ROANOKE, Va. — In an effort to roll out an enhanced strategic integration plan between its technology team and business units, Member One Federal Credit Union needed to find a new core provider.
Picking the right one, however, was not easy.
"The entire discovery process covered almost two years; with formal consultant guidance during the last nine months of the process," said Member One FCU's Chief Information Officer Jeff Wieczorek.
It was for good reason that the $600 million credit union with 70,000 members and 12 branches was cautious in the undertaking. After all, the core is the technological foundation of the organization.
Core Discovery
To ensure Member One FCU was putting its best foot forward, Wieczorek said the CU formed a "Process Improvement Team" to identify areas of the business that could be improved as well as the core capabilities considered.
"We invited our current core provider in for a business process and core analysis to identify more effective ways for Member One to use the system and improve our internal and external service channels," said Wieczorek. "Once this was completed we engaged a consultant to gain additional knowledge of alternative products and initiate a formal search for the right solution."
In total, four core providers, including the credit union's existing platform, were considered during the discovery process. Along with the process improvement team, a "Transformation Team" was formed with members representing all credit union departments.
"We reviewed what our business needs were — covering the good, the bad and the ugly," Wieczorek noted.
Once the core processing needs were underscored, the team set out to find the vendor that could be best matched with the credit union's business strategies. This process included vendors demonstrating respective solutions for evaluation.
Wieczorek explained that next a balanced score card analysis was performed and the team completed phone interviews and made site visits for additional information.
"Many factors such as a technology review, vendor review and a solid business strategy match were influential in the decision to choose Jack Henry's Episys product," he said.
Core Next Steps
Episys is a Symitar product, which is, as Wieczorek noted, a division of Jack Henry & Associates. Since the process recently began, he declined to provide a status update other than to say that implementation is underway. Generally, a core update can take anywhere from six to 18 months.
The credit union does have expectations and looks forward to having the ability to efficiently adapt to changes, including internal service channel management enhancements. In addition, a primary driver for the update was the forecasted ability to deliver improved product offerings to its member base.
"We are hoping to gain a deeper integration with best of breed products combined with internal control of system enhancements to support department needs," said Wieczorek. "We anticipate a more defined and segmented role of the IT department supporting the business operations as we continue to grow and remain competitive."
As roll out continues, Wieczorek said the most significant change to Member One FCU's operation will be the addition of a "Business Analysis and Innovation Team." Designed to help drive the system in meeting strategic needs, he said, "They will be challenged with keeping up with technology offerings and customizing the system to fit those needs."
