FAA FCU Turns To MRM Application To Help It Boost Sales, Provide Choices

Like so many mid-sized credit unions serving a diverse membership demanding various delivery channels, FAA FCU is heralding that brave new philosophy-relationship management-and the technology that goes with it

"We feel we have to provide as many choices as possible," said President Stan Fraser. "Consequently, we need a way to analyze all the avenues."

FAA FCU, serving more than 40 SEGs and 14,000 members nationwide, partnered in October with Orem, Utah- based SOSystems to run on its Centryx Information Technology System (Centryx IT/S).

The member relationship management (MRM) system is designed to gather disparate member data into a single repository, with a goal of enabling the $76-million CU to know its members better, anticipate their buying habits, and offer a seamless touchpoint throughout the organization.

A credit union can "run systems separately or synergistically," Fraser commented. "Hopefully by combining elements we're able to run things on better economies of scale and for improved member service."

That's easier said than done. Credit unions often find that such a strategy and its technology take a year or two to get off the ground, as they adjust to a whole new business culture-one that manages relationships with its clients.

Still Learning System

"We're still learning how to use all the system options that are available," Fraser reported. "The relationship management part of this is at a higher level. We're not to that level yet."

Currently, FAA FCU is taking advantage of the Centryx IT/S Alerts/Notifications Package, which addresses the MRM strategy of integrating multiple touchpoints. The system combines its own transactions with those generated from connected sources, such as Internet Banking, Telephony Services, Point of Sale, Mobile Banking and ATMs.

By capturing and continuously analyzing member data in its Central Information File, the system is able to match members to credit union products.

'A Wonderful Thing'

"We know what products we should cross-sell to people and that's a wonderful thing," said Fraser.

The credit union is also tackling the analysis of back office reports, including loan volume and growth, new shares and new member and asset growth graphs. The next step is to evaluate the data's relevance in the total management effort.

After looking at several MRM systems offered by industry vendors, FAA FCU converted to Centryx. "We feel that SOSystems is a sleeping giant. We like the fact that the company has no debt. They've done very well for their credit union clients."

Particularly enticing was the core system's built-in Internet banking module, e*teller. Gone are the hassles of third- party homebanking integration- "it's sweet," Fraser said.

Centryx IT/S, built on SQL Relational Database technologies, is currently implementing further enhancements, including member profiles, product history and overall importance ratings.

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