ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Six semi-finalists have been selected in PSCU's 2014 KnockOut Innovation Summit.
Two of the six semi-finalists were credit union teams, with the other four being teams made up of PSCU employees. The teams were judged by representatives of PSCU, PayPal, Visa, First Data, Filene Research Institute and Connect Financial Software Solutions. The semi-finalists are:
- "The InnoVaders" comprised of employees from Falls Church, Va.-based Arlington Community Federal Credit Union. This team developed a micro-lending solution to empower members to help other members.
- "Tech Attack" was made up of employees from Round Lake Beach, Ill.-based Consumers Cooperative Credit Union. The team put together a balance transfer app for members safeguarding respective account information.
- "Sliced Bread" is a PSCU team that developed a solution leveraging new phone technology providing consumers with a virtual card when a card is reported lost or stolen.
- "Glen CoCo," another PSCU team, designed a solution that expedites the physical emergency card replacement process.
- PSCU's "Revionix" team offered an online solution to drive auto loans, utilize data to optimize portfolio rate strategy for credit unions and provide insight into willingness to pay.
- "Team Pineapple," another PSCU team, developed an automated push solution that notifies members who may be impacted by a data breach before the breach is publicly announced.
"Great ideas are the currency of our business, and KnockOut is one of the many ways PSCU provides a collaborative opportunity to create new ideas and position credit unions as leaders to their current and future members," said PSCU's Chief Creative Officer Fredda McDonald.
On Sept. 11, 34 teams, comprised of approximately 150 people in four time zones, spent 24 hours brainstorming the next greatest technology offering. Participants were challenged to create a working prototype of a process or solution that solves a real credit union business need or challenge. The majority of teams competed at PSCU's St. Petersburg headquarters with others vying in Hawaii, Arizona and Michigan.
Claire Simmons, a PSCU spokesperson, explained that the company's 1,600 employees, and participating credit unions, will vote on the best presentation with the winner announced next week. "The voting period lasts one week and will conclude by end of day tomorrow (September 25) and PSCU expects to announce the winner at beginning of next week."
Each first place team member will receive a $1,500 travel voucher certificate valid for travel through December 31, 2015. The second place team will all receive a $600 sports spectacular pack, and the third place team will all receive a $300 gift card.
PSCU CEO Mike Kelly explained that the winning ideas from the two previous KnockOut events include a mobile app that enables members to report their cards lost or stolen and a switch-kit solution allowing consumers to easily transfer bank account relationships to a credit union.
The first KnockOut winning concept was launched at PSCU's 2014 MoPRO annual conference for member-owner credit unions in April, and last year's winning solution will likely hit the market before the end of the year.
