Madison, Wis.-based CUNA Mutual AdvantEdge Analytics announced collaboration with Microsoft to develop a credit union data platform aimed at enabling tech scalability and integration essential to a data analytics strategy.

“Working with Microsoft is a major step in our continued commitment to delivering innovation to the credit union industry and strengthening for the future,” Robert N. Trunzo, president and CEO, CUNA Mutual Group said. “We are not only addressing the changing financial needs of credit unions and their members, we are leading the way by collaborating with one of the world's most innovative companies. This is an exciting time for our industry.”

The collaboration expects to produce a new data platform to deliver deeper insights into a credit union's business data through Power BI, Microsoft's business analytics service, and translate these insights into action through Dynamics 365, Microsoft's cloud-based ERP and CRM enterprise system, and other digital transformation tools like Power Apps and Microsoft Flow. It will further enable the AdvantEdge Analytics data platform, independent software vendors, partners and third parties to expand data models, accelerating the possibilities for digital transformation for credit unions.

James Phillips, corporate vice president, Microsoft Business Applications Group, said, “We are excited to work with CUNA Mutual Group, combining their extensive financial services expertise with Microsoft's expertise in business applications and analytics. AdvantEdge Analytics provides compelling value to credit unions through their industry-focused application on top of Microsoft's Common Data Model.”

“Together, our companies will significantly advance the industry's data analytics capabilities to a new level, creating an industry-leading platform that will best position credit unions to improve the member experience, enable growth and compete more effectively with larger financial institutions and fintechs,” said Tim Peterson, president AdvantEdge Analytics. “Combining Microsoft's technology leadership and CUNA Mutual Group's long-standing experience working with credit unions, together we will exponentially expand the industry's ability to capture the full value of data analytics to meet and exceed the evolving needs of their members.”

AdvantEdge Analytics provides an integrated suite of software tools and insight activation services. The business focuses on building scale, better member intelligence and accelerated analytics adoption to help credit unions strengthen market share and build long term growth.

Meanwhile Microsoft continues its very visible extension into financial technology. Recently it announced joining with Finastra, formed in 2017 by the combination of Misys and D+H, for cloud-based financial services software. The alliance will see Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform, supporting FusionFabric.cloud as Finastra's strategic cloud platform. In addition, Finastra will launch a selection of global payments and retail banking products on Azure over the course of this year.

In addition, Microsoft and Bank of America Merrill Lynch announced a collaboration on blockchain technology as the tech giant expands the scale of its blockchain as a service platform for Azure clients. In an announcement at the annual SWIFT-organized Sibos conference, the two firms highlighted their objective to transform the highly manual trade finance sector.

Microsoft and BOA will, according to a press release, build and test technology, create frameworks, and establish best practices for blockchain-powered exchanges between businesses and their customers and banks.

Instant Insights /

CUNA Mutual Teams With Microsoft for Data Analytics Platform

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