Joe Arena According to a USA Today article, the number of routine transactions conducted at community bank and credit union branches has gone down 10% annually over the past four years. Conversely, mobile traffic is skyrocketing with 50,000 customers downloading banks'/credit unions' mobile apps each week and executing anywhere from 250 to 300 million online banking logins each month.

Customers are sending a message that they want to do business differently than in the past. They demand the speed and convenience of banking remotely without sacrificing security.

This behavior correlates with the continuing adoption of video communications. A recent survey by Polycom found that decision-makers worldwide view video conferencing as the essential team collaboration tool. Of more than 1,200 decision-makers surveyed in 12 countries, 96% agreed that video conferencing removes distance barriers to improve productivity among geographically scattered teams. The respondents noted that, in addition to promoting collaboration across borders, video conferencing with built-in file sharing and collaboration tools also allowed clearer communication and more efficient meetings.

Most companies have frequent opportunities to experience the benefits of video, with 56% of the respondents to the Polycom survey participating in video calls at least once a week. More than half (52%) of those surveyed expect video to become their top communication preference within three years.

To see the correlation between these two trends, one only needs to look at a major IT overhaul that Bank of America went through last year. As a direct response to customers' feedback, the industry giant implemented video services throughout the organization to give customers access to investment, small business, and mortgage subject matter experts (SMEs) via teleconference stations at its retail locations. Not only does video conferencing reduce client wait times and the need to schedule appointments at a later time, there are benefits for the bank, too. For example, the bank nowhas the ability to share SME resources with other branches, saving on labor resources and costs, while fulfilling a broader set of clients' business needs.

SaaS, Managed Video Communications Offer Winning Combo for Credit Unions

Some credit unions who have been less than successful with similar investments to the Bank of America example might pose objections to why they believe video isn't a fit for their business, such as:

Video conferencing equipment can come at a high price tag, which is cost-prohibitive for smaller financial institutions.
It's not secure enough. Securing video communication conversations without compromising voice and video quality is beyond the capabilities of the average IT person.
In today's BYOD (bring your own device) work environments, credit unions have the added challenge of connecting a myriad of different devices, which can only support a limited number of video communication applications and codecs.

SaaS and cloud-based videoconferencing combined with managed video services is a winning combo that overcomes these challenges and puts credit unions on par with much larger competitors. Video managed service providers offer an alternative to CapEx investments in infrastructure and break-fix maintenance costs by handling everything from system planning and deployment to monitoring and preventative maintenance.

In addition to paying a manageable monthly subscription fee, credit unions no longer have to worry about equipment brands, codecs, and version control — the entire experience is managed for them.

As a result, technology works the way it's supposed to and credit union executives and customer service reps can work smarter and collaborate more effectively with other branches. Even more importantly, credit unions can provide better and more personalized service at the same time.

Joe Arena is SVP of Advanced Services for Yorktel, a global cloud, UC&C and video managed services provider. He can be reached at Jarena@yorktel.com or 267-337-5676.

Instant Insights /

Video Communication Isn't Just for Big Banks

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