Better Connections

CU: Technology CU

Category: Tailored Technology

Technology Credit Union members are getting superior service and they might not even know it.

While cross selling and member relationship management are nothing new to the credit union community, Technology CU entered the Best Practice arena by using its own staff to design an application, Member Connect, that harnesses the power of several existing applications offered by Summit Information Systems.

Technolgy CU uses Summit's Branch Suite, which offers graphic presentations of member information, member profiles at teller locations and loan desks, plus a document archival system that converts documents to PDF files automatically. In 2004, Technology CU staff began to realize that all of Branch Suite's applications could be integrated into one portal for easy access. Programming staff developed Member Connect to allow employees working with members a faster or more complete way to examine all member data, including previous transactions or loans.

A Single Sign-On

With Member Connect, frontline staff have a single sign-on process for one portal that displays all member information, e-statements for outstanding loans and deposits, third-party investment balances, in addition to archived signature card images. With their previous systems, TCU employees had to use up to three different applications, each with its own sign-in procedure, to access a member's complete account records.

"This is the one place you can get all member information," Technology SVP Leslie Jeffries said.

In one stroke, Technology CU used in-house staff to increase member service and reduce employee training time as there is no longer any need to use several applications for only one member. Technology CU plans to continually evolve Member Connect with additional plans to include all loan origination workflow applications, electronically capture signatures and photo identification, personalized member marketing, integrate member biometrics, streamline check ordering and enhance fraud detection.

"It's really cut down on our training time," said Kevin Campion, an applications analyst. "They (employees) spend less time looking for information and more on assisting the member."

All 235 Technology CU staff have access to Member Connect with varying levels of access to ensure account security. Technology Credit Union serves 71,000 members with $1.2 billion in assets.

There is essentially no member feedback about Member Connect, as the application is transparent to members, but Technology CU executives said the credit union's staff has been very enthusiastic about the new solution.

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