A stroll through a consumer electronics store can turn even the strongest of wills into a slobbering technology hound. Just the other day, I dropped by the local Best Buy to buy a new digital camera. The options seemed endless. Just as I had settled on an 8 megapixel model with 10x optical zoom, "Squirrel!", I saw another model with face recognition technology. Then, "Squirrel!", I saw a model with a "Sweep Panorama" function.

Turns out that heading into a technology buy with little more guidance from my wife than "don't spend too much," is unwise. The more options I considered, the more confused I became about the proper choice. Without a shopping strategy or set criteria that would meet my family's photography needs, decisions like these are needless wastes of time, money and sanity.

Many credit unions put themselves in the same situation with their IT budgets. How can credit unions make sure that budget dollars are being allocated appropriately? With half of credit unions' technology budgets spent on member-facing technology, how can we be sure that we are optimizing member value and return on investment? Even more important, how can we be sure that these expenditures are helping credit unions meet strategic goals?