In just a very few years, credit unions have become persuadedthat they need to play in the technology arena. And a relatedreality is the spreading belief that “technology may allow smallerinstitutions to very successfully compete against much largerones,” said Tony Rasmussen, a senior vice president at Mountain America CreditUnion, a $3.3 billion cooperative in West Jordan, Utah.

Investing in the right technologies that bring the greatestvalue to credit unions and members alike is the key. Listen totechnology vendors and just about every technology is a must have,but that simply is not so. Many are nice to have but must-havesthey aren't, said experts.

“The technology initiatives that are getting approved arehelping credit unions cut costs or bring in new revenue,” said JackVonder Heide, an Oak Brook, Ill., technology expert.

What are the must-haves? Interviews with credit union executivesand researchers narrowed the field to five tech trends that oughtto figure in most credit unions' 2013 spending.

The biggest, most encompassing trend is mobilebanking. 

“We have come to the realization that there is a lot of demandfor financial services in places where it's just not practical forus to have a branch,” said William Bynum, CEO of Jackson, Miss.-based Hope Credit Union, a $153million institution that primarily serves members in theMississippi Delta. “We pride ourselves on serving the underservedand mobile banking is helping us do that,” said Bynum. “Mobile isthe game changer. We expect to double our membership in the nextcouple years.”

Mobile in fact looms as so transformational for credit unionsthat it triggers other  trends. 

It has given rise to mobile-only members, said Rasmussen. “Weare seeing a rising number of members who want only to interactwith us through the mobile channel.”

That is not always as easy as it sounds. Most mobile bankingplatforms are parasitic on online banking, using the same usernameand password. Most will not allow input of new payees through themobile app. Accommodating mobile only members, who do not useonline banking, will require fundamental changes in the mobilebanking platform and doing that is emerging as crucial to somecredit unions. “We are in the process of strengthening our mobilechannel,” said Rasmussen.

Call this early days for the mobile-only trend, but expertssuggest that it will gain strength especially with youngerdemographics who may only have a smartphone. They will wantfull-featured banking, and they will flock to the institutions thatmeet their needs.

Next year will see the emergence of innovative, breakthroughmobile banking apps, predicted Eric Feinberg, senior director ofmobile at Ann Arbor, Mich.-based research firm ForeSee. Recent findings from ForeSee show “a very tight band”of satisfaction for users of mobile banking apps. There are slenderdifferences between better performing and lower performing apps.“It's anyone's game to differentiate,” said Feinberg, who indicatedhe believed 2013 will be the time when a next generation of moredistinctive apps emerges.

Right now, experts acknowledged, mobile banking apps look andbehave very much alike. A shared mediocrity has become the norm.None has emerged as a compelling user experience but that isexactly the new target that apps developers will admit they areaiming at and, said Feinberg, he believes that quest will become atop tech trend at least at leading institutions.

Just about every credit union is tripping over itself to makeuse of social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and perhapsFoursquare, but 2013 may be the year when these efforts are heldaccountable.

It already is happening at $3.1 billion Kinecta Federal CreditUnion in Manhattan Beach, Calif., said Shannon Doiron,director of marketing and e-commerce.

Kinecta, he elaborated, maintains a very active presence onFacebook and Twitter and it also has begun uploading educationalvideos to YouTube. It also is an active advertiser on Facebook.

“We aim to offer people educational tools and information,” saidDoiron, who said Kinecta believes “people are turned off by a hardsell on social media.”

Particularly effective for Kinecta have been Facebook calculatorapps that let visitors calculate the costs of a car loan orhome mortgage on the fly, inside Facebook. “We've gotten greatresponse,” said Doiron.

He cautioned that Kinecta went into social media with the intentto use it as a customer-service vehicle.  “Getting thatright was our first priority,” he said. Then the desire to monetizethe efforts took hold and, admitted Doiron, “It took nine months toget that right.”

Watch other credit unions, which increasingly devote significantstaff resources to social media channels, seek ways to measure andmonitor their return on investment in these new channels.

Mobile remote-deposit capture triggers debate about itslong-term staying power, but, for now, it has vaulted into amust-have status as increasing number of credit unions race tooffer it to members.

Mainly, it is the bigger institutions that offer mobile capture,but research from Aite shows many credit unions hungering for thistool, which, in many respects, has become the flashy proof ofwhat's compelling about mobile banking.

“We are rolling out mobile capture later this month,” saidHope's Bynum who indicated that his credit union believed itsmembers would jump on it.

At CAP COM, a $972 million credit union in Albany, NY, CorrieJayne Foust, manager of electronic services, said that memberresponse to its recently introduced app has been strong, with 1,000members downloading the app in the first two weeks, andcollectively, they had deposited 700 items.

The stampede of institutions into MRDC looks to intensify in thenear term, said the experts, and that wins the technology a placeon the 2013 list.

Digital wallets will get real in 2013, predicted MountainAmerica's Rasmussen, who indicated his institution is pursuing thepaperwork to be featured in Google Wallet. Member interest indigital wallets has been minimal, admitted Rasmussen, but asmarketing builds around Visa's V.me,the wireless carriers' Isis pilots and Google Wallet, interest will vault up quicklyin 2013.

A big plus of digital wallets is that financial institutions canget involved at low or no cost and that makes it a fast track forseeming cutting edge even for frugal credit unions.

What about the technologies that did not make the list? Thereare many much talked about technology trends that probably can besafely ignored in 2013. Credit unions that pride themselves onleading the pack will make their moves–they may already have–butthe vast majority can safely ignore tablet apps. They are “likelyto become mainstream in 2014 but not 2013,” said Aite's researchdirector Christine Barry. Person-to-person applications, big dataand personal financial management tools will also not come to thefore next year, experts said.