VERNON HILLS, Ill.—Just two years since its inception, Credit Union Financial Exchange (CUFX) has made significant strides in developing vendor-agnostic standards for the credit union industry with the goal of making product and service integration easier and less expensive.
"There is still some confusion on the basic concept. Some think we are creating a product, others think we are creating software, others think we are selling something. We are doing none of these," said Baxter Credit Union's Senior Vice President of Information Technology, Jeff Johnson.
"CUFX is truly specifications that help cores, vendors and credit unions decrease the cost, complexity and time required for software integration," added Johnson who also serves as Chairman of CUFX' Steering Committee, which has received funding from numerous credit unions and the CUNA Technology Council.
The process of cross-integrating vendor standards within the credit union industry was born out of necessity; although for many supporters, it can't come soon enough. "As I talk to my peers in both large and small credit unions the response is pretty universal that this is a great concept and 'why did it take so long for our industry to do this,'" noted Johnson.
Johnson said the movement has benefited from other credit unions executives serving in a voluntary capacity on the Steering Committee, including Heather Moshier (San Diego County Credit Union), Chad Graves (Entertainment Credit Union), Belinda Caillouet (Spokane Teachers Credit Union), John Best (Wescom Credit Union) and Kyle Welsh (BECU). On the vendor side, Open Technology Solutions, LLC and Finivation Software have added valued industry experience and insights to the committee.
"CUFX is not designed to be an academic exercise," said Brian Bodell, CEO of Finivation Software. "Rather this will be actively used throughout the credit union industry."
CUFX a Win-Win-Win
While Bodell and Johnson explained that CUFX is still in the "specification" phase, there have been beta implementations, which have demonstrated promise. In total, Johnson said there are roughly six CUFX implementations in production or in the development process.
While he couldn't divulge specific information on all campaigns, he offered results from Baxter CU's program that launched in May 2013. The CUFX specification went live between MoneyDesktop, PSCU and Symitar's Episys core platform, he explained. To this end, standards were developed for personal finance management (PFM) integration with MoneyDesktop and Freedom Pay stored-value card integration into Baxter CU's online banking platform.
"CUFX is a win-win-win for all industry stakeholders. Core processors and vendors benefit by decreasing resources spent on software integration and hopefully the reallocation of their resources to making improvements in their product and increased sales. Credit unions win by reducing the complexity, cost and extended timelines of software integration," said Johnson. "Members win by getting more innovative products and services faster."
While intuitively a logical concept, CUFX is what Bodell refers to as an "ambitious" undertaking. "I am terribly impressed with CUNA Technology Council, Jeff Johnson and Heather Moshier, among others, who have stepped up to get this on the stage."
Bodell reiterated Johnson's stance that CUFX is not trying to change vendor pricing or licensing models. Rather, the focus is on educating the industry. "Now it's up to credit unions to push the vendor community to do this," said Bodell. "Ultimately it comes down to how attractive it will be, but I think it will be a tremendous win that pays dividends to credit unions."
The Future of CUFX
In September, CUFX was a hot topic at the 2013 CUNA Technology, Operations, Sales and Service Council Conference held in Hollywood, Calif. Bodell moderated a panel of credit unions leaders in this space that included Johnson. The well-attended, interactive presentation demonstrated that more and more industry players are looking at this model as a future reality.
"There is widespread belief that CUFX will make software integration much easier. We have had widespread participation from numerous cores and third-party vendors in the development of CUFX," said Johnson. "A few of the cores, such as Symitar and Fiserv-OSI, have been particularly supportive and have embedded members of their development teams in the CUFX working groups."
The participation and support by leading core providers has "proven critical" in helping to make CUFX robust and industry-ready, noted Johnson. And with more implementations planned in the near term, he said that 2014 is slated to be a big year for CUFX. Initiatives include a cloud-based CUFX testing service that will be used in the application development process to check adherence to standards.
"There are going to be dozens of CUFX implementations with vendors and credit unions and inclusion of CUFX in core processors officially supported interfaces," said Johnson. "There will be much wider knowledge and adoption throughout the industry."
