the banking industry and provides a level of protection we could notfind anywhere else,a said Dawn Oelke, vice president of marketing and creative services and communications for Heartland. aThe websites exceeded our expectations on both the corporate and consumer level. Our community banks and investors will benefit from the improvement of this vital communications channel, and customers have embraced the change without hesitation. T8 Webwarea™s interactive, easy to modify platform, enables us to offer much more than just a banking site, but rather community resources for our banks and their customers.a

To best manage the workload and streamline the custom tailoring of the 17 sites, Heartland leveraged FREEDOM8,a" T8 Webwarea™s content management system, which enables authorized users to update the website from any location at any time, while enforcing FFIEC guidelines and FDIC functional compliance. FREEDOM8a™s user interface is similar to that of a word processor format, so it is intuitive and easy to adopt in addition to making workflow more efficient.

Dubuque Bank & Trust was an ideal candidate to start the subsidiariesa™ redesign process since 90 percent of its customers take part in its online offerings. T8 Webware worked with bank executives to create a dynamic, content rich site with information specific to customersa™ needs and behaviors while still keeping a design presence that is clearly related to Heartland Financial. New features include a search option; links to local weather, AG futures and banking services easily available from the homepage; and the addition of FinanceWorks to help customers manage their finances.

The Wealth Management Group, which supervises $2 billion in assets through several subsidiaries of Heartland, now has the same streamlined, easy to navigate layout with up-to-the-minute market commentaries, strategic outlooks and complete descriptions of its services. Its new site also includes log in pages so retirement plan services participants and individual clients can easily access their account information.

aWMGa™s breadth of knowledge and expertise produces results for all financial planning needs, and now our clients have even more access to our knowledge and services via the web,a said Polly Hauser, senior vice president. aWe are very pleased and excited to bring this new site online. We created it with our current and future clients in mind and we will be open to ways of making it easier and even more convenient for them to use.a

aHeartland Financial and each of its subsidiaries rely on the brand equity of the group, therefore making it even more critical that a strong, uniform identity is apparent through all channels,a said Wade Arnold, CEO of T8 Webware. aHeartland will gain a significant competitive advantage as it introduces this cohesive branding with individualized, local branding aspects important to each one of its community banks. The new, interactive sites will drive new business by providing timely, accurate and relevant information to customers.a

About T8 Webware

T8 Webwareis a strategic Web development, management and hosting firm that caters specifically to financial institutions. The company provides progressive, non-template driven websites to more than 200 banks and credit unions, all of which are mobile-enabled. T8 Webwarea™s philosophy is to help financial institutions leverage their most powerful marketing tool, their website, to drive new business and build an online marketing presence. Most customers experience an ROI within months because of cross sales, while Web traffic is also dramatically improved.

For more information, visit [ www.T8Webware.com ], or call 877.884.3327.