GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — While more powerful financial planning tools and new mobile banking applications loom on the e-services horizon, the most important change coming, asserts one technology provider, is that more CUs will incorporate technology goals into their strategic plans.
Randy Karnes, CEO of CU*Answers, believes that credit unions will begin to see e-service business plans as "winning strategies" instead of simply ways to "keep up with the Joneses."
"Credit union leaders will seek these channels more as proactive ways to generate profit and will redesign their pricing models, rethink their view about monolithic brands, and change how they see connecting with members," he offered.
Market conditions and an increasing consumer focus on e-access will make 2009 a "far different year" for credit unions and e-services, predicted Karnes. "The importance of the success of these strategies in so many credit unions and the financial pressure from this recession create a powerful and compelling reason for everyone to up their game."
There are very few credit unions today saying their membership is not willing or e-capable, insisted Karnes, who added that even fewer believe technology solutions are not within their reach. "And almost no one is sitting on the sidelines when it comes to looking for more cost-effective solutions to everyday member service," he said. "I think we will soon see e-services become a staple of every business plan."
Technologies that may spring up from a heightened e-services business focus, according to Karnes, are more customized payment authorities and sophisticated uses of cell phones for verifying and paying for transactions.
Looking at CU*Answers clients, Karnes said e-channel penetration (active transactions every month) is generally 20% to 22.5%. Bill pay penetration is near 5%, and e-statement and notice products are well above 15%, Karnes reported. "If you compare those penetration rates to any other member product other than checking, those numbers are really strong."
Comparing those numbers to general marketplace expectations, Karnes suggested that some may think credit unions are under performing. "But you have to separate the hype from the real process of moving people from classic delivery channels. I would say that credit unions at CU*Answers are doing a pretty good job on the whole, maybe a 'B+' across the board."
Karnes gave the same high grade to the growth of e-services, feeling that electronic delivery channels have evolved beyond expectations. "When you consider the fascination of today's consumer marketplace with being in touch with the flow of data, the conversations of peers, and the gadgets of the day, who wouldn't think early predictions are holding?"
