LAS VEGAS-During Fiserv's recent "Innovate 2011" client conference here, Credit Union Journal asked: "Which technology investment has your credit union made that has really shown a good return on investment?"
Wayne Beall, chief information officer, Educational Systems FCU, Greenbelt, Md.
One investment we made recently that increased efficiency at our branches is cash recyclers. We use dialog towers with those rather than traditional teller lines, so our people are standing next to the members instead of having glass in between. Our staff does not touch the cash. This saves time and eliminates cash drawers, which is more accurate and gives more cross-selling opportunities. There is a conversation and we learn about members' lives-if they have a child going off to college, that is an opportunity to make a student loan, for example.
Chuck Powell, SVP of information systems, Fibre FCU, Longview, Wash.
Actually, we have made very few investments in technology. But we realize our operations are inefficient and we have too many manual steps, so we are looking for ways to fix that. There are several things people take for granted that we don't have, such as an enterprise imaging system. We have imaging, but it is not fully integrated. Our members are appreciative that we have online banking and bill pay, but we don't have online loan applications or membership applications.
Carolyn Jordan, SVP of retail services and development, Neighborhood CU, Dallas
We revamped our checking line and we put in the capability to track debit card use and e-statements to offer rewards. Depending on usage, we gave better interest rates or credit at iTunes or Amazon. This has been very profitable for us because it drives usage and it is of interest to members. All of this is through a partnership with Banc Vue.
Kathy Steiner, VP of IT, Kohler CU, Kohler, Wis.
We were incredibly early adopters of Check 21, which worked out well for us, but probably our best investment is using Maestro to help us open accounts. We took a process that was 45 to 50 minutes down to 10 or 12 minutes. It does all the background checks and the other processes. It has really helped our efficiency.
Jim Shinsky, senior project manager, Johns Hopkins FCU, Baltimore
We bought a converged phone system that has IVR [interactive voice response]. It allowed us to eliminate several phone lines, so it has paid for itself by reducing costs. The IVR is within the system and it has very high reliability. We used to have too many calls come in at once on payday when members wanted to check their balances. Now we can offer better service to our members because the system hardly ever gets overwhelmed.
