WASHINGTON-Small CUs often complain they can't afford a mobile solution, but NCUA's Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives says prices have declined so far that excuse won't cut it anymore.
"Mobile apps are dirt cheap-they really don't cost much money," said Bill Myers, OSCUI director. "Development costs for mobile apps are a few thousand dollars; so are the computers that support it. They're high tech, but they're not high cost."
Myers added that many CUs are finding success with mobile by basing their strategy around having a transactional webpage, though a number of analysts have told Credit Union Journal that a mobile-optimized webpage is too little too late at this point.
OSCUI's most popular program in 2012, said Myers, was based around new product initiatives, including 25 grants for electronic services-12 of which were for mobile apps. But Myers cautioned that small CUs shouldn't just assume that once they roll out a mobile app, growth will immediately follow.
"The problem with small credit unions is that if all they needed was a single mobile app, it would be an easy thing to do," he said. "But there's a whole spectrum of electronic product services. You might as well start with a Facebook and then go through transactional web pages, mobile apps, and keep going. It's hard to get the whole panorama in place at once."
