About Farmers Bank & Trust

Founded in 1906, Farmers Bank & Trust is a community bank owned by the privately held holding company Magnolia Banking Corporation, headquartered in Magnolia, Arkansas. Farmers Bank & Trust now has over 30 Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma locations and approximately $3 billion in assets. Farmers Bank offers a full range of deposit services, trust, and investment management services, as well as business, commercial real estate, construction, mortgage, residential, and consumer loans. To learn more, visit their website at MyFarmers.Bank.

Challenge: Great Procedures, But Hard to Access

Before using Posh, frontline staff at Farmers Bank & Trust relied on static policy and procedure documents hosted on their internal site. But these lacked an effective search function, employees had to know exactly which document to access and manually sift through it for answers. Retail staff often resorted to calling managers or branch admins when they couldn’t locate the right information, leading to slower response times and frustration.

“If you had to look up a procedure, you dreaded it,” Jennifer, Manager Retail Banking, SVP at Farmers Bank and Trust, shared. “Even though our procedures were great, they were really hard to use efficiently.”

The biggest cost? Time. And not just for employees, customers often bore the brunt of slower service as well.

A Strategic Move Toward Better Service

Always seeking improvement, Farmers Bank’s COO, Joe Pieratt, introduced Posh to the team after discovering its potential to enhance internal operations. The solution immediately stood out.

“It was exactly what we didn’t know we needed,” said Steven Word, Vice President of Banking Products & Integration at Farmers Bank and Trust.

Together, the team began exploring how Posh’s Knowledge Assistant could bridge the gap between their well-documented procedures and the employees who needed quick, reliable access to them.

Implementation for the Bank-Wide Rollout

The rollout started with testing alongside Posh’s implementation team, followed by targeted deployment to mentor groups in retail and loan departments. These mentors, top performers in their roles, served as early adopters, helping to ensure that common questions were covered and that the tool worked seamlessly before expanding usage across the bank.

The process was smooth and fast.

“We weren’t running into any issues. Nothing significant. Once we got started, we rolled it out quickly.”

Results: Confidence, Efficiency, and Better Customer Experiences

For Employees:

Knowledge Assistant is now used across all departments at Farmers Bank & Trust. From customer contact centers and retail branches to HR, accounting, and operations, the tool is driving consistency and quick access to answers bank-wide. 

The assistant is now included in all onboarding and training materials, helping new hires ramp up faster with less time spent shadowing.

“The teams feel more confident. They know they have it now. It’s quick. They can take care of the customer right then and there,” Jennifer explained.

Agents using the Knowledge Assistant have achieved a 12% reduction in handle time, translating to quicker resolutions, shorter wait times, and better service experiences.

For Customers:

Faster answers mean better service, especially in unusual or less frequent scenarios.

“Customers can tell when the person helping them is confident. That confidence leads to better experiences,” Steven emphasized.

A Worthwhile Investment with Lasting Value

The return on investment isn’t just measured in time saved, it’s also felt in employee empowerment, knowledge-building, and customer satisfaction.

“It’s been 100% worth it,” Steven said. “The Posh team worked closely with us on everything from security concerns to rollout. Seeing it live, the value was immediate, it’s been a major game-changer.”

Farmers Bank & Trust now encourages all departments to make Knowledge Assistant their first stop for questions. They’re actively monitoring unanswerable queries to expand and refine the assistant's capabilities even further.

Dedicated Support That Drives Value

Beyond the product, Steven highlighted how Posh’s ongoing engagement makes a significant difference:

“Not many products give us a dedicated resource, but with Posh we have our client success manager. Every meeting brings tips and ideas to help us level up. That ongoing engagement keeps things moving, without it, questions sit unanswered. It’s a huge benefit.”

What’s Next?

With organization-wide adoption well underway, Farmers Bank & Trust is rapidly expanding use of the Knowledge Assistant into the loan department. Loan officers will soon have direct access to their specialized content.

“We have use cases across the board. We want every team to start with Knowledge Assistant - every time.”

Encouraging adoption across departments continues to be a priority, with a focus on ensuring no employee is left without the knowledge they need, when they need it.

Advice to Other Institutions

“Don’t delay adoption- we are Posh cheerleaders at this point. It’s helped us identify gaps, build our knowledge, and the value was immediate. The ongoing support, like our regular meetings with our client success manager, truly keeps us moving forward.”