ORLANDO, Fla. – Credit unions should take their lead from consumers when it comes to technology, according to Brian Warfel of Power 1 Credit Union.
"Consumers are calling the shots in the technology game," he observed. Warfel continued, "Delivery and fulfillment are going to be a real game for the consumers right now."
He listed out nine emerging technologies for credit unions to look at right now, including automated loan decisioning and fulfillment, business intelligence, communication integration, electronic and digital signatures, payment technology, security and privacy technologies, biometrics, Voice Over Internet Protocol, and wireless and broadband technology. "Consumers are going to dictate what technology makes it and what won't," Warfel predicted.
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For example, Disney recently came out with Pal Mickey. While visiting Disney World you can program the doll to navigate you through the park. It will tell you how to get to different features and when the lines are at desired wait times.
Focus groups are a good way for credit unions to get their fingers on the pulse of consumer wants and needs, particularly with the highly computer literate generation that is coming up. Communication integration between e-mail, Web chat, telephony, video, voice recognition, instant messaging, and other features will be crucial to capturing the next generation of credit union members. Warfel explained that electronic conversations not only provide a transcript of the entire encounter but also save time over the traditional call center model. Additionally, the best first-call successful resolution rate came through Web chat.
Security, both physical and electronic, is crucial to success in technology, not to mention upcoming regulatory compliance. Speaking of multi-factor authentication, Warfel said, "Not only is it an FFIEC guideline, but it's also going to be an NCUA regulation." And, for consumers' sake, verification has to be portable and something they cannot leave at home, like a body part. This can also be applied to identifying employees, which eliminates the need for employees to remember passwords and increases security.
Yes, things like biometrics are costly to credit unions, he admitted, but "The big question at the end of the day is `How much is reputational risk to your credit union?'" [email protected]
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