CENTRAL FALLS, R.I.-There exists a correlation between the immediacy of texting and mobile banking and the declining usage of e-mail and online banking. Not surprisingly, more and more credit unions are enhancing respective mobile offerings.
"We wanted to enter the realm of remote deposit capture, which of course makes it a lot easier for folks who cannot make into the branch to conduct their depository business," said Stephen Angell, president and CEO of Dexter Credit Union. "The best way for them to do it is with a mobile device and that was a key component of what we wanted to do."
With 6,400 members, 45 employees, two branches and $121 million in assets, Dexter Credit Union's new mobile platform was tied to its recent core conversion to Connecticut-based financial technology solutions provider, COCC.
Angell and his team understood that additional member-facing technologies would be required post-conversion, which led to a dual discovery phase.
"We were looking for a platform from which we could offer a whole host of banking conveniences that would allow us to be competitive with banks and credit unions of any size," said Angell. "We seriously looked at four vendors while we were selecting our core provider. We wanted to make sure that the technology we were introducing would dovetail with our core. Getting the user-experience right was our most important deliverable."
Training & Integation
After vetting and due diligence, Angell said the credit union decided to go with the Austin, Texas-based Q2ebanking. The vendor's suite of ebanking solutions includes online banking, text banking and mobile apps. Members can use iPhones and Androids for these services and also access bill pay through a single sign-on feature.
Since the mobile solution was determined before the core conversion, there was plenty of time for training and integration.
"We had as much time as we needed and conducted about 45 to 60 days of testing because we wanted our employees a chance to train and work in a beta environment," said Angell. "It is one thing to be trained, and another to be trained and then apply it."
A Look At What's Ahead
During the conversion process, Q2ebanking had one staff member on site and employees were also trained virtually via WebEx tutorials. While hard numbers have yet to be compiled since the recent mobile rollout, Angell noted "unsolicited" responses from members have been "positive."
Last year, approximately one-third of members were using the credit union's online banking offering. He estimates that in the coming years mobile will exceed that figure.
"Members using online banking continue to grow and while we have seen a spike in mobile activity since rollout, it is still too early tell," said Angell. "I think mobile will quickly equal online banking and even surpass it as it's the future of branch contact."
While Angell said it is difficult to determine the ROI, there was no other option other than investing in progressive technologies.
"For the younger demographic and tech-savvy members, mobile is a major selling point," said Angell. "And for those that are leery of mobile due to concerns such a security, once they see how easy it is, I think we will pick up more users. So, there is potential growth, but this is also just the cost of doing business because quite frankly if you don't have these services you will lose members."
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