By Ray Birch
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.—CO-OP Financial Services just concluded its first round of meetings for its new Co-creation Councils, teams organized to help shape the future of CO-OP and the entire CU movement as a more competitive and highly digital financial services marketplace emerges.
Chief Marketing and Experience Officer Samantha Paxson told CUToday.info that the councils generated a lot of ideas that will be acted on this year.
“We just finished the first meetings and we had 70 clients participate over three days,” said Paxson. “Our clients sat side-by-side with our senior management teams, product experts and technology leaders to co-create. They generated 250 ideas on things that CO-OP could impact. Those groups are now prioritizing the top ideas and then will work as a cohort to further those ideas that will impact our thinking as we move toward 2019.”
The Councils
As CUToday.info reported, the three councils are:
- The Strategy Co-creation Council, which will work jointly to provide strategic insight on the best use of CO-OP’s assets.
- The Solutions Design Co-creation Council, which will co-develop features on a wide range of products from payments tools to fraud prevention technologies.
- The Experience Co-creation Council, which will help optimize engagement and the service experience of credit union members and the credit union personnel who support them.
They Co-creation Councils replace the client advisory teams that had been in place at CO-OP and TMG prior to the consolidation of the two companies in April 2017.
“The client advisory teams were not as relevant anymore,” said Paxson. “And we have to move really fast as an industry now. These teams have moved from being advisory groups to councils that are much more strategic and focused on taking action.”
Action is needed today as fintechs elbow in on financial services and banks quickly ramp up their digital capabilities, noted Paxson.
“(Ernst & Young) just put out a report saying 85% of banks are investing in digital transformation to grow market share,” Paxson said.
Three Key Goals
Paxson said that the ultimate goals of the councils are to help credit unions grow market share, grow capital, and help more people.
“We have a unique opportunity here at CO-OP in that we touch more than 3,000 credit unions and 60-million-plus consumers. We have the second-largest branch network in the country and a giant network of ATMs,” she said. “We have a unique opportunity to capitalize on that and help credit unions achieve their macro-industry goals.”
The councils virtually meet each quarter and collaborate via an online community. They will also meet in person twice a year. The next formal meeting is in June.
Paxson said that focusing on the future of payments is just part of what the councils will address, but a big piece. She emphasized that it is important to find ways to help credit unions effectively leverage their data and artificial intelligence to customize payments experiences for members in real time.
Reaching Outside Borders
She also said the teams will look at how the credit union industry can reach outside its borders for partnerships, such as in the areas of healthcare or insurance, to bring more scale to the credit union space.
“We have never faced a more competitive marketplace,” Paxson said. “There are so many competing players getting into our space, consumers’ expectations are changing as they evaluate us against the largest brands. Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple are looking to get into our space. We have to be really mindful as to what all this will mean to credit unions. We have to take action and we have to make an impact.”