Credit Union Providers Open Up About Cores
Fintech experts believe credit unions should move on from legacy systems to unlock member information.
No single financial technology system can do everything, so many credit unions understand their cores must integrate with third-party providers and application programming interfaces to deliver experiences their members demand.
Since much of new fintech is only functional with the right data input, credit unions should move on from legacy systems to unlock member information. “The first thing about being an open environment is you have got to have easy access to the data stored in the system,” Ted Bilke, president of the Monett, Mo.-based Jack Henry & Associate’s Symitar division, observed.
The first of a two-part look at open cores, Bilke, and three other credit union fintech providers present their perspective: Gary Lee, vice president of client relations and sales at Farmington Hills, Mich.-based CUSO, Member Driven Technologies; Amber Harsin, EVP market engagement, Layton, Utah-based CUSO CUProdigy; Jeff Dent, chief technology officer, San Diego-based Corelation; and Jeff Levesque, CEO of Aurora, Colo.-based CUSO DaLand Solutions.
Part two of this story, in a few weeks, will offer the credit union viewpoint.
Toward an open environment, Symitar offers the Episys core processing platform, which allows easy integration of third-party applications. Symitar EASE is the outsourced delivery model of Episys.
About a year ago Symitar expanded its 15-year partnership with MDT, which provides the Episys platform and delivers a private hybrid cloud alternative for credit union core processing and IT needs.
“We’re trying to reduce our credit unions’ footprint from a hardware, infrastructure and IT perspective,” Lee said. “But if credit unions still like to touch, look and develop some of their own products, workflows or applications we will allow them to do that.”
CUProdigy delivers a modern, cloud-based core processing solution, it said is, unmatched in its functionality, openness, and pricing. “CUProdigy’s original core system started out like all the other legacy cores. It was built around a relatively closed database using relatively old tools,” Harsin held. “This was fine 20 years ago when the need for custom third-party integrations was still low.”
Dent maintained Corelation, with its KeyStone core platform, emphasizes delivering “more in the core” to substantially reduce the need for third-party solutions. “However, there are times when other solutions provide specialized functionality around a key business unit.”
Levesque and COO Jon Ungerland set up DaLand to focus on credit union relevance through sound strategic design, actualization and protection, and modernize credit unions’ operations and delivery channels. Levesque stated. “Centralization of data in a relevant core, and then extension of that data to the consumer is the only path towards being competitive, financially viable, and strategically sustainable.”
Read more about the vendor’s perspective of open cores in the February 20 issue of CU Times.