“Staff appreciate having a chance to vet new products first,” says CUES member Nicole Heffelfinger, VP/operations at $900 million/73,000-member IBM Southeast Employees’ Federal Credit Union, Delray Beach, Fla. “But with EMV, it’s wise to develop an implementation plan early, collaborating with marketing, card services, compliance and training.”

For IBM Southeast EFCU, the process covered many months, beginning with the formation of a project team. Heffelfinger also recommends tailoring staff education and training based on position. “For us, training card services employees in the liability shift and EMV technology was much different from member service or teller training.” Her CU also used monthly touch points to keep managers and their departments in the loop on EMV certification and its impact on members; weekly team meetings were held based on relevance or need.

While it’s probably too much for most members, selected staff should have an understanding of the EMV certification process and complexity of aligning merchants, card issuers and partners. “It’s not fluid, nor will it be consistent,” continues Heffelfinger. Some merchants and markets will be chip-enabled right away, others will lag, including some financial institutions and retailers. But if key staff understand the process, they can better articulate to members why not all merchants are chip-enabled.”

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