ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The word "collaboration" has long been a buzzword at credit unions, and one CUSO continues to see strong success by encouraging a unique mix of collaboration and competition that has helped CUs with another buzzword: innovation.
PSCU here launched KnockOut in 2012, a 24-hour competition inspired by "hackathons" occasionally held within the technology industry. Fredda McDonald, EVP and chief creative officer at PSCU, said that the idea was to adapt a hackathon to the CU community to see what kinds of innovations, products or solutions could be dreamed up in 24 hours.
While traditional hackathons set out to solve an identified problem, McDonald said the idea behind KnockOut was to give participants the opportunity to create new ideas.
"Ideas are the most important currency we have to trade, and great ideas are in short supply," she said. "Great ideas are born out of a quantity of good ideas, and when people get together and start to generate good ideas, together they iterate those and make them great ideas."
Along with teams from PSCU's member credit unions, subject matter experts from vendors such as First Data, MasterCard and elsewhere also participated, along with PSCU staffers.
"When people had a question in mid-stream, whether it was 3 p.m. or 11 p.m., we had people available to answer those questions," said McDonald. "If, for instance, somebody came upon a technical glitch and wondered if First Data's platform supported that, First Data was there to answer that."
Multiple Cases Of Red Bull
Aside from buying multiple cases of Red Bull, McDonald said that the events do not cost PSCU much money. Rather, she said, it utilizes assets the CUSO already has in place, such as its MoPro lab with whiteboard walls, PSCU staff and its in-house coffee bar, MoJoe, which extends its hours during the competition.
"We feel like it's an investment in our credit unions and an investment in the ideas that will drive our industry forward," she said.
Once the 24-hour window closes and KnockOut participants complete their projects, each team makes a brief presentation to judges, after which this year's 19 teams were narrowed down to three finalists whose ideas were voted on by PSCU's employees and staff at participating CUs. This year's winning idea was a switch kit concept from Tampa-based GTE
PSCU recently hosted its second KnockOut competition, drawing 87 participants to the CUSO's locations in both St. Petersburg and Phoenix, along with participants joining the process via Google Hangout technology.
That's about a dozen more than participated in the 2012 competition, and McDonald said the field will likely widen in 2014. The CUSO is building another MoPro lab at its facility in Detroit, and McDonald said PSCU hopes to have contestants working in facilities in St. Petersburg, Phoenix and Detroit next year, along with an expansion of Google Hangout participation. One other consideration for next year, said McDonald, is holding the event more than just once.
PSCU's efforts with KnockOut are not without return. It is working on bringing last year's winning idea to market, and plans to fast track GTE's switch kit idea. "We believe the investment is more than just the ideas," said McDonald. "We believe that these are things that actually can inform us and support the products and solutions that we bring to market for credit unions. It's a good investment."
McDonald said that KnockOut changes every year, and said she expects those changes to continue. "We've got to recognize that there's danger in the status quo," she said. "The more activity and investment we can make in new ideas, the more we'll move the industry forward."
