CHICAGO -
Credit union chief information officers (CIOs) may spend hours online every week using social media such as CNET.com or Wikipedia.com searching for the best deals on new technologies.
"Using a social network is another tool available to me to get a good, candid opinion, particularly an unbiased reference on a particular purchase, without solely relying on the vendor reference list," said Rudy Pereira, senior vice president, operations and technology at $4.5-billion Alliant CU here.
Pereira said he spends about three hours per week surfing social media sites that may influence his purchasing decisions. Online social media may include blogs, wikis, discussion groups, paid analyst sites and review and trade magazines (zines).
"There is a wealth of very well informed people and resources that enable you to confirm or question a particular decision," Pereira said.
Jackie Buchanan, vice president of information technology at $602-million T & C FCU in Bloomfield Hill, Mich., spends about 10 hours a week "reading reviews, listservs and online trade magazines and sifting through blogs" to help with purchasing decisions.
Finding Good Blogs
Technorati.com helps Buchanan find good blogs, and she uses Wikipedia.com as a "great starting point to learn about a product. I can't imagine life without it anymore."
At Pacific Service CU in Walnut Creek, Calif., online product reviews at sites such as CIO.com, TechTarget.com and ZDNet.com bolster the "thorough" process of due diligence, which also includes talking to users, checking specifications and scheduling demos, according to Nannette Cutliff, vice president of the technology services group at the $1.2-billion CU.
"The vendor sites provide the actual information needed to make the final purchase decision, but the forums on ZDNet, CNET and others provide background, comparison information on similar products, reviews and experiences from other users or testers," Cutliff explained.
Recent ZDNet reviews, for example, analyzed four biometric fingerprint readers, from descriptions of the purposes ("simple desktop management of passwords to three-factor authentication") to the design ("a trendy pearlescent paint job") to the feasibility ("the resultant fake finger could be used quite consistently to fool various scanners.")
Researching Biometrics
iQ CU in Vancouver, Wash., is researching biometrics using a listserv written by more than 500 credit union technologists and sponsored by the CUNA Technology Council (CTC).
"Receiving input from other listserv members regarding their experience with the product is invaluable," said Brad Wood, information systems manager at the $378-million CU.
"Feedback on the difficulty of setup or ongoing maintenance is information you typically don't get from the vendor-well, you do, but it's usually a bit understated," he added.
In fact, the CTC listserv is the favorite social medium of the CIO shoppers interviewed by Credit Union Journal for this article.
"It's a private listserv where a trust relationship between members has been established," Wood said. "Vendors are not allowed to participate in the listserv, so there is little fear of retribution when speaking the truth."
Buchanan agreed: "Each potential partner has little nuances that really don't come out in the 'sales pitch.'"
"It's great to have an unbiased online community as a resource," she continued, though she said that when she has something bad to say about a vendor, she likes to contact a participant about it "on the side."
In sharp contrast, Fred Cook at North Shore CU in Vancouver, British Columbia, steers clear of social media when he's considering new products for the $1.9-billion CU.
"We do not approach selection of equipment and software as if going to buy a pair of shoes," Cook said. "That doesn't mean you can't still keep aware of developments in the marketplace, and if you believe there are reliable blogs or peer organizations that you can utilize, great. In the end I would think a person would need to consider the return of resources spent (on social media) versus value returned."
Cook prefers his business partners' expertise.
"I believe there is a value to leveraging your business relationships and taking a more strategic, partnership approach," the CIO said.
According to the IT Social Media Index, which measures social media consumption among IT professionals in the U.S., IT depends heavily on social networking when making purchasing decisions. The Index was launched in May by ITtoolbox and PJA Advertising + Marketing.
more
Read more about social media at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive:
* YouTube Into CU Tube
* Six CUs Use Wiki Platform
* Change Everything
* MySpace.com: The Factious Frontier
For info on this story:
* www.alliantcreditunion.org
* www.iqcu.com
* www.nscu.com
* www.pacificservice.org
* www.tcfcu.org
* www.cnet.com
* www.cio.com
* www.cunatechnologycouncil.org
* www.technorati.com
* www.techtarget.com
* www.wikipedia.com
* www.zdnet.com
