WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.-Beyond cyber-banking, the eight CUNA Technology Council Executive Committee members participating in the Credit Union Journal "Look Ahead" roundtable said there are other technologies to watch in 2010:
John Morawski, executive committee member and CTO, Massachusetts CU League in Marlborough, Mass.: "Smaller credit unions will bring imaging technology and electronic signatures into play-technologies that some credit unions think are 'old-school.'" And as mergers flourish, CUs will be forced to become more efficient at converting data.
Jeff Johnson, CTC exec committee member and SVP-IT, $1.4-billion Baxter CU in Vernon Hills, Ill.: "Keep the IT infrastructure upgraded as the economy picks up. We're already seeing a dynamic change over a few months ago in lending, and our analytics and data warehouse are allowing us to ease up on who we're lending to. You need to provide the analytics that will allow the business to react to slight changes in the member's capacity to pay loans. We'll also see more players steal payments from credit unions, but don't overreact. Just pay close attention to what consumers and card processors are doing, and how competitors can potentially take business away."
Robert Reh, Nassau Financial: "As a cost-reduction strategy, optimize the technologies you already have. For example, most of us probably aren't using every aspect of the core system."
One CU didn't know that its core system had built-in workflow capabilities until Genisys CU told that CU, according to Jackie Buchanan, committee vice chair and EVP/CIO at $1.3-billion Genisys CU in Auburn Hills, Mich. "That's a huge efficiency," she said.
Heather Moshier, Executive Committee member and EVP-IT, $4.8-billion San Diego County CU, San Diego: "My goal is to make sure our technology roadmap is aligned with business objectives, especially as budgets tighten. Be sure to look at core competencies, and how they'll increase revenue. Avoiding the bells and whistles is always good when budgets are restricted-mobile banking is a new product that can be added but can be expensive when consumer interest has not peaked. Stay in touch with regulators and read new regulatory letters so you can remain in IT and corporate compliance."
