MADISON, Wis. -
CUNA Mutual Group has launched "The Greenhouse" a web-based tool to help innovative products and services flourish at www.cunamutual.com/thegreenhouse.
The meaning behind "The Greenhouse" name is that like a seed, an idea can start small and expand to have a major impact on the CU industry, said John Lass, senior vice president of product strategy for CUNA Mutual Group.
"The concept for the Greenhouse grew of work the product-development team had been conducting at CUNA Mutual for the past six months," Lass said.
The product-development team is comprised of product specialists at CUNA Mutual who are focused on bringing new, high-value-added products to the CU marketplace, Lass said. CUNA Mutual follows a five-step product-development process-the first step is "Idea Generation."
"The Greenhouse was conceived as a means of gathering new-product ideas from a variety of sources internal and external to CUNA Mutual," Lass said.
The reason this new Web tool is due to market research conducted two years ago indicating that credit unions throughout the country are looking for new products and services that could enhance the value they offer to their members, Lass said.
"Credit unions are asking CUNA Mutual to develop new products that enable them to compete in the increasingly dynamic world of retail financial services," Lass said. "The Greenhouse is one way to establish a disciplined and sustainable product-development process."
CUNA Mutual receives new product ideas often, Lass said, from many sources such as credit-union employees and members, and CUNA Mutual's internal staff, field-sales staff and Internet-market research personnel.
"We will use the Greenhouse as a means of gathering ideas from many of these same sources," Lass said. "Innovation requires a structure and culture that fosters creativity. The Greenhouse represents a new channel for our customers to offer their ideas, which our product-development team can consider, and potentially transform into valuable growth opportunities for our customers. Having this tool is particularly valuable during a time when the retail financial services industry is rapidly changing to keep pace with the economy, consumer needs and new technologies."
The Greenhouse supports CUNA Mutual's business strategy of "innovation," which can actually redefine the CU system, said Dave Lundgren, executive vice president and chief products officer for CUNA Mutual.
"Our approach to innovation starts with a common purpose and deep understanding of our customers," Lundgren said. "With this insight, we're applying expertise, process and investment to design a continuous pipeline of new products and services to service credit unions and their members."
One credit union CEO is already expressing appreciation for CUNA Mutual's new venue for accepting ideas.
"Now more than ever, credit unions must innovate and show creativity in product design and flexibility in order to remain relevant to consumers," said Mary Cunningham, president of USA Federal Credit Union, in San Diego. "By providing this tool for stimulating the creative juices of their credit-union partners, CUNA Mutual is demonstrating their intent to remove roadblocks and facilitate rapid market response to ideas an innovation."
Although not all submitted ideas will be transformed into new or different products, Lass that the process itself is valuable because it will help CUNA Mutual better understand customer needs.
The first batch of ideas submitted to the Greenhouse will be reviewed the end of this month.
