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Credit union software that “learns”: How one CUSO is working with Microsoft to create CU applications that use machine learning
SALEM, OR (May 14, 2015) — Imagine if your credit union had software that could predict when members were going to make a significant purchase, and those predictions became more accurate over time? You could offer just the right product at exactly the right time, providing better service to members and better results for the credit union.
That’s the promise of machine learning, an emerging discipline that has been responsible for innovations such as speech recognition software and self-driving cars. Now, machine learning is beginning to influence the credit union world.
Microsoft has tapped a CUSO in Oregon, CU Wireless, as the partner in a software development program designed to apply the CUSO’s growing expertise in machine learning in novel ways. CU Wireless is already applying principles of machine learning in the next version of its Buy Local app, a mobile app that allows credit union members to receive targeted offers from local merchants. The app was originally developed to build upon the award-winning Buy Local program from Maps Credit Union in Salem, Oregon.
Initially, Maps Credit Union simply wanted to use mobile devices to replace printed coupons associated with its Buy Local initiative. Soon they began to see far greater potential. Offers could be targeted based on analysis of purchase behavior, and credit unions certainly have raw material for such analysis: rich transactional databases.
Both Maps and CU Wireless benefit from a unique resource: a shared team of talented software developers. The group’s work recently earned Maps Credit Union a Celent Model Bank Award, putting the $500 million credit union on stage with much larger institutions, such as Barclays Bank. The development team also worked to make CU Wireless a Microsoft Silver Partner for Application Development.
Software Development Manager Loren Paulsen leads the group of developers. Aside from creating stand-alone applications, Paulsen and his team actively seek opportunities to improve business processes throughout the credit union and CU Wireless. Whether it’s improving an existing product like Buy Local, or helping numerous, disparate credit union systems “talk” to each other, Paulsen’s group is in constant pursuit of greater efficiency, ease of use, and tight integration.
Shane Saunders, vice president of development at Maps, sees endless possibilities arising out of the project with Microsoft. “Right now, we use our Buy Local app to build relationships between members, the credit union, and the local business community. Partnering with a powerhouse like Microsoft creates amazing new opportunities that we’re just beginning to imagine.”
As for CU Wireless, they’re taking the partnership with Microsoft in stride. “It’s definitely a big deal,” says Chris Giles, CEO of CU Wireless, “but our team lives and breathes technology, application development, and innovation. For us, machine learning applications are just the next logical step.”
About CU Wireless
CU Wireless is a 100% credit union owned CUSO based in Salem, Ore. For more than two decades, CU Wireless has developed innovative software and software integrations for credit unions, with a particular emphasis in mobile technology.
About Maps Credit Union
Maps Credit Union has come a long way since a group of 17 volunteers joined together in 1935, running the credit union out of kitchens and living rooms in homes throughout Marion County, Oregon. Today, Maps serves nearly 50,000 members in Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Linn, Benton, Clackamas, Washington and Multnomah counties.