PLEASANTON, Calif. – There's something different about the atmosphere at Harland Financial Solution's Credit Union Core Systems office.

Granted, most businesses give employees a heads-up before allowing the press in the building, to make sure everyone puts their best foot forward. But signs of employee discontent are impossible to hide: grumbling groups of cigarette breakers, for example; or, employees who minimize online shopping Web sites as the guest approaches.

Walk around Harland, and every employee is more than happy to tell you how long he or she has worked there. Over in programming, one cubical enclave gives “the new guy” a hard time because he's only been on board five years.

Harland Financial Services has an impressive turnover ratio: 10.5% annualized. The Credit Union Core Systems division, comprised of the Pleasanton office, along with smaller locations in Des Moines, Iowa and St. Paul, Minn., is at 10.3%.

General Manager David McConney credits the John H. Harland Company's positive leadership strategies, which he says start at the top with chairman, president and CEO Timothy Tuff.

Like many companies, Harland has a values statement, which includes four core values (respect, leadership, focus and persistence) and four pillars of success (customer focus, competitive technology, best people and innovation). There's nothing remarkable about the statement, except for one thing: each and every employee must not only buy into it, they must also live it. In fact, employees are hired on the basis of their ability to exemplify the values statement philosophy. Skills, while important, rank second.

“I've personally seen very few organizations who make a real effort to walk the walk,” McConney said, adding, “and we really do mean it . it's not something you can fake on a consistent basis.

“That's not to say we don't have our issues, but I think it's apparent that around here, people are pretty happy in their skins. And when your people are happy, they can be devoted to making the customer happy.”

Empowerment is another tricky concept that lives actively at Harland. When asked about empowerment, more than one employee said they feel so empowered, they know they will never be disciplined for doing anything that makes the customer happy. McConney agreed with that policy, adding that he's so comfortable with that philosophy, he doesn't even mind if it sometimes results in lost revenue.”It isn't about every dollar that goes through the register. It may be a short-term cost, but the long-term payback is huge,” he said. One of Harland's selling points to potential customers is staff tenure, particularly in the programming department. Peter McKellar, senior manager of programming, has the most tenure of anyone at Harland Financial, dating back 26 years to the original inception of the ULTRADATA system in his native Australia. “I can't remember the last programmer who voluntarily resigned,” McKellar said, noting that most programmers have at least 10 years experience with Harland products. Why the longevity? McKellar credits Harland's expectation that programmers act more like artists than order takers. “Rather than have a group of robotic technicians who simply do as you say, we hire business solutions analysts. I expect them to understand what the customer wants and find a way to create it,” he said. McKellar said he goes so far as to send programmers out to credit unions so his team can experience the product as the end user does. “The buck stops here,” McKellar says, with a proud grin, explaining that back in his day, he was not only the programmer, he was the only point of customer contact. Niles Bay, vice president of product development, commandeers a daily meeting with his team of project managers. When one manager reports a slight delay, Bay asks a curious question. “Will this still allow us to keep ahead of the curve?” he asks. Many folks in the industry wonder how Harland is so quick to provide solutions for the latest issues in the credit union industry. It's simple: they plan for the unexpected. While Harland plans major releases and enhancements at least one year out, the company also sets aside time for needs that arise during the year. “We reserve about 20% of our capacity for projects that come from our `ahead of the curve' focus groups,” Bay explained. The focus groups are made up of customers who attend Harland's regional user group meetings. They discuss what works, and more importantly, what doesn't work. Harland also keeps in close contact with credit union regulators and even the banking industry to be in the know at all times. Case in point; after the FFIEC mandated new Internet banking security requirements last fall, Harland got to work reprogramming online banking modules to meet the new rules. The project began during fourth quarter 2005. By Jan.15, 2006, the first customer went live with the updated software. And the FFIEC mandate doesn't even take effect until the end of this year. Oftentimes, the department that keeps the longest hours at a credit union is IT. They are usually the first to arrive, and at month-end, the last to leave. Now imagine setting call center hours to serve that group, which spans six time zones. Customer Support Senior Manager Cheryl Bookhammer oversees five customer support teams, including a back-office team that is on the phones from 3 a.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific Time, and on call the other four hours of the day. They handle issues that often arise at the beginning or end of a business day: month end processing, ACH balancing, etc.

“We want to make sure that for the majority of their processing day, we are in the office,” Bookhammer said. One of California's most publicized problems, bad traffic, is actually a benefit when it comes to scheduling nontraditional hours. Employees on each end of the back-office schedule miss the rush hour crunch, which for some, saves an hour or more during commutes.

Bookhammer rewards her department with the usual incentives: contests, gift cards, and peer recognition. In addition to the overall positive work environment at Harland, she also credits participation in the San Diego-based Service Strategies certification program, which tests participants against the best practices of service departments in companies like Microsoft and Oracle.

“While it's important to understand credit unions, it's also important to understand what support organizations are doing, too,” Bookhammer said.

In the past few years, Harland has made several major acquisitions, including the purchase of Liberty Enterprises approximately one year ago. However, according to McConney, acquisitions are now on the back burner, with the leader focusing on further development of existing products.

“That's not to say that we're not interested in good opportunities, but there's a drive to complete an integration of our products,” McConney said.

Every company is after increased market share, and Harland is no exception. The secret to Harland's success lies in changing the company's image in the marketplace, McConney said.

“We're continuing the journey of moving away from being viewed as a data processor to being a strategic partner and thought leader,” he said, adding that in his opinion, being a leader in the industry is just as much about market perception than financials.

Keeping up with fraud and the evolution of technology, not to mention continued credit union mergers, will provide plenty of challenges for Harland as the company moves forward, McConney said.

But not surprisingly, McConney said he believes that the key to overcoming those challenges lies not in technology or market conditions, but people. “When the chips are down, if your employees are committed to you, they'll do the right thing,” he said.

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