ORLANDO, Fla. — The ability to handle account origination via a tablet is critical to success. FAIRWINDS Credit Union realized this fact when it rolled out a proprietary iPad app at the University of Central Florida (UCF), a move that added more than 2,000 student members to its existing 162,000 member base.
"This key innovation has ultimately enabled credit union staff to move out of the branch to interact and provide financial resources to students and parents on their terms, in a simple manner," said FAIRWINDS CU Chief Information Officer, Charlie Lai. "The app will also serve as the foundation for the credit union's other branches to transform in-branch retail service delivery that is planned for later in 2013 or early 2014."
FAIRWINDS CU relationship with UCF dates back to 2005 when it was named the official credit partner of the Alumni Association. As a result, the credit union has been instrumental in the student banking program and has provided an on-campus branch and ATMs. The integrated card payment services platform is directly tied to university's existing student ID card program.
Understanding Millenials
Over the course of the last several years, the $1.7 billion FAIRWINDS CU looked for ways to heighten its on-campus presence and create what Lai called "a positive initial member experience for students." For the Millennial demographic, he knew that advancements in technological offerings was essential. As it turned out, orientation week proved to be the catalyst.
"Orientations are often a dizzying experience for new students and parents, and the credit union knew that to be successful, our efforts had to engage students quickly, based on their available time," said Lai.
Instead of looking to a vendor or third-party partner, FAIRWINDS CU developed an in-house branch account origination platform in 2011, which streamlined the membership and account origination processes in a matter of minutes. In order to achieve this capability, Lai explained the mobile app required several key elements, including meeting specific needs and processes of the students, ensuring the usability and resiliency of the app under a variety of conditions around the campus and maintaining a strong security profile.
"FAIRWINDS' technology team embarked on an internal development project to extend its existing account origination capabilities to the iPad tablet via a new mobile app designed specifically for credit union staff to use during orientation events," noted Lai.
The app also needed to facilitate the linking of the student's ID card, which Lai said is essentially "a dual-purpose reloadable card tied to the student's checking account." The employee-facing app development was completed in roughly three weeks and was piloted in December 2012.
Beta Testing
"We performed several weeks of beta testing before using the app at an orientation event," said Lai. "And there were plenty of lessons learned about connectivity and staff usage habits." Referring to it as "intuitive," Lai added that the app requires little training. "For the first orientation event, the first group of employees received roughly a 10 minute tutorial. It's just that easy."
With more students becoming members via the app each week, Lai said the initiative has heightened FAIRWINDS CU presence on campus and created positive banking experiences. And for other credit unions interested in this approach, Lai welcomes communication. "FAIRWINDS' branch account origination platform is available for purchase to Open Solutions core clients via the DNAappstore. The mobile origination add-on is available for purchase directly through FAIRWINDS."
