Now is a good time to be a credit union. The Credit UnionNational Association is reporting credit unions have gained 700,000customers and $4.5 billion in deposits over the last month, most ofthat coming as a result of widespread anger at big banks andgalvanized by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

To be clear, credit unions have been marketing the story of bigbanks vs. credit unions for years. The difference now is that themessage has finally met its moment. In the current environment,consumers are examining their options in a way credit unions havebeen dreaming about for decades.

The question now is how to capitalize on this moment and keepthose members for the long run. It's an opportunity credit unionsshouldn't waste. The sun is shining; it's time to make hay.

Of course, the big banks have been making hay for years. They'vebeen able to make huge investments in technology. Theresulting product – a superior online and mobile banking experience– has immense appeal to large numbers of consumers and is seldommatched by credit unions.

Credit unions have always traded on their commitment to customerservice and the communities they serve, a strategy which is servingthem well now.

But newly acquired Millennials, not to mention latergenerations, have been raised on a steady diet of advancedtechnology and online interconnectivity. They will considerdropping their new credit union like an older generation iPhone themoment they realize they may have to send you a fax just to start aloan application or change an address.

The first thing every credit union should consider is also oneof the quickest and most cost-effective approaches to satisfyingthese new consumer expectations: refresh your look online.

Many credit union websites still look like they were designed in1995. Complicated-looking, text-heavy sites with endless menus areharder to use than modern sites.

But more importantly, they send a clear message: we are behindthe times and are harder to work with than that huge bank you justleft. This is precisely the image that credit unions mustovercome in order to hold on to all those new accounts.

Refreshing your look doesn't have to involve an overhaul ofentrenched systems and applications. You don't have to do a massivelegacy upgrade or execute some enormous software transition. It isabout re-organizing the front-end user experience so thatinformation is arranged clearly and intuitively.

In fact, with very little change to the actual functionality ofyour online offering you can significantly overhaul how itfeels to an online customer. And that'simportant.

The second thing credit unions must consider is modernizing somecore services. Take vehicle loans. Many consumers are happy to goto credit unions for a vehicle loan. But too many creditunion websites still force users to download and print a PDF justto start the application process.

You might as well insist that your members dial a rotarytelephone. It flies in the face of their expectations – andpresents an inconvenience to those who are used to easierprocesses.

The same goes for certificates, mortgage loans, and otherproducts. Now is the time to invest in making these processes assmooth and intuitive as possible.

Again, credit unions need not skin the whole cat all at once.They should pick and choose the applications that give them thebiggest bang for their buck rather than try to shift their entiresoftware infrastructure.

Not only will biting off a chunk at a time save money, but itwill deliver value to new members when it matters: now.

With $4.5 billion in new deposits, this is no time to be restingon laurels or relying on the current zeitgeist to last forever. Itwon't.

Now is the time to invest in keeping customers and building newloyalties. Narrow the technology gap with big banks and your newmembers should have no reason to go back to them.

Bank of America and other big banks are plotting how win backthose 700,000 customers as I write, plus more.

Brad Powell ispresident/CEO of Axiaware in Vienna, Va.