Imagine the ability to walk into your local credit union branch and walk out with a fully-activated debit or credit card. This can clearly be a differentiator from competitors that may be down the road from your credit union (and in the same zip code) and do not offer such a convenience – in particular if your member’s debit or credit card was lost, stolen or compromised and they needed a replacement card right away.
This is what instant issuance offers. Over the years, instant issuance has caught the attention of many consumers and financial institutions due to the benefits it provides. Thousands of financial institutions have taken advantage of integrating instant card issuance into various card portfolios – many are making it part of the overall business strategy because it helps increase card usage and activation, and ultimately helps create top-of-wallet and loyalty amongst members.
Credit Unions First to Adopt Instant Issuance
Instant issuance is not a new concept and has been around for decades. And, just like any technology innovation, instant issuance has gone through an adoption curve. In fact, when it was introduced into the market over 20 years ago, credit unions were the first to adopt it because it was seen as a competitive advantage over larger financial organizations. Because credit unions often implement strategies for member-driven services, many of them recognized early on that instant issuance provided them a superior way to offer payment cards. This was a clear customer service advantage over larger financial institutions.
There is no doubt that the market has seen a massive evolution of payment methods – from the use of cash and checks to plastic cards and mobile payments. In the early adoption phases of instant issuance, many credit unions and small financial institutions primarily focused on the instant issuance of debit cards. Now, as consumer expectations for on-demand services continue to rise, instant issuance is now implemented all over the globe (banks included) and being used for debit, credit and prepaid cards. There are now thousands of branches that offer this all over the world.
Consumer Demands Change and Evolve
How did we get here? Consumer behavior is constantly evolving, and today’s consumers are always connected via digital and social channels. Our fast paced, ever-changing world makes it important to enable consumers to have the ability to access services and get the things they need, when they need them.
More and more consumers are now expecting “immediate” or “personalized” convenience in almost any product or service that is on the market today – and banking and financial products are no different. Thankfully, the financial industry is so much more advanced now and has evolved with it (albeit sometimes slower), which has also been driven by innovation and consumer demand.
The technologies that we have today were not available decades ago when instant issuance was first introduced. The early adopters of instant issuance had to help us understand what worked, what didn’t and how we can continue to evolve it. Not only have payment methods evolved, so too has the ability to print various personalized photos and images on plastic cards, and have embossed or un-embossed (flat) cards part of various offerings to members. In addition, there are various hybrid card offerings, co-branded offerings and more.
Instant Issuance Is Here to Stay – Start Planning Now
Instant issuance is here to stay. With technologies evolving in financial institutions, infrastructures to support it and implementations now dialed in, instant issuance will likely only continue to grow over the next few years. Chances are, if your credit union is not offering it yet, another one in your zip code is or will be soon.
The good news is there are many credit unions that were early adopters and helped pave the way for those who are just now implementing it, are about to or are still considering it. If credit unions can start planning now, understand the lessons learned by those who have come before them, and the key areas of consideration for an instant issuance program, prioritizing elements of the program can help ensure your investment is well thought out.
Lessons Learned and Things to Consider
- Determine right away what cards you want to instantly issue. Whether it is debit or credit, contactless or dual-interface cards, personalized or co-branded, understanding the end product will help plan your program needs accordingly. Work with a vendor that can start with your needs and then scale and adapt as your members’ and your needs evolve and change as well. In addition, discuss with your vendor the varying deployment models out there based on what your credit union needs and wants.
- Not all hardware is created equal. There are various printing options out there for instant issuance programs, including direct-to-card and retransfer printing and/or embossing. The printers that are on the market today have advanced quite a bit to ensure high-quality printing of payment cards, but not all are created equal. Make sure and look at varying prints and quality (of the images you want printed) before determining how you would like to move forward. After all, financial institutions want their instantly issued cards to last to their expiration date.
- Software matters. Although many times financial institutions look at the print quality of cards, the true secret sauce to an instant issuance program is the software. The good news is that technology integrations have become more streamlined and accessible – enabling financial institutions to more easily implement products and services. But not all vendors have true integration for the card issuance process. Working with a vendor that has true integration into core and transaction processing networks enables optimized card production and activation, eliminating unwanted steps needed for instantly issuing cards. This makes the process simpler, easier and more streamlined.
- Understand the technology integrations and/or interfaces that you may need on your network. It’s important to understand what servers, firewalls and database requirements are needed for your financial institution, and then see how instant issuance software can run on the network. The simpler it is to deploy, update and maintain, the better. Also determine if it is browser-based or runs on individual PCs. If it is browser-based and can have unlimited users, this is ideal. This way, no additional client software will be required, and software enhancements/updates can be automatically updated. Additionally, the latest software version is always on your network.
- The need to securely manage supplies and card inventory. If your credit union wants to implement an instant issuance program, it is important to understand that card stock and supplies need strict controls and processes for receiving, securing and managing card stock inventory and supplies.
- Ease of branch training. The industry sees quite a bit of teller turnover at financial institutions. Training new employees on various software applications can be cumbersome and time consuming. Having an instant issuance software application that is easy to understand, is simple to use, requires a limited number of steps and is intuitive to those who are setting up accounts is extremely important.
- Customer service from your Vendor is imperative. Work with a vendor that does not just work with you to get your business, but one that can truly be a partner with you. This is a large investment for your credit union, and you want to partner with a vendor that can help you every step of the way – even after all is implemented.
- Don’t forget to promote your program to your membership. The saying “if you build it, they will come” should not be entirely expected for your instant issuance program. Do not forget to market the offering to members and let them know all you have to offer them.
Paul Schwerdtfeger is Western Regional Director for Matica, a global technology company providing products in the secure ID and payments industries.