Mitchell explained the four biggest items on credit unions' balance sheet for expenses is core, internet banking, mobile and debit. “Some credit unions are paying more for their debit processing than they're paying for core. It's outrageous.” He said NYMBUS wanted a core system that addressed those four major points.

Then there are the consumers who want the Amazon experience everywhere, and if they get it from a trusted financial adviser like a credit union they'll stay. The advantage for credit union is they already have the trust and affinity with members. To capitalize on that relationship, Mitchell believes credit unions need better front-end and digital technologies. They need to onboard new members, cross sell products and give members the experience they want.

Inspire, for example, saw its assets almost double in less than four years. Despite this President/CEO Jim Merrill acknowledged antiquated technology inhibited the credit union's development and efficiency. “With our previous core, workflow issues were our biggest enemy,” For instance, it could take 30-45 minutes to open a new account and two-three hours for ACH. “Also, Band-Aids were used for long-term fixes and the inflexibility of the core required us to engage with too many different vendors.”

“It's open cloud-based technology and application program interfaces allows for a level of integration we'd never seen or even thought was possible. Now, all of our products and data streams will tie into our core.” Merrill said of his new core, set to go live sometime in the third quarter. “We anticipate significant increases in employee productivity and operational savings as a result.”

Read the full article in the March 21 issue of CU Times.