The optimum method to enhancing technology to improve member experiences, according to PSCU President and CEO Chuck Fagan, NAFCU CEO Dan Berger, and Suncoast Credit Union SVP of Digital Strategy Jana Manley, can be simplified down to a simple concept:
Don’t go for the gleaming squirrel.
According to research, 38% of CUs regard themselves as technological laggards, up from 29% last year. The increase is due in part to a reduction in technology funding, but it also reflects a rethinking of what innovation truly is.
However and, as Berger pointed out, “it is up to each individual institution to choose if members desire these innovations or if it fits within the CU’s economic model.”
“There’s been a long, historic pattern in the business where innovation has come in the shape of new goods and new services,” Suncoast’s Manley explained, and in pursuing the shiny object (or squirrel, as Berger puts it) — the diversion that’s drawn attention, money, and time.
“You just bolt on a product — and if you build it, they will come,” she remarked, referring to a long-standing slogan. There had been little time spent investigating how the bolt-on affected the entire consumer experience.
Prudent spending would be the norm of the day, as anticipated interchange revenue caps and card late payment fines would eat into the cash that finance innovation. Extending loans to small and medium-sized companies (SMBs) through digital channels is essential. Almost everyone will soon be able to make real-time payments.
The stakes are at an all-time high. According to the research, more than a quarter of clients polled would migrate from current CUs to more creative suppliers. Younger customers, the panellists agreed, are more prone to abandoning ship.
“The younger generations do not have the same tolerance for not getting what they want,” Fagan remarked.
