Get oriented. Build context. Spot the potential.

You’re starting the journey. You’re gathering insights. You’re beginning to shape a shared understanding of what your next digital banking platform should empower. The Initial Demo is your first look—not just at features, but at vendor philosophy. It’s where you get a feel for the partner behind the platform, the thinking behind the tech, and the possibilities ahead. This is your chance to align your team, surface early questions, and begin mapping what matters most for your financial institution.

What is the Initial Demo?

The Initial Demo is your first strategic checkpoint.

It’s a structured, vendor-guided walkthrough that’s designed to help your team orient, assess, and align. You’ll get a high level look at the digital banking platform — through the workflows and experiences that matter most to your FI.

This isn’t about features alone. It’s about first impressions that fuel smarter conversations and stronger decisions down the line.

The Initial Demo is where you:

• Frame how your internal teams evaluate digital banking platforms
• Start mapping key workflows to real platform functionality
• Surface early questions and misalignments across departments
• Establish your initial lens for comparing ideal vendors

It’s not the deep end — yet. But it is the step that sets the course for every part of the evaluation that follows.

Why the Initial Demo matters

Too often, institutions wait until a Full Day or Deep Dive Demos to get serious.

By then, it’s harder (and riskier) to rethink priorities or shift direction. The Initial Demo gives you space to think, to question, and to prepare without the pressure of being too far down the path.

This is your chance to:

• Define what “good” looks like before opinions harden
• Start building shared language between IT, Operations, Digital, and Compliance
• Assess vendor culture and communication style (not just their technology)
• Catch gaps early before they become surprises later

The Initial Demo is where strategy meets structure. It turns early conversations into grounded, contextual insights. And that gives you — the evaluation lead — more clarity and control over how this process unfolds.

What gets covered in the Initial Demo?

The Initial Demo isn’t a full tour of the house — but it should show you the main rooms at a high level. This will be your first glimpse at the digital banking platform, get a feel for navigation, and preview how key users interact with it.

Here’s what most teams include:

• High-level retail and business user journeys
• Basic integration touch points and data visibility
• Overall navigation and UX/UI philosophy
• Admin experience and system flexibility
• Intro to reporting & dashboard views
• Initial support models and vendor engagement approach

You’re not checking every box here. You’re deciding which boxes should matter most.

Grab the How To Guide to get step by step instructions for preparing the agenda and equipping your team with best practices. Share the Stakeholder Guide to prepare your team to understand their role during a demo with quick tips on what to do before, during, and after a demo, plus a few simple do’s and don’ts to keep the conversation focused.

Download the How To | Initial Demos

Download the Stakeholder Guide: Digital Banking Platform Demos

What Initial Demo scoring looks like

Initial Demo scoring is designed to help your team move beyond impressions and start documenting structured, role-specific feedback early in the vendor evaluation process. Each stakeholder independently assesses how well the vendor delivers across key functional areas — from company vision and culture to alignment with your user profile and strategic priorities. Using a simple 1–5 scale, participants rate each category, flag any gaps or risks, and capture comments as they go.

This is not about reaching consensus yet — it’s about building a clear, shared foundation for discussion. Whether you’re evaluating one vendor or comparing several, this approach gives your team a head start in surfacing early misalignments, identifying red flags, and understanding where a digital banking platform may (or may not) meet your needs. Initial Demo scoring brings structure and clarity to your earliest evaluation touchpoints — setting you up for smarter, faster decisions in the demos that follow.

Download the Initial Demo Scorecard

Don’t skip the step that sets the tone

The Initial Demo isn’t a formality, it’s your foundation.

Handled well, it keeps your digital banking vendor evaluation aligned, thoughtful, and built around your financial institution’s real-world needs.

You’ve been tasked with leading this transformation and this is one of the most important steps in setting your team up for early success. We’re here to make sure you don’t just watch a demo. You lead it.

Your toolkit to guide smarter demos, better notes, and more confident decisions — starting now.