Build a better mousetrap and they will download it. Monetize it,and the proposition becomes even more enticing.

That's some of what's behind the app stores now being offered tousers of two of the more widely used core processing platforms inthe credit union industry: the Fiserv DNA and Symitar Episyssystems.

Fiserv and Jack Henry & Associates division Symitar are the800-pound gorillas of the credit union core processing space,together claiming the vast majority of credit unions, especiallylarger institutions and those with an appetite for in-housetechnology work.

Symitar's PowerOn marketplace was formallylaunched in 2012 after two decades of collaboration amongclients and company, its leader says, while Fiserv acquired thethree-year-old DNAappstore when it bought Open Solutions and itsDNA system last year.

Since the core platform is at the heart of the credit unioninfrastructure, touching nearly everything the enterprise does, theofferings are quite broad, from inside baseball things such as analternative to the dropdown menu in the PowerOn applicationdeveloper program to member-facing tools such as signature padmodifications that enable the display of customized greetings. Inbetween are search engine and transaction history enhancements,report generators, help desk tools and many more.

Each of the online marketplaces originated in much the same wayand operates under the same principle: years of collaboration amongcore processor and client that then developed into an organized wayto distribute a growing trove of hundreds of applications thatextend the functionality of the core system.

The DNAappstore,which offers apps developed with the DNAcreator development kit, isused by banks and credit unions alike. The Symitar Episys platformis exclusively used at credit unions, but perhaps the biggestdifference right now is that credit unions can sell their solutionson the DNAappstore if they choose, while all of Symitar's offeringsare free. Symitar President Ted Bilke said that will soonchange.

“We have not commercialized this exchange among our customers inthe 20 years we've been doing it, but we're about to make that anoption,” he said.

There are more than 1,300 registered users on its PowerOnmarketplace, which now has 91 apps available along with the morethan 900 it distributes standard with its Episys releases, Bilkesaid. More than 8,100 downloads have been recorded and three out ofevery four of the approximately 500 Episys users have downloaded atleast one, Bilke said, perhaps guided in part by the 106 solutionreviews that also are now posted.

Like the DNAappstore, the solutions can range in price from freeto a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, according to thecompany, and in-house development isn't cheap.

“We're commercializing primarily because our customers haveasked us to,” Bilke said. “They have some fairly comprehensivesolutions that they have a fairly significant investment in, andthey would like to see if they can cover some of their costs forthat,” adding that the spirit of collaboration also drives themarketplace's success

George Lunsford, vice president of information technology at the$180 million RiverLand Credit Union in New Orleans, is an exampleof that.

“I've been in credit unions for five years now and really enjoythat sense of collaboration in our industry and with the opensource philosophy in the software we're working with,” Lunsfordsaid.

Along with a staff programmer, he has been using the PowerOndevelopment tools for about four years, mostly for back-officefunctions such as eliminating repetitive tasks, but also for somemore creative uses, Lunsford noted. Among them, as an extensionthat uses a red-yellow-green light system to flash to a teller ormember service rep where a member falls on the built-in criteriasay, for a skip-a-payment option.

“It takes a lot of research out of their hands,” Lunsford saidof his front-office colleagues.

Much bigger shops also see the value of helping out theircolleagues.

“My customers are our other department heads and if they ask mefor something and I can go to the (DNAapp) store and deliver it tothem tomorrow, well then, I'm the hero,” said Kevin Zimmer, chiefinformation officer at the $1.1 billion Greylock Federal CreditUnion in Pittsfield, Mass., who has 12 staffers, including threedevelopers on this team.

“We're all very impatient, you know, and when someone inventsthe next best mousetrap they want to get it out there quickly,”Zimmer explained. “The app store is the way to do it. You downloadit, give it a 60-day free trial and then decide if you want to buyit.”

Removing the risk by knowing that the application being attachedto the critical core system has been vetted by its developers andthen again by the company, adds to the attraction, said Zimmer, anindustry veteran who came over to Fiserv with the Open Solutionsacquisition.

“We certify it, make sure it performs as it should and that it'sdocumented properly before it's available for everybody to take alook at,” said Santo Cannone, now chief product officer for theOpen Solutions Division.

Cannone said there now are 196 apps available on the DNAappstoreand that 1,600 downloads have been recorded since its onlinemarketplace was rolled out in spring 2011.

“We have 110 individual certified developers working out there,and about 50% of the available apps have been created by us and 50%have come from the community,” Cannone said.

Those 110 people are at 40 institutions, most of them creditunions, including one – the $3.5 billion RedstoneFederal Credit Union in Huntsville, Ala., – that sawenough potential to create a consultancy just to develop and sellthe DNA core system extensions.

The opportunity for developing apps and the income it createsalso can help attract talent, said Zimmer at Greylock, whose creditunion's current offerings on the DNAapp store include a loan changereview report.

“We're always trying to hire the best and smartest people wecan, and this money can help go toward that and make us that muchbetter,” Zimmer said. “We're reinvesting that money into our owntechnology capabilities.”

Managing the process is easy, Zimmer added.

“The billing is automated, so we only have to support