Embracing Technology, Effectively & Collectively

By Marvin Garland, LEVERAGE, LSCU Service Corporation

“Speed is becoming the biggest challenge for businesses today. Constant speed is not sufficient…is your credit union moving at the speed of business? Speed, flexibility, and rapid adoption will be core corporate capabilities going forward.” Brian Sommer, senior advisor, Members Development Company

In this day and age, speed is synonymous with technology. Now more than ever, consumers want immediate gratification when it comes to retrieving and receiving information. (Think account balance and loan application approval as examples.) Tablets and smartphones are taking the place of desktops and laptops, allowing consumers the freedom to “step away” from their desk whether it’s at home or the office. Ultimately, they want your information to find its way to their device.

This instant gratification also has another side to it, the business side: your credit union and how it operates. Is your credit union moving at the “speed of business?”

Credit unions are facing a myriad of challenges day-to-day – like many financial institutions – and implementing emerging business trends has become more of an integral aspect of success. For instance, credit unions are feverishly trying to monitor the rise of new technologies and solutions, large-scale economic forces, competition, and innovation, as well as an ever-changing workforce and staff.

How aware are you of these new technologies and solutions that are available today and what can they do for your credit union? Do you think technology is just a fad or too risky or too expensive to utilize in your credit union operations? Are you open to learn about these new technologies in the interest of your credit union, regardless of your personal fear of technology? If you answered “no” to the first and last question, you’re losing out on potential opportunities to operate your credit union efficiently and to serve your members effectively.

Take cloud-based technology, for instance. The term “cloud” means a significant shift in considering how to best deliver services to members more efficiently. Here are some examples of what cloud solutions can do for your credit union:

  • Help better utilize credit union resources
  • Decrease IT workload and transfer low-value work (maintaining, patching software)
  • Reduce physical hardware
  • Make managing processes easier by consolidating efforts on a single server
  • Increase financial savings through resource allocation
  • Simplify data storage and server space
  • Improve storage backup and failover capability

Another form of fast-paced technology to mention is collective buying through ePurchasing events. Envision an online environment where vendors are bidding for your business during live events, and credit unions are generating an average of more than 20 percent savings. This type of collaborative purchasing redefines the traditional purchasing process and provides an online platform for credit unions to collaborate on the products or services they need and create a greater purchasing efficiency ─ an efficiency they may not be able to obtain on their own despite the relationship they may have with a particular vendor.

Last but definitely not least, is social media. Social media – YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and everything in between – is a cost-effective (FREE) and collective way for credit unions to engage and communicate, not only with their members, but also with potential members through their smartphones and tablets. Remember, consumers want information to find its way to their device.

Are you willing to become an innovator, adopt technologies that enhance business, or are you lagging behind due to unwillingness to break from traditional business practices and processes? All technology will not be for every credit union but, in one form or another, we need to embrace the available technology to operate effectively. The better we perform, individually and collectively, the more people will see why credit unions give banking a better name.

Marvin Garland

Marvin Garland

Marvin Garland is the Chief Operating Officer for LEVERAGE, the LSCU Service Corporation. LEVERAGE is a business services provider that has a revolutionary ePurchasing platform and a contract management system ... Web: www.myleverage.com Details