Harland Says More CUs Thinking Service Bureau

ATLANTA – Service bureau processing is definitely back in style in the credit union industry. A number of companies are reporting that CUs are leaning toward the environment, as opposed to in-house. Harland Financial Solutions announced that five more CUs have selected its ULTRADATA service bureau system, meaning 225 out of its 450 ULTRADATA clients are in service bureau mode. Jim Berthelsen, senior vice president of Harland Financial Solutions’ Credit Union Core Systems Group said the service bureau solution is more convenient and cost-effective than an in-house system. The knock on service bureau systems have been that the CU loses control, but much of that is going away as updating becomes faster and can be tailored for individual clients. Harland has also introduced the Dedicated Hosting Service version of its ULTRADATA system. Los Angeles Schools Federal Credit Union is the first to use it. The Dedicated Hosting Service enables a financial to operate in an outsourced, service bureau environment, yet utilize its own independent hardware.