A mobile triple play describes a financial institution's offering when it provides customers access to mobile banking in a total of three ways: mobile browser, text and mobile application. 

As in baseball, triple plays in the mobile space today are rare–at least for many of the nation's credit unions that are only just beginning to implement mobile strategies. Some experts believe lacking the complete triple play spells disaster for a credit union's mobile program. What these experts are forgetting, however, is that truly successful credit unions don't often take a one-size-fits-all approach to anything, from membership to products to service. 

Because credit unions understand how to serve a niche, they can also understand that building out a mobile strategy to satisfy every single entry point is not necessary. In fact, that kind of thinking could create more damage than good. A credit union aiming to provide the full range of access may not be able to make the kind of time, technology and cost investment it would take, and could therefore, be tempted to abandon the project altogether. With more consumers expecting mobile access to their money, neglecting a mobile strategy is no longer an option.