GLASGOW, Scotland–Just how “future ready” is your credit union? Should you be hiring videogame designers? Perhaps, especially after a survey of CUs here found that about half believe they are prepared for what’s to come, with one expert offering seven pieces advice on what CUs should be doing to prepare.
Ian Kahn, an author, futurist and documentarian, told the World Credit Union Conference here that the planet stands on the cusp of a fifth industrial revolution (following the harnessing of steam power, electricity, automation, and the current era in which the gap between people and machines has been closed). Now, artificial intelligence is about to change everything again, and credit unions will be left behind if they are not preparing now, he said.
“AI will automate everything, including white collar jobs. The future is less about people performing tasks, and automation and machines taking over,” he told an audience representing more than 50 countries. We don’t have to be afraid of that era. The next generation will have other things to do, just as we do compared to our forefathers.”
As a demonstration of his subject matter, Kahn put a QR code on the screen that audience members shot a photo of with their phones and which in turn took them to a survey on their CU’s readiness for the future. The results indicated that while not unprepared, most CUs believe they have a long way to go.
Credit unions will have no choice but to adapt, he said.
“One of the things that is constant and consistent is always change. It’s always going to happen,” he said. “If people are resistant to change, that’s where friction occurs.”
Kahn said the change is occurring everywhere and it’s affecting members in many ways, including healthcare, work, education, manufacturing, retail, customer service, finance, security, entertainment and food services.
The Revolutionary of Tomorrow
According to Kahn, the “revolutionary of tomorrow” will be businesses and individuals who help people to:
- Stay connected
- Stay healthy
- Stay entertained
- Stay informed
- Stay with trend
- Be enabled
- To participate
As an example, Kahn said there are toilets in development that will accomplish all of those things.
“Technology is taking place at an exponential pace,” he said “Many things are in the pipeline: how do we make sense of all this?
A Technology Update
According to Kahn, technologies that deserve attention moving forward include:
Automation
“The first thing that is going to change everything generally for your members is automation. Transportation, storage and manufacturing sectors will face the highest number of jobs lost to automation,” he said.
Credit unions also need to be responding to the rise of the new economic models, he said, including the creator economy, cryptoeconomy, algorithmic economy, NFT economy and the metaverse economy.
“The big question is how will we adapt?” said Kahn. “Will CUs tackle the metaverse? Will CUs of the future use the metaverse to connect with members? Yes. There is a major U.S. bank (Bank of America) in the metaverse. I think it’s great The metaverse could be something of interest and I would suggest you pay attention to it and see what is possible.”
Algorithms
Kahn quoted the observation, “If every algorithm suddenly stopped working, it would be the end of the world as we know it,” and noted that in his home country of Canada a recent failure of algorithms shut down phone services for several days.
“You should speak to technology companies about how algorithms affect your servicers,” he recommended. “They can do wonders when it comes to customer service.”
Convergence
Kahn defined “convergence” as multiple technologies working together seamlessly. One example: robots.
With robots, “in the next five to 10 years I would expect some of these to be in a customer-facing position where you don’t have people available or need people available 24/7.
Decentralization & Web 3.0
“Decentralization on its own is going to have a huge impact on some major industries, including the financial industry logistics, transportation, travel and others,” said Kahn. “Web 3.0 is the new evolution of the industry. I really suggest you pay attention to it.”
Token Economy
“Tokenization is the process of digitizing a service or a product and making it available on a distributed database, such as Blockchain,” Kahn explained. “I think it’s going to take five to 10 years before NFTs are stable. But right now real estate industry has already started to use NFTs.”
The Experience
Kahn quoted a report from Salesforce that forecast in the future the most successful businesses will employ experts in videogame and spatial computing.
“Start thinking as an experiential credit union. Start thinking about how we can deliver an experience where our member is going to recommend us to another person.
The Era of Personal Big Data
“We are generating a lot of data. But not a lot of businesses are using that data,” he said. “If you want to be an experiential credit union, you have to start using that data.”
Seven Ways to the Future
Kahn shared the quote, “If you do not know where you are, you cannot find your way.”
For credit unions to find their way, according to Kahn, there are seven aspects of being a future-ready credit union. Those include:
- Engagement. “How we perceive things is changing.”
- Learning. “Seventy-four percent of workers say a lack of employee development opportunities is preventing them from reaching their full potential. Become a learning organization.”
- Are You People Focused? “We all can say we are people-focused, but why is there so much frustration with people saying they are not being heard? Companies are 77% more likely to perform well financially when their employees feel heard, engaged and have a sense of belonging.”
- Culture. “Focus on your credit union’s culture. How do people define your organization? How do they feel going to work?”
- Partnerships. “How well are you leveraging partnerships? Do you have a partnership program in place or is it just a randomized list of things?”
- Adoption of Technology. “Start looking at how technology can help you do the many challenges in front of you, and not just serving members.”
- How Does Your Credit Union Execute? “Sixty-seven percent of strategic failure is because of the lack of execution. Maybe you should scale down on things and only do the things you can do.”