SPOKANE, Wash.—When members are satisfied with mobile and online banking transactions, or employees can traverse member account information with ease, it's sometimes forgotten what makes that all possible-the information technology department.
In what will be a reoccurring feature, Credit Union Journal visits with IT professionals-the often unsung CU heroes-to better understand how organizational goals are executed.
"As a credit union IT department, we are extremely sensitive to member feedback. Members do not have to be in the majority to have their voices and preferences heard," said Spokane Teachers Credit Union's Information System's Manager Michael Norton. "Pleasing everyone and upsetting nobody is challenging. Decisions are rarely made on what is most cost effective, but rather what is good for our membership and can serve the widest variety of members."
With 118,000 members, 16 branches and 526 employees, Spokane Teachers CU is continually challenged to exceed member expectations. Norton, who has been at his post for seven years, has the collective support of nearly 60 other IT employees. For CUs with smaller IT departments or no department at all, this may appear as an advantage. However, no matter the size of the organization, trials exist.
Fundamental Changes
During his career, Norton has worked as a vocational IT instructor, an instructional program designer, a PC technician, network administrator and a corporate project manager. Over the last 10 years, he said there have been fundamental changes, especially related to core operations.
"It was not uncommon for the basic functions of the credit union to be included in a single software platform. The core system often included online banking, voice access, lending and other facets," said Norton. "Now, quite often, each business unit utilizes a best-of-breed software approach where an entire application has been written to serve a specific need."
These best-of-breed products require integration with the core as well as other products in the environment, which include many variables and moving targets. The development of interfaces between systems takes time and money, Norton underscored.
While it is sometimes assumed that IT employees are left to their own devices once they receive the green light on a product implementation, for Norton an open line of communication exists with upper management to ensure milestones are achieved.
"I meet at minimum once a month with my director to let them know our needs," said Norton. "Upper management is most interested in the safeness and soundness of the credit union for our membership and the roadmap for what we will be able to offer in the future."
While Spokane Teachers CU has recently relied on third-party vendors such as IT-Lifeline to simplify vendor subscription-based vendor licensing contracts, the CU has also identified operational problems and developed applications in-house to address related issues. "STCU has written its own new member interface that interacts with the core and has taken the enrollment process from close to an hour down to 10 minutes or less," said Norton.
Another in-house custom application is "Toolkit." This solution brings together all data and information on to a single screen that employees can access with one keystroke. Having an open programming interface makes customizing the information quick and efficient, Norton said.
"Countless time is saved by bringing the information employees need to help our membership to their fingertips," said Norton. "Information can be displayed in the way the member is seeing it whether they are referring to their statement, online banking or another channel."
Gone But Not Forgotten
As IT departments face increasing pressure from audits, compliance, security and day-to-day maintenance, there is often a push to integrated new technologies before the antiquated ones are properly sunset. If credit unions are not careful, the cart could be placed in front of the horse.
"Long after the business unit has moved on to other ideas, the IT department must secure, patch, and maintain systems and processes. Although it is nice to provide a lot of services to business units, an understanding of the cost of maintaining all of these systems and software is needed," said Norton. "A balance must be struck between the business need and the cost of maintaining these legacy systems."
Looking forward, Norton said the IT department will continue to pay special attention to disaster recovery, virtualization and data warehousing efforts. In short, the team remains focused on reducing the number of steps required in any IT application whether it is employee protocols or member interface.
"Gone are the days of IT dictating how the membership must access their financial information," said Norton. "Increasingly, the membership is driving how, when and from what device they want to manage their finances."
