HENDERSON, Nev.—Many credit unions are working to implement an omni-channel member experience. But many are also being challenged by internal issues, including turf battles and a lack of communication.
Bluepoint Solutions believes that 2017 will be a tipping point for omni-channel delivery in financial services, but it’s not going to take place without some operational soul searching.
Alissa Fry-Harris, director of marketing at Bluepoint, said that to effectively implement an omni-channel experience, CUs must look inside as well as outside—examine new ways to simplify operations and eliminate internal friction that results in lost opportunities.
“Fortunately, credit unions, with their inherent agility and deep commitment to member service, are poised to make the internal pivot needed in 2017,” she said.
New Decisions
Fry-Harris said that elevating the importance of the member experience at the credit union involves more than just making different decisions; it takes a different decision-making process.
“This starts with a deep dive analysis of your member groups. Demographics are always evolving, and each institution’s member pool shifts in unique and often unpredictable ways,” she said. “Shifts in age, language, technology savvy, and even location, all generate different consumer expectations and demands.”
Fry-Harris said credit unions must also understand how member groups are responding to the CU’s access channels and products.
“Are they shying away from some online services? How are they using branches?” she said. “Mike Kelly, the former CEO of PSCU and keynote speaker at the Bluepoint Solutions 2016 Annual Conference, points out that every member today—across all demographics—sees themselves as unique and wants to be served the way they want to be served.”
Alissa Fry-Harris, Bluepoint
Only after evaluating the membership and how they use the credit union does it make sense to consider what products, offered through specific channels, best match member needs, Fry-Harris said.
One challenge in this process is going to be addressing internal silos and eliminate them.
As an example, Fry-Harris pointed to enhancements rolled out by marketing and IT departments to improve mobile remote deposit capture for members. Yet the benefits aren’t passed on to business-account members, because their accounts are managed by a different department that is not partnering well with other areas.
“Or take the individual member who wants to move seamlessly among branch, online and mobile interactions,” Fry-Harris added. “Internal silos make it difficult to even see, much less put in place, workflows that allow members to do this.”
USAlliance FCU
There is ROI to be had for all the work involved, according to Fry-Harris. She pointed to USAlliance FCU, has replaced a “disappointing” mobile account opening process with a new omni-channel digital account opening solution.
Fry-Harris said the credit union was able to implement the new solution after rethinking its approach to internal processes and addressing the needs of individual member segments.
“Their success rate for capturing new accounts zoomed from 35% to 85%,” said Fry-Harris.
Fry-Harris said that next year represents a “fork in the road,” for credit unions.
“The forces of change are relentless, and shifts in member demographics, products, technologies and delivery channels, that once took years now happen in months,” she said. “Consumers have multiple options for each item on their growing list of financial needs, and they use every possible channel—from branch, online, mobile, interactive teller machines and ATMs. It takes awareness of how all the puzzle pieces fit together to provide a complete member experience.”