Over the past 10 years I have watched and actively participated in setting up various delivery channels at credit unions. Today, credit unions have branches, telephone banking, call centers, online banking, text banking and mail banking. Ultimately, each of these have required credit unions to invest time and money in building specific technology to support the services (other than the mail). With the benefits of these new services has also come additional risk. Each new channel has exposed additional elements around you that are trying to commit fraud against your credit union. Credit unions have reacted by layering on various types of security to deal with the variety of threats unique to each channel. It is a constant evolutionary challenge to stay one step ahead and simultaneously enhance the choices for consumers.

Ultimately though, all of these delivery channels will converge. Members are probably already walking into your branches with iPads and showing you problems in their accounts. They call into the call center with more information at their fingertips than your frontline personnel. They are texting, skyping, video chatting and instant messaging with their families in real time.

We strive to have more personal relationships with our members. Traditionally, technology has been a barrier to this. However, new technologies and a higher technically aware consumer have begun to allow technology to reestablish this personal interaction. The traditional local branch experience, face to face relationship, is now possible in your call centers and your future members won't know anything different. A child born today won't really know what a phone call is–much like a child born 20 years ago has no idea what a rotary phone is. Gen Y has already challenged you to provide text banking, and they certainly never call into audio response, yet we have to provide both old and new technologies.