Engaged employees create satisfied digital members
Credit union leaders know the importance of providing their members a quality digital experience, especially as mobile and online banking transactions are growing, while visits to brick and mortar locations are decreasing. For the vast majority (88%), this digital transformation is “extremely or quite important”, as CO-OP Financial Services (CFS) found in its recent survey of 221 credit union leaders. Yet, nearly half of the respondents felt their credit union provided an “inferior or far inferior” digital experience when compared to the digital leaders like Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple. Only 10% felt that their credit union was “meeting the high standard these companies set.” Whether it’s apps, websites, artificial intelligence or blockchain technology, the modern digital age is causing credit union leaders to take a hard look into what their members’ digital experience means for business.
The digital transformation, which might have started as an effort to reduce operating costs, is rapidly becoming a necessity for serving members, and even for a credit union’s survival. People expect more, and are prepared to leave behind those not measuring up. They want an easy, streamlined interface with technology. They can be finicky about adopting digital approaches and inter-generational differences can be challenging. Most credit union leaders are responding to this challenge. According to CFS, 73% say they are planning to increase budgets for digital initiatives in the next year to address this need.
Your employees are on the front lines in transforming the member experience, and employee satisfaction drives member satisfaction. This is just as true in our current digital world as it has been in the past. IBM published a recent study that noted that for companies pursuing digital strategies, those that beat their peers in revenues and profits, found their employees’ positive experience was directly related to customer satisfaction. Happy employees make happy members. These outperforming companies comprehend that reinventing the member digital experience must also be positive for employees. In fact these companies find that when their customers are not satisfied, their employee morale suffers. Their employees are invested in making sure customers are happy.
Competition for talent is often the limiting factor for digital transformation. Indeed 39% of credit union leaders told CFS that lack of technology capabilities among staff and outside partners is inhibiting their digital transformation. A healthy culture with first-rate employee communication will serve you in recruiting and retaining the talent needed to tackle this digital world. So, with this digital need in mind, companies are re-examining their talent recruitment and retention strategies, rethinking employee performance metrics and incentives, and reconsidering employee promotion and succession plans.
Reaching outside of the credit union staff for expertise seems particularly important to help with the heavy lifting of digital strategy development and implementation. Experts help to get it right, by bringing a broad perspective and deep level of experience. Technical specialists can inform IT, and change management specialists can interface with leadership to make sure strategy implementation supports a healthy organizational culture. This eco-system of internal and external support can serve to establish a digital brand that reflects the strong set of core values and mission upon which the credit union industry was founded.
