Credit union CFOs have long been tasked with uncovering the stories hidden in numbers. But the exploding field of data analytics is taking things to a new level — one that could force many CFOs to make major changes in how they handle data and even how they handle their careers.

Data analytics is, to a large degree, the child of "big data" — a term for the colossal amounts of information that today's digital world generates and collects. The draw is that it can uncover, like never before, what really drives success or failure — anything from how certain products penetrate a member base to how members really use their cards, when and where call centers drive efficiency, where fraud might surface next, which products or members really drive profits and more. It can produce huge competitive advantages — if you've got the skills and tools to slice and dice megaloads of data coming from every direction.

It's a challenge that falls squarely on the CFO's shoulders in many credit unions, but James McHale, who is general manager of analytics at financial technology firm Baker Hill, believes less than 15% of credit union CFOs have a comprehensive ability to access big data and use data analytics to generate a good strategy out of it.