Today, fintech companies such as Acorns or online lending portals like MortgageHippo are encroaching upon the newer, digitally savvy credit union member. Credit unions are concerned that they are rapidly losing relationships with their members, and their money.

So what role do credit unions have to play in this game? It is accountable to bring real value to its members and communities (as opposed to big banks that have owners and stakeholders). Traditional approaches such as branch-only services have become insufficient for members and employees. Attracting, retaining and engaging them has become paramount.

Credit unions are facing a big opportunity: to be bold enough to get into the digital game and embrace digital transformation to endure the long-term. The only way to survive and grow exponentially, is to go digital.

Digital Transformation for the Modern Workplace

The demand for the ability to work remotely is growing. And according to a 2016 article in The New York Times, "43 percent of employed Americans said they spent at least some time working remotely. That represents a four percentage point increase since 2012, a shift that meets the demands of many job seekers."

The modern worker wants the option to communicate with teams and customers from wherever they are, so when the phone rings at their desk, it better be ringing on their cell phone at the same time. The outbound calls they make from home or the hotel should offer the same experience as they would from the office, with the same phone number.

A modern credit union helps to create an environment where employees can work from home two to five days a week, saving hours per month on commute time and fuel costs. And, it helps reduce the real estate footprint in a big city by having a number of smaller, more agile credit union locations instead of a main branch. This way, there is less investment needed for a large headquarters.

Digital Transformation for the Modern Member Experience

Members are looking for new ways to directly engage with their credit union, and digital transformation allows for new relationships to be formed and maintained in ways that they couldn't do before.

For example, a farmer needs a loan – their tractor needs a repair, or they need to buy a new one. Using a smartphone, the credit union member can hold a Skype meeting with the credit union representative, while standing beside the tractor. The member can instantly show it and discuss the loan amount required, and the credit union representative can communicate directly through the same device.

Credit union apps are also popular because they conveniently enhance the entire member journey. Some of the best credit union apps provide all of the expected services such as ATM locators, notifications, and transaction histories, but also provides mobile depositing and money management tools that allows members to view charts and analyze their spending habits.

These are only some examples of how the technology that credit unions possibly already own are used to radically improve member experiences.

Digital Transformation and Compliance Requirements

Security and compliance issues are demanding on credit unions, and can only be met through a mature digital processes. Digital compliance, especially in the cloud, saves internal IT departments time and money, allowing them to focus on providing value to the community and its members.

Credit unions have other challenges. Too often, different applications and tools available to credit unions do not integrate with legacy technologies or on-prem architectures. Proper data protection is another major source of concern. The growth of the cloud offers solutions to many of these problems. By partnering with cloud collaboration and productivity experts, credit union teams can more easily address the challenges of security, accessibility, reliability, and ease-of-use.

Other ways that credit unions move towards digital compliance include: developing custom applications and automated processes, enhancing security protocols, integrating omni-channel tracking and business intelligence reporting, just to name a few.

Digital Transformation Toolkit

It's not news that digital technologies are transforming the business landscape for financial organizations. Credit unions are at the forefront of being disrupted within the next 10 years, and CU executives must start thinking seriously about what they want in their digital toolkit.

A diverse, changing and distributed workforce is calling upon their employers to provide them with the tools they need to attract, engage, retain and track members. All of these changes require a strategic, well-planned approach, and should be designed and architected with a proper assessment delivered by expert technology firm that keeps up to date with best practices.

What's Next?

By working with a trusted Microsoft Gold Partner such as Imaginet, credit unions can maximize its investment by making better use of its platform. Imaginet partners with credit unions of all sizes to remove the confusion around digital transformation, Microsoft products and adoption and how they provide value to the organization and its users.

Imaginet is a partner who will not only help credit unions with today's challenges, but will be pre-emptive of its need to transform digitally and compete for tomorrow.

Read more on our whitepaper, 5 Things Credit Unions are Doing to Transform Digitally.