SAN DIMAS, Calif. — No one has noticed yet (but they soon will) that Financial Services Center Cooperatives now has the first operational telephone locator system anywhere that will text information back to a caller's cell or landline phone.
In the increasing effort to target and win the financial business of Gen X, Gen Y and beyond, credit unions have long realized that the Internet was critical and made real progress in Net delivery options. Then came the revolution in cell phones with Web surfing and texting capability and the frontier seemed to expand like the horizon line. Rather than feeling lost at sea, FSCC CEO Sarah Canepa Bang reached out to TouchMap Locator Systems in North Palm Beach, Florida for a solution.
"We all know that the credit union movement is dependent upon growing its membership in the younger demographic. I mean, the average age of the CU member is now 49-years. In that demographic–even more than in others–convenience is what it's all about, and texting is just huge. I mean, kids today text each other all the time, they are comfortable using that technology and it's become a favored method of communication." Indeed, texting is so pervasive that California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger is considering a law to prevent drivers from texting while driving, she noted.
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"We always knew we had to be mobile. Our expansion into 7-11 kiosks and how we support shared branching is all part of that strategy. The old way, which was to go to a CU's Web site and download directions to a location, seems ancient now. We lacked the ability to connect through the text option and we had to find it," Canepa Bang said. "We wanted to walk the talk." And just because she and most of FSCC's staffers (at least those that fall into the Boomer set and the post-Boomer set) felt eclipsed by the speedy thumbs of their children is no reason to ignore the business imperative it presents.
"Just because we can't do it is no reason not to provide this next step in service delivery," is how Canepa Bang put it. "So I contacted TouchMap and asked them, 'Can you do this?' and they said 'Yes.' "
FSCC already knew that most, if not all CUs already had texting capability. "The problem was that no one was using it (or using it effectively). Our idea was to ask how shared branching could help our member credit unions reach out to young members, making services more easily accessible. For example, how could we text them to say that their account balance was below $100?" Canepa Bang asked.
The TouchMap Solution
"Since Touch-Map Systems was originally developed for the first national ATM network we have great insight to the needs of the financial end user," said TouchMap principal Ray Smithers. "For our 25 years in business we are proud that we have always led the industry as innovators. Reaching out to today's gadget wise Generation X, we were the first and only telephone locator system to offer GPS data to callers for automobile navigation systems and instant location texting."
TouchMap's other principal, Jerry Trowbridge and Smithers gathered the necessary information from FSCC (locations of all its ATMs) and wrote the code in just a few months, said Canepa Bang. "Those guys are fantastic. They get my endorsement for sure." She remembered how, during the year of Florida's three hurricane strikes in 2005, even as the company was completely flooded, TouchMap got back up and running in record time. That dedication to serving its clients made a lasting impression on Canepa Bang and the FSCC management.
"Every time we ask TouchMap for something they give it to us," she said. Still, testing the new system wasn't easy for her. "I've never felt so old in my life," she admitted with a laugh. "It's still so new that we're just finishing up our testing, but it works. It's working and we know how to explain it. The next step is to let all our credit union members know so that they get the word out to their members, then we'll see its use
grow and grow."
TouchMap will celebrate its 10-year anniversary in 2008, said Jerry Trowbridge. "CUSC (now FSCC) has been a client of ours for nearly 10-years. Many TMS innovations have first been been offered to the public by them," he said.
TouchMap also provides locator services for Walgreen's, John Deere, Maxim Health (providers of most flu shots in the country, noted Smithers). Currently, FSCC's TouchMap locator system–which is accessed at 888-287-9475–provides two services that are unique:
Geographic data (GPS) latitude and longitude are offered to callers so that members with automobile navigation systems can enter the data and be directed to the front door of the location; and
When a member calls the system from a cell phone, the TMS system detects that fact and offers to text location information (of FSCC branches) directly to the callers phone free of charge.
"Working with FSCC we were able to extend our standard locator system to include information tailored to credit union callers," added Smithers. "Such information as: 'Whether a location allows deposits, or is at a military site.' The relationship between TMS and FSCC is one that promotes leading edge technologies with the sole goal of assisting the FSCC end user member."
Already, the TouchMap innovators are working on the next breakthrough. "Technology is moving at such a breakneck speed that people in our company must start every day just keeping up with the nearly hourly leaps forward in telephony, Internet, speech, GPS and texting technologies," said Smithers. "We not only look forward to keep up, but innovating at every opportunity. Projects currently on the drawing board include an exciting new web locator, a system designed to be accessed by cell phones and even a Touch-Map system designed to work on the I-Phone and I-Touch via Wi-Fi."
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