Press
Five credit unions win CUNA Technology Council ‘Excellence In Technology’ award
MADISON, WI (September 29, 2014) — Consumers CU, Mountain America CU, SACU, Service CU, and Workers’ CU were honored as winners of the 2014 CUNA Technology Council Excellence in Technology Awards at the Council’s 19th Annual Conference, which took place September 21-24 in Las Vegas, Nev. The CUNA Technology Council award recognizes outstanding approaches to technology challenges with potential for universal application across the credit union movement. The winners for 2014 are:
- Consumers Credit Union in Round Lake Beach, Ill. created a winning “New Branch Experience” using a new centralized branch service model with an interactive experience by members via video chat or phone call with the right expert employee for their specific needs. A branch concierge directs the member to an available service advisor, back office expert, or in-branch specialist at the same or different branch who can best help the member and this has more effectively utilized staff in less busy branches help serve members in the busier branches more quickly.
- Mountain America Credit Union in West Jordan, Utah had a winning entry with their innovative approach to wireless access for members and employees as well as wireless branch connectivity redundancy. Using a secure WiFi connection to branches provided backup connectivity which greatly reduced both connectivity downtime and costs. It also added WiFi access that allowed employees to demonstrate mobile apps in their branches which helped increase member adoption of mobile services, thus accomplishing multiple credit union goals at the same time with one solution.
- SACU in San Antonio, Texas had a winning entry with their creation of full service kiosks to improve member service convenience. They have not only provided another choice in how members can receive services, but have helped to retain and develop their existing member base and acquire new members in both existing and new locations and attained the goals of creating positive impressions of products and services with both current and potential members and greater channel integration and interdependence.
- Service Credit Union in Portsmouth, N.H. won for their new approach to data backups and DR preparedness. They eliminated the need for secondary backup tools and services in use, combined physical and virtual systems with the same backup solution, greatly reduced backup and recovery times, and automated work-flows with a user-friendly interface and “true” instant system and data recovery.
- Worker’s Credit Union in Fitchburg, Mass. won for their “Connections On-Line” program to greatly enhance collaboration of work by their employees on projects, and track and report project activities. Included are charts showing goal status by color, providing visual information on how well projects are meeting the goals of each department at the credit union. This status visibility within the credit union has motivated employees to improve the status color on activities to move them higher to bronze, silver, and gold status and improve the success of each project in meeting goals.
A panel comprised of CUNA Technology Council members selected the winners, based on strategy, process, application, and results, without regard to credit union asset size. Additional information about the awards and winning entries are available online at www.cunatechnologycouncil.org, select the “Excellence Awards” link contained in the “Events” pull down menu. CUNA Technology Council Established in 1995, the CUNA Technology Council is a member-led organization made up of more than 750 credit union technology experts across the United States. The Council’s goal is to shape the advancement of credit union technology by leveraging collective peer strength through the sharing of information and fostering of professional development. The CUNA Technology Council is one of the six organizations that make up the CUNA Councils, a network of more than 6,200 credit union professionals. For more information, visit www.cunatechnologycouncil.org or www.cunacouncils.org.