2018 Tech Trends: Member Experiences, Digitalization & Data
A look at 2018's technology trends as they apply to credit union member experience and analytics.
In second of a three-part review of the year’s top credit union tech trends, we focus on member experiences, data analytics and digitalization as submitted by industry experts.
Vincent Brennan, president, credit union solutions, Fiserv saw a year focused on the member experience. “Credit unions are working hard on developing differentiating brands, revamping branch capabilities, and expanding digital experiences – backed by security and member confidence – to cement their place in members’ lives and grow relationships.”
Brennan noted the continued importance of factors like rates and convenience as long as unique experiences add value. “Members are more comfortable than ever with digital technologies, and their expectations for digital experiences and ease-of-use are higher.”
John Levy, EVP, IMM, perceived financial institutions as laser-focused on the member experience, with an accent on digital banking. “This new culture of consumer engagement orientation included an emphasis on consumer-facing intuitive systems. Every potential touch point from the institution to the member was being reviewed and analyzed for ways to elevate and enhance those experiences.”
Rob Seward, director of product ownership, D3 Banking Technology, noticed more credit unions committing to a digital transformation process. Seward recognized competition was an accelerant for this change with more than 40% of consumers in a D3 survey selecting a financial institution based on the better digital banking experience. “Credit unions understand that members want to bank locally, but not at the cost of a subpar digital experience.”
There is also a growing role of virtual personal assistants and voice banking, Ted Bilke, vice president of Jack Henry & Associates and president of Symitar, pointed out. “A number of credit unions have advanced artificial intelligence-powered, voice-enabled functions beyond the consideration or planning stages to actual deployment.” Bilke added, “This year established voice banking as a meaningful offering, one that can elevate the member experience.”
Joe Salesky spoke to the rising significance of the Amazon Connect self-service, cloud-based contact center service as an alternative to call center and branch phone systems. “Member communication infrastructure has been a legacy impediment to contact center and service improvement,” Joe Salesky, CEO CRMNEXT, said. “Credit unions now have a true phone system option that has Lex technology for voice interactions now available to greet members, skills-based routing of calls, and provide team members with real-time sentiment analysis of conversations with members.”
Robb Gaynor, general manager, digital banking, Malauzai, a Finastra company, said, “Everyone is talking about, and implementing, solutions to improve the overall digital experience.” This included better user interfaces rivaling Amazon and Snapchat, improved integration with other channels and devices, and a consistent and seamless end-user experience. “In 2018, the best-in-class providers really delivered on the promise of digital engagement and the improved profits that come along with it.”
Joel Curry, CEO, Validis, noted the tangible strides credit unions made in digitizing processes by moving away from all-encompassing solutions to connecting best-in-breed pieces. “The pressure is on fintech providers to expand API offerings that allow automation of populating any part of their loan origination, portfolio management and spreading tools.”
Everyone wants to provide the Amazon or Netflix-type experience; and define banking’s digital transformation, Lisa Nicholas, president, Digital Banking Services, explained. “Credit unions are encumbered by legacy systems not built to produce real-time data, so getting the valuable member data [from that system] is an arduous task.” She mentioned the shift to new core systems with more solid foundations where data is more readily available.
More credit unions are improving time to market and leveled the competitive landscape when deploying features and functions remarked Michael Carter, EVP, Strategic Resource Management. “New tools such as microservices and software development toolkits are now allowing credit unions to compete with any other institutions they wish, especially in the digital area.”
Another highlight was an increased digital lending focus, Mike Triggiano, EVP, product management/corporate development, Velocity Solutions, submitted. “We have seen a surge in credit unions of all sizes recognizing the importance of engaging their members through the digital channels.”
Triggiano saw “More credit unions begin pushing back – and succeeding – with their own digital lending strategies to compete not only against other financial institutions, but also with the growing number of non-bank fintechs.”
It is not only non-banks creating competitive challenges. Mike Horrocks, vice president of product development, Baker Hill, said, “This year, we saw big banks like U.S. Bank announce their own digital loan offerings, creating pressure for credit unions to adapt to heightened consumer expectations and modernize their approach to lending.”
Shannon Barrow, vice president of marketing, Docutech spotlighted the rapid rise of credit union digital mortgages. “The growth has been especially significant in the expansion of e-closing solutions.” Barrow claimed, “The key lies in fully understanding the implementation process and no longer viewing an end-to-end digital mortgage process as novelty.”
One of the 2018’s most -dramatic developments is how credit union users now expect real-time data 24/7, Brian Lynch, president and founder, Advantage Systems, offered. This parallels Netflix, Twitter, Facebook and Google’s content on demand capability. “It was only a matter of time before the benchmarks set by these organizations made their way into the technology used by credit unions.”
Matt Baaki, chief technology officer, Member Driven Technologies, stated, “More data has been created in the past two years than in the history of the human race. This year, more credit unions successfully leveraged their data, making strides in knowing their members, smarter business decisions and improving overall communications.”
Baaki suggested previously credit unions struggled with ways to convert big data into actionable smart data. “When we look back at the data rich insights sure to come, 2018 will be viewed as the pivotal year.”
Although enhanced data command and controls are now mainstream, Denis Brosnan, president/CEO, DIMONT, observed, one of the more substantial challenges is siloed data in legacy systems and credit union’s often insufficient IT resources to overcome this. “Fortunately, over the past year, broader-scale technology and services vendors enabled their credit union clients to enjoy the wide-ranging data visibility we typically see in larger banking clientele.”
Shawn Eftink, product manager, Computer Services, Inc. managed services pointed to leveraging big data, along with the rise of AI and machine learning, as the most important trends affecting credit unions. “These innovations power such tools as next-gen chat bots to improve the customer experience and optimized products needed for multi-channel touchpoints.”
Effective data use through analytics allowed credit unions to make better, targeted product recommendations and helped curb cart abandonment by removing friction and quickening onboarding and checkout processes, David Eads, CEO, Gro Solutions, maintained. “Credit unions made big strides to better leverage digital technologies, but specifically when it came to their digital marketing.”
Raddon chief economist Bill Handel conveyed how credit unions need to focus on digital, branch experiences and other areas – but the thing having the greatest influence for many is almost certainly going to be data. “Credit unions should be asking themselves ‘how do we become better at utilizing the data that we’ve got to be pinpointed and thoughtful about how we interact with members?’ Technology is going to power the answer to that question.”