AUSTIN, Texas — Whatever the inefficiency, Brett Wooden, SVP of marketing and innovation at the $182 million Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union in Houston assured attendees at the CU Water Cooler Symposium that there's an app for that.

While there may be more smart phones in the world than running toilets, Wooden cautioned that it's not about the device itself.

“If you took away all the apps on your phone today, would it be as valuable,” he asked.

With some 1.2 million apps in the Apple app store, he said there's no need to create something new but rather improve upon existing apps. It begins with research into why people are purchasing it, how it can be taken to the next level, exploring how many other similar apps are on the market and how the marketing and pricing model works.  The key is to keep trying and he urged credit unions to consider tapping into gaming and design experts who may not know anything about credit unions but are passionate about how to engage people.

At Cy-Fair FCU, instead of printing a popular school district calendar for its largest single employee group with 22,000 employees, it is now available as an app, which is fully integrated with all mobile devices. The app allows the credit union to easily update information, issue push notifications and even market to members.

 “It was about how can we better interact with teachers in the moment,' said Wooden. “While it started with teachers we've opened it up to the whole community, giving free ads to local businesses.”

He added mobile apps can be another way to share the credit union mission and vision in a way that resonates and delivers more value.

“With the rollout of Google Glass, iWatch, Pebble Watch, Chromecast, Apple TV, just imagine the apps you could build,” he said.