The latest from Kirk Drake

Aug 31, 2017 - by Kirk Drake, Ongoing Operations, LLC

When should a credit union hire a consultant?

Credit Unions love investing in their people, but that doesn’t stop them from hiring consultants. Lots of consultants. Consultants can be great, and sometimes, they can prove not so ...

Jul 26, 2017 - by Kirk Drake, Ongoing Operations, LLC

How will autonomous vehicles impact your credit union?

Few would claim that they could have predicted the impact a technology company (Uber) would have on credit union balance sheets.  If you envisioned this future – well played!  For the ...

Jun 30, 2017 - by Kirk Drake, Ongoing Operations, LLC

What can credit unions learn from Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods?

Whole foods has scale. In fact, they have 1.7% of the US market (according to Statista). Given that credit unions account for approximately 7-8% of the US market, Whole ...

Jun 1, 2017 - by Kirk Drake, Ongoing Operations, LLC

If I was running a credit union: The insider/outsider perspective

Do you ever have members who apply for loans that aren’t right for them, or who make financial mistakes that you has a banker would easily avoid?  Or maybe ...

Mar 27, 2017 - by Kirk Drake, Ongoing Operations, LLC

How much will a data breach cost your credit union?

One of the scariest things to any credit union board, CEO, or CIO is the prospect of your members’ data being hacked.  Seeing yourself on the front page of your ...

Jan 30, 2017 - by Kirk Drake, Ongoing Operations, LLC

Credit union technology trends for 2017

Each year, I take time to reflect on the changes that will be impacting our industry in the upcoming year.  Aside from the usual regulatory challenges and never ending stream ...

Jan 5, 2017 - by Kirk Drake, Ongoing Operations, LLC

If you could track member data like cash in a branch, would you?

In every credit union I have worked in, the credit union knows where every ounce of cash is at all times. We know which drawers have it, which tellers, which ...

Nov 10, 2016 - by Kirk Drake, Ongoing Operations, LLC

Merger or consolidation: Which strategy is right for your credit union?

Throughout my 20+ years in the credit union industry, I have heard many credit unions discuss developing a “merger” strategy.  In reality, the majority of credit unions only consider consolidation ...