Technologies that enhance member engagement, advance digital interaction via the mobile channel, improve security and help credit unions understand accountholders better are the top IT budget priorities heading into 2016.
“Rolling out the red carpet for opening and funding new accounts, especially via the mobile channel, is the most valuable digital service for credit unions to offer in 2016, because account growth is the one metric that can't be neglected,” Hal Tilbury, CEO of the Henderson, Nev., payment processing and document imaging firm Bluepoint Solutions said.
Tilbury said convenience will be the most important priority for credit unions as they determine the right mixture of features and services; in other words, finding ways to meet members wherever they are with faster, easier-to-use services offered through multiple channels.
“This could mean revving up everything digital from basic services like deposits and bill payments, to high value-added services like personal financial management and electronic strongboxes,” he said.
Branching strategies are shifting quickly as well.
“Branches of the future will be smaller, streamlined to accommodate live lending services and equipped with self-service video kiosks (interactive teller machines) for all kinds of convenient transactions,” Tilbury said. Tablet-equipped employees untethered from teller lines can roam to help members in branches and even out into the community where new members exist.
Tilbury added that loan applications and processing will be one of the next big mobile deployments.
“Credit unions that can get their operations paperless and their origination processes tightly-integrated will be the ones to fill this gap,” he said.
The underlying IT strategy for the $131 million Washington, Pa.-based Chrome FCU, formerly Washington Community FCU, an institution located on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, is teaching members how to bank 100% digitally.
“We are really big on pushing out the online, cloud-based self-serviced digital model to our members. We want them to do everything online,” Chrome President Christopher George said.
He said the credit union is trying to create a simple, self-serve model that doesn't require a lot of member tutoring. However, when members do venture to Chrome locations, which the credit union calls stores rather than branches, the cooperative wants to mentor them.
“We want to educate members about services they can perform themselves such as remote deposit capture,” George said.
Learn more about 2016 credit union top IT budget priorities in the Dec. 2 print issue of Credit Union Times.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Roy Urrico
Roy W. Urrico specializes in articles about financial technology and services for Credit Union Times, as well as ghostwriting, copywriting, and case studies. Also: writer/editor of a semi-annual newsletter for Association for Financial Technology since 1997 and history projects funded by the U.S Interior Department, National Park Service and Warren County (N.Y.).
