MARLBOROUGH, Mass. - Digital Federal Credit Union is using some homegrown (and owned) technology to help push security and convenience out to its members wherever they may be. After beta testing and modifications, $2.8 billion, 257,000-member DCU is going live with two modules from the CRM platform being developed by fiVISION, an Indianapolis-based DCU CUSO. One of the modules, which integrates with the CRM functionalities already jointly developed and put in place, has the self-descriptive name Event Notification. The other is called Secure Forms by the CU and allows the member to submit a request in a secure, self-service environment through the CU's Web site at www.dcu.org. "Both these new additions help us provide more secure and efficient service to our members," says Craig Roy, DCU's vice president of support services. "And they'll help us deal with potential or real problems more quickly, too." For instance, if a member notifies the credit union of a problem with a credit card, managers can use the Event Notification system to alert everyone around the credit union who needs to know, in order to decide whether to elevate the response, Roy says. It also has tracking capabilities that includes the ability to automatically notify managers if an alert has sat in a queue for longer than a pre-determined amount of time. "The module also reaches out to the employee," says Mike Winter, president of fiVISION. "It can be set to send notifications to an employee's computer screen, via e-mail or text messaged and it's fully customizable to meet each staff member's individual profile." The Secure Forms module also has routing capabilities that ensure a request for service gets to the proper place at the CU and is handled efficiently, the company says. Time parameters, such as how long an account-to-account transfer should take to complete, are used to monitor the process and members can check on the status of the request. The self-service posture fits business needs, too, Roy noted. "We like to say we move at 100 miles an hour with our hair on fire and doing things efficiently becomes more and more important to us all the time," he says. "As we quickly expanded over the past several years, we just threw bodies at the growth, and that's a good way to develop inefficiencies pretty quickly," Roy says. "Empowering our members to do more on their own both improves service for them and makes us better able to handle their needs." There's no shortage of CRM solutions out there, but Winter figures his two-year-old company has an edge in the credit union market as fiVISION seeks to register sales and installations. "Our solutions are largely designed by credit staff along with people who are very familiar with the credit union environment," the fiVISION president says. "We can meet the unique needs of individual credit unions, especially when you get past the macro level to the point where you start getting into terminology, acronyms and routing challenges. "We're confident that we developed a solution that's very flexible and comprehensive to meet those challenges." Both new modules operate as ASPs and along with the other CRM modules already in place, were developed in close collaboration between fiVISION and DCU, Roy and Winter say, and also reflect the benefits of a long working relationship. Winter had been with ViFi, an Indianapolis-based Internet banking pioneer later acquired by Digital Insight. DCU also runs a re:Member Data Service core platform installed by that former Indianapolis-based firm now owned by Open Solutions. "We have a lot of history with Mike," Roy says. "He understands our service philosophy, our commitment to empowering members to securely do as much as they can online or through other electronic channels, and his company has been both an effective business and technology partner, if you will." That confidence, and an entrepreneurial spirit that pervades the enterprise, meant little concern about being the beta for the CRM tools, Roy says. "We like being the guinea pig," the DCU vice president says. "It helps us stay out ahead of the curve." -
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