CLARINGTON, Ohio-The MTV Generation is beginning to call the shots in the information technology department, and they want to be taken seriously by their elder executives at the credit union.
That's not always easy, according to one credit union IT leader, who was born in 1978. (For perspective from a well-established Boom Generation leader, see related story at left.)
"The generation gap is tough," said Michael Liskanich, the 30-year-old IT manager at the $81-million Ohio Valley Community CU here. "Older colleagues, for the most part, appreciate my knowledge and vision. But sometimes they let my age blind their decisions on a project or issue."
Senior management keeps an open mind when Liskanich keeps his project proposals down-to-earth, he said. "If you talk over the CEO and the CFO's head, more than likely, they're not going to listen to you. Make sure you can explain the technology in layman's terms. Have a full understanding of what you are proposing and support it with documentation."
There's a "nearly negligible" generation gap between senior managers and Dwayne Sneade, the IT systems administrator at Fort Lee FCU in Prince George, Va. But the 32-year old admits he is "lucky" in that regard. "The biggest challenge for me has been to remind everyone what the technology is for. Sometimes they want the software to do something it's just not meant to do."
Sometimes, senior staff balks at the cost of technology, forgetting that automation can make the CU more efficient, he continued. So Sneade reminds them that "time is money," he said. "The cliché has always been helpful in selling that trade-off."
Sneade, who served as a police officer for five years before he arrived at Fort Lee FCU two years ago, was looking for a technology career, he said. "I was the first IT department hire for the credit union. And because of my interest in technology, I was the default IT admin at that small-town police department."
Now, IT is Sneade's primary responsibility, which is a "pleasant change," he said.
Sneade introduced Fort Lee FCU staffers to instant messaging last year for "faster and more efficient communication," he said. Meanwhile, he's working on an ongoing project to move away from Microsoft networks and "push" open source technology into the CU.
"I believe there are a lot of similarities between open source and credit unions," explained Sneade. "Open source is considered non-profit; the code is open to the people, not just for use but for modification and creating; anyone can have ownership in the code; and the community is all about collaboration and unity."
Open source technologies already run a significant number of the $120-million CU's systems, including instant messaging, part of the Intranet and network monitoring tools, said Sneade. At some point, all domain, print and file servers will be built on Linux open technologies.
Sneade said he is helping Fort Lee FCU save money by providing in-house technical expertise. "Where the credit union used to have to wait a day or two for an available tech, now there is someone on staff to get things up and running," he explained. "My job is to minimize the effects of downtime and to put procedures in place to avoid downtime."
Liskanich, with a computer science degree and 10 years of financial IT experience, left a bank for a better salary at Ohio Valley Community CU six years ago. He works with a philosophy of "look past today and think about tomorrow," he said. In technology terms, that means the tech infrastructure has to be flexible enough to handle growth, he said.
Liskanich looks to the future of IT in the credit union industry and said he worries about the regulatory climate. "Regulations will be our biggest challenge," he said. "It will keep getting harder to not only comply but to manage, and resources will be stretched."
IT managers can keep up with the regulations through conferences, messageboards, Webinars and traditional training, he added.
MORE@CUJOURNAL.COM
Read more about IT staff and leadership at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive:
What If CIO Goes MIA?
From The Back Room To The Board Room
For info on this story:
www.becu.org
www.fortleecu.org
www.ohiovalleycu.org
