How important is digital banking to credit unions? Three announcements, which focus on enhancing member experience and knowledge, include chronicling a digital transformation journey, chatbot integration and interactive mobile video banking.
The $1.65 billion Burbank, Calif.-based Partners Federal Credit Union, which serves Walt Disney Company cast members, employees and their families, embarked on a new digital transformation journey. Partners FCU is opening up about their digital transformation journey and chronicling the good, the bad and the ugly via documentary-style videos.
Faced with the challenge of coordinating its community branches with services of a digital credit union to compete with big banks like Bank of America and Chase, Partners FCU partnered with Austin, Texas-based digital apps company Kony and Boston Consulting Group, to completely overhaul its technologies, processes, systems and services to better address the needs of its employees and customers including:
- Enhancing its app offerings in real-time while making additional enhancements along the way.
- Accelerating digital innovations and solutions from what it's now (releasing updates to its apps once every 6 months) to 4 times as fast (releasing updates every other week).
The $2.2 billion Orlando, Fla.-based FAIRWINDS Credit Union launched its FAIRWINDS Virtual Advisor in partnership with Abe AI, an Orlando-based Artificial Intelligence software company specializing in digital consumer financial technology. FAIRWINDS said it is the first financial institution headquartered in Florida to offer this service to its members.
The FAIRWINDS Virtual Advisor utilizes conversational AI to offer virtual assistance using voice and messaging platforms, including Facebook Messenger, Google Home and Amazon Alexa. In response to a simple question, the FAIRWINDS Virtual Advisor can provide FAIRWINDS members with a wealth of information to help them along their path to achieving financial freedom.
The FAIRWINDS Virtual Advisor provides members with:
- Basic support information, including branch locations, credit union contact information and routing number.
- Guidance on services offered by FAIRWINDS, including mobile banking, loan payments and direct deposit setup.
- Application support, walking members through the process of applying for new services, including car loans, credit cards and mortgages.
- Educational support, explaining banking-related topics like refinancing, wire transfers, and retirement investments.
The $63 million TORRANCE, Calif-based CalCom Federal Credit Union aims enhance its digital services and create more personal connections with members with the installation of Salt Lake City-based POPin Video Banking Collaboration, billed as the world's first interactive mobile video banking solution.
POPin Video Banking Collaboration enables face-to-face video chat and simultaneously collaborate between financial institutions and customers across all digital channels. Through this patented technology, members can access branch services and complete nearly all banking needs via the web, personal devices, or branch-based video, removing the need for either party to be in a physical branch or office.
POPin Video Banking Collaboration's Customer Communication Center plugs directly into the backend of existing systems, providing financial institutions the tools they need to serve their members and improve performance and management through streamlined communication and analytics. The platform can also supplement internal branch communications, staff meetings and training sessions though face-to-face mobile video connection and collaboration.
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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.).
