Will 2020 be the year of data transformation your credit union really needed?

Here’s one thing that hasn’t changed in this year of massive change: consumers still do not want to be sold generic financial products. Another: banking still isn’t something people love doing, nor feel very confident about.

What they do want are simpler, smarter solutions and personalized experiences to help them manage their unique situation – so that they can spend as little time as possible thinking about it, while avoiding the pit in their stomach that says they’re probably doing it wrong. But we’re not making their experiences intuitive, simple, seamless and fast, if we’re not leveraging data analytics insights.

Even before the pandemic hit in Q1, a study from the Center for Financial Services Innovation found that 58% of US consumers shared that they were “struggling financially.” Today, so many households face uncertainty and economic hardships that have especially hit millennials hard, on top of crushing student loan debt. 

Enter the new “gold” in 2020: actionable data analytics to improve user journeys and increase relationships.

Helping members build, or rebuild, their financial health will require credit unions to reach a whole new level of data analytics, effective visualized insights and usage – and fast. Waiting on long-term data warehouse development projects that don’t have member relationships built into strategy and execution will prove costly ahead.

The need has never been more urgent to finally execute on “data transformation” that has gone from an industry buzzword to a top strategic priority for credit unions nationwide that are struggling to drive business results and ROI. (For insights on how to ensure results and impacts right from the start, see the White Paper; Harnessing Next-Gen Data: Speed to Leverage Data to Improve Relationships is No Longer an Option)

What exactly will the early impacts of successful data transformation look like, when it’s implemented?

• Empowered decision makers sharing visualized business intelligence that they can interact with to self-serve answers to performance and trend questions instantly, and then act on immediately to test and learn in real time. 

• Simplified and automated processes and work flows (previously manual, dated and costly) to make banking easier and faster for members – and more effective, rapid and measurable for staff. 

• Clarity on the best growth segments in the market that are most likely to be attracted to join, as well as most likely to develop lifetime highly engaged relationships that are mutually beneficial (yes, even profitable).

• A clear strategy driving genuinely helpful, personalized digital content, delivered to the right people, at exactly the right time – including a highly impactful member onboarding program.  

• Richer, more productive conversations focused on target personas, with staff empowered with data insights to anticipate members’ needs – and offer tailored solutions that can make a real difference. 

• Branding (the verb, ongoing) with a true omnichannel perspective – meaning everything from digital and social, to where branches are located with insights delivered to mobile apps, behind the firewall, and every ad, email, website visit, and call center interaction in between. 

The right data insights, used the right way, will enable all of these outcomes to enrich and improve experiences, measure ROI and automatically report outcomes. 

Credit unions were built out of need in tough times, for people to come together and help each other raise up their financial situation. This moment in our history is a call to action for credit unions to build hope and solutions once again: this time with a next generation of intelligent data and tools. Credit union leaders who get this right will strengthen their sustainability and the lives of their members enormously, at a time we all need it most. Are you ready, or waiting to act?