TAMPA, Fla. — There were four winners of the second annual PSCU KnockOut Innovation Summit held earlier this fall.
Second place was awarded to PSCU's Team Bacon, which developed an app allowing cardholders to prevent a block on their account when traveling internationally.
"The product was developed directly from our experience in the call center," said Lynn Maynard a contact center supervisor for PSCU. "We receive hundreds of calls a day where members are not satisfied with the current process, so we wanted to fix it to create a better experience for our members and the reps taking the calls."
Maynard said Team Bacon was a PSCU collaborative effort consisting of Barry Wimmer, E-Commerce Implementations analyst, Jenn Sommers, a Contact Center supervisor, Christopher Smith, a Contact Center representative and Evrad Ragoonan a Contact Center supervisor who is no longer with PSCU. "This was my second KnockOut event," said Sommers. "This year was much more organized, there was much more of a team spirit and collaboration compared to last year, and I really liked how they invited Visa, FDR and PSCU's other partners to come and help."
Team Bacon was among 87 participants who were challenged over a 24-hour time frame to create a working prototype of a process or solution that solves a real credit union business need or challenge. The summit took place at the CUSO's St. Petersburg headquarters.
PSCU started KnockOut in 2012 inspired by "hackathons" that are occasionally held within the technology industry. Fredda McDonald, EVP and chief creative officer at PSCU, said that the idea was to adapt a hackathon for the CU community to see what kinds of innovations, products or solutions could be dreamed up in a day.
Wimmer explained that he and Sommers developed Team Bacon with the goal of producing a well-rounded group of professionals. With Wimmer's experience in graphics, web and e-commerce, Maynard's and Sommers' expertise in legal and technical issues related to the call center, combined with Smith's and Ragoonan's knowledge of customer interactive data and financials, the collective showed promise.
The Hard Part: Bacon
The biggest problem was coming up with a name. "We were thinking of anything and everything for our team's name and nothing was working. Then, all of a sudden, bacon popped into my head. Who doesn't love bacon, right," said Wimmer. "So, we became Team Bacon. We even cooked bacon treats and gave them out to everybody at the KnockOut."
Though the app is "a simple concept," Wimmer said he believes it will prove to have a big impact on members, many of whom are unaware they have to inform their credit union before international travel.
"From the member's perspective, it solves a pressing problem quickly and conveniently," he said. "PSCU lowers expenses by not having to hire extra employees to handle these types of calls, and credit unions can deliver this service far less expensively than they do now."
Advance Strategy
Knowing that the KnockOut summit was approaching, the team began devising its strategy in advance of the 24-hour tech romp. Wimmer handled the code and built the platforms. Maynard, with degrees in law and communications, handled the presentation. Sommers fronted the multimedia slideshow for the presentation. Ragoonan gathered financial information and Smith aggregated all the information for beta test.
The team logged 13 hours the first day developing the self-service solution that is accessible through a website and a mobile app. Members can access it with a smartphone, tablet or personal computer at any time of the day, according to Sommers.
"We ended up doing so well in our data gathering and team work, we were able to finish everything at 9 p.m. on day one, including five dry runs of the presentation in one of the training rooms," said Sommers. "We returned at 9 a.m. on day two, looked over the presentation, made a few small tweaks and the rest is history."
Judges for the KnockOut included representatives from Visa, MasterCard Labs, Filene Research Institute, PSCU and four PSCU member-owner credit unions. Each team was judged on criteria that included size of potential market opportunity, uniqueness of idea, projected return on investment and delivery timeframe.
"The judges felt strongly that four, instead of three, of the top ideas, based on initial scoring, should be included in the final round. All of the teams did a fantastic job," said Mollie Bell, Filene Research Institute's chief engagement officer and panel judge.
GTE Financial's "Delta Force" took first place by creating an app that allows consumers to easily switch their current banking relationships to a credit union.
"I was really impressed, especially given the time constraints. The finalists stood out for different reasons ranging from well-articulated problem and solution to developed applications," said Bell.
The App's Future
While Wimmer said he is unsure when the app will be fully developed and ready for market, without the KnockOut Summit there would be little chance of the solution seeing the light of day. "The KnockOut is the reason the idea came about," he said.
Sommers added, "Without the KnockOut it would have taken months, if not over a year, to get together all the parties and information needed to make the one presentation."
From a development perspective, Wimmer said the effort will be minimal involving writing code to make the solution an add-on module to PSCU's existing AccessPoint member self-service application for credit card accounts.
"We've done similar integrations with other solutions such as Design Your Own Card and e-statements," said Wimmer. "For PSCU's contact center staff, it's as simple as receiving and processing an email request for service. The same process would happen at the credit union."
Aside from the accolades of coming in second place and the promise of an app that will make international travel less frustrating for members, all Team Bacon members received a smart television and a subscription to Netflix for their efforts.
And while Maynard said PSCU prefers not to disclose financials, when the app is launched "modest assumptions" on participation and usage will escalate from 5% to 25% over five years.
"We had all noted there was a great opportunity to improve the current process," she noted. "But no one had ever really sat down and worked something out. Without KnockOut, we might still be complaining instead of addressing the challenge."
