Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. CO-OP Financial Services’ announcedsecurity and other upgrades to Springboard its proprietary creditcard servicing application, which enables credit union staff access to member real-time carddata.

First introduced in 2007, the newest version of Springboard, the14th Edition, offers the addition of a security token, whichaccording to CO-OP, ensures a higher level of protection for creditunions and their members. An invalid address indicator also helpsfrontline and operations staff more quickly identify calls fromfraudsters. And, a new Executive Fraud Report, available to selectSpringboard users, provides a monthly snapshot of key fraud metricsspecific to the credit union.

Other features streamline access to data intelligence for bothcredit union staff and members and provides access to multipleaccounts from one screen, creating a unified experience for users.In addition, a new CO-OP Shared Branch Management Report, availableto select Springboard users, provides insights to help creditunions make more informed decisions. It will communicate howmembers are using shared branching services, reporting on thingslike top branch locations, top transactions initiated and averagedollar amounts.

“Our approach to technology is always iterative anduser-focused,” Shazia Manus, chief product and strategy officer forCO-OP, said. “Springboard is an excellent illustration of thisapproach given the product team’s continuous improvement of theplatform.” She added every new feature built into Springboardsolves a specific member problem or improves a specific memberexperience.

According to Manus, Springboard is the only application of its kind available to creditunions. Distinct features designed specifically for bothfrontline and operations staff differentiate it from similarproducts on the market. “The functionality is truly expansive, andgrowing with each new iteration,” she said. “Every card operation,from call center to portfolio management, can be managed through asingle interface seamlessly.”

“In 2007, many credit union call centers were still using legacy3270 green screens to support cardholders,” Manus said. “Creditunions were not alone. Despite exponential advancement in computerdisplays, networks connectivity and processing power, the 1970sgreen-screen continued to hang on as a dominant protocol in manysoftware programs. Beyond a bad user experience, such a systemlimited credit union access to information that members expectedthem to have at their fingertips.”

“Credit unions had a hard time living up to their member-firstpromises because the technology tied their hands,” Manus noted.“Without fast, clear access to member information, they couldn’tprovide the knowledgeable, personalized service members werebeginning to demand. Disparate systems made it difficult to have acomplete view of the member’s relationship. Simple questions tooktoo long to answer. Training for new employees was onerous andtime-intensive.”

TMG, acquired by CO-OP Financial Services in April 2017,originally developed the app. “Our developers started out with asmall subset of functionality,” Manus said. “Over the years, wehave continued to incrementally add new features and functionalityby co-creating with our credit union partners.”

Springboard began as a user interface to help credit unionsbetter access data and business intelligence from big box,third-party platform processing systems, like those managed byFirst Data, a long-time CO-OP Financial Services partner.Subsequent iterations, which included role-based permissions,allowed credit unions to define which employees would have accessto which accounts and which data sets.

Among the more significant milestones Springboard achieved wasintegration with a formerly disparate reporting application knownas The Vault. This enhancement brought both standard and dynamicreports into the Springboard system.

“To enable the Vault integration, Springboard was essentiallyre-architected, which opened the door to bringing in even morefunctionality,” Manus said. “This included enhancements thatallowed Springboard to recognize accounts from other third-partyproviders, which gave call center reps even more information tohelp the member.”