During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Louisiana Credit Union League sought to develop a platform for its members to collaborate when they could no longer meet up in person.
The League is finally ready to unveil that platform — bubble — which it developed with the Rockville, Maryland-based Breezio. Using this platform, the League aims to provide a digital community for members to tackle challenges such as vetting vendors and navigating regulatory changes.
“We were definitely hearing, especially in the new pandemic times, that everyone wanted networking … when we're not having in-person networking events, we really needed a space where our credit unions can network and ask questions about the things that are coming up day to day,” said Angela Melle, vice president of member engagement for the League.
Melle elaborated that the social media format used by bubble — which she likened to Facebook and LinkedIn — will additionally help to boost member adoption.
In a region like Louisiana, which has faced several natural disasters like
The group is currently in the midst of updating its association management system through a partnership with the customer relationship management provider Cobalt, allowing the League to automatically populate profiles on bubble using previously obtained member data. The platform is anticipated to go live in April.
The League's past efforts to keep members connected in the wake of floods and other destruction were well received, according to Joshua Poole, CEO of the $52 million-asset BRECO Federal Credit Union in Baton Rouge.
“Here in Louisiana, we’re no stranger to natural disasters," Poole said. "To help, especially during the pandemic, the League created an email chain that allowed credit unions to collaborate on best practices and other initiatives that they were doing to assist their members and their employees during the pandemic or various other natural disasters."
Poole emphasized that despite credit unions' wide range of asset sizes in the state, they all face similar challenges.
“There's a difference between a $1 billion-asset credit union and a $25 million-asset credit union from a complexity standpoint, but at the basic level they deal with similar concerns and issues," Poole said. "Good ideas can come from anywhere in the organization, from a part-time teller all the way up to the CEO or board, but also among small credit unions and large credit unions as well."
Benjamin Muscolino, president and CEO of Breezio, explained that the company seeks to ease the implementation and integration process for clients through an early question-and-answer stage, allowing those like the League to focus their efforts on the user experience and shaping the appearance of the platform.
“We try to give them a lot of documentation that they can fill out and answer questions about their primary goals and user group," Muscolino said. "From there, once we have those answers, we go do all of the site configuration for them and the process takes about a few months."
Breezio uses Amazon Web Services to host the social platforms and provide an expanded level of security while allowing the fintech to focus on tailoring the user experience.
The League is planning to launch the platform alongside a video series for members that details how to use bubble to converse with other members.
Using bubble as a central hub for communication, credit unions will be able to better share ideas for future consumer offerings and network with professionals at all employment levels, according to Poole.
“One thing I hope this platform accomplishes is opening up those channels all over the state and tearing down those silos that not only exist because of geographical distance, but just simply because I might not know someone that works at a credit union up in North Louisiana, that might have a great idea on something,” Poole said.
