Thirty-seven years after it powered up its present core, the$2.2 billion Northwest Federal Credit Union based in Herndon, Va.,is convertingto Symitar's Episys core platform, which Northwestwill maintain and operate in-house, said CEO Gerrianne “Winky”Burks.

The decision came after a deliberate selection process that tookaround nine months, said Burks. She added that the conversion isscheduled for full implementation in November, 2013.

The breaking point that forced the decision to convert, saidBurks, is that “we couldn't execute on our strategic plan. We hadintegration problems.”

As the credit union sought to add new services to better serveits membership it kept bumping into the problem that the existingcore was never designed with 21st century services in mind. “Wecouldn't keep up. We had 21 products that sit outside the core. Itis difficult to get a snapshot view of a member and we wantedthat,” said Burks.

Burks said Northwest considered switching to a servicebureau-based corebut,“because of the security nature of our field of membership” –Northwest was formed in 1947 to serve employees of the CentralIntelligence Agency – “we decided we did not want to go thatway.”

She added that to her the must-have for going ahead with a coreconversion was, would it improve the member experience? “I becameconvinced it would,” said Burks.

In a prepared statement, she elaborated: “The complexity of ourexisting core combined with the number of ancillary systems madecritical updates nearly impossible in this regulatory environment.It was requiring an ever-increasing allocation of resources just tomaintain the system and keep it in compliance, and development ofnew products had to take a back seat.

“Even more important, our standards for system infrastructureand security are of the greatest consideration with the nature ofour membership, and Symitar was able to deliver on all of ourrequirements in this area. We know that this solution will providea better member experience, enable us to be quicker to market withnew offerings, and provide us with new efficiencies.”