Lessons Learned and Things to Consider

Determine right away what cards you want to instantly issue. Whether it is debit or credit, contactless or dual-interface cards, personalized or co-branded, understanding the end product will help plan your program needs accordingly. Work with a vendor that can start with your needs and then scale and adapt as your members' and your needs evolve and change as well. In addition, discuss with your vendor the varying deployment models out there based on what your credit union needs and wants.
Not all hardware is created equal. There are various printing options out there for instant issuance programs, including direct-to-card and retransfer printing and/or embossing. The printers that are on the market today have advanced quite a bit to ensure high-quality printing of payment cards, but not all are created equal. Make sure and look at varying prints and quality (of the images you want printed) before determining how you would like to move forward. After all, financial institutions want their instantly issued cards to last to their expiration date.
Software matters. Although many times financial institutions look at the print quality of cards, the true secret sauce to an instant issuance program is the software. The good news is that technology integrations have become more streamlined and accessible – enabling financial institutions to more easily implement products and services. But not all vendors have true integration for the card issuance process. Working with a vendor that has true integration into core and transaction processing networks enables optimized card production and activation, eliminating unwanted steps needed for instantly issuing cards. This makes the process simpler, easier and more streamlined.
Understand the technology integrations and/or interfaces that you may need on your network. It's important to understand what servers, firewalls and database requirements are needed for your financial institution, and then see how instant issuance software can run on the network. The simpler it is to deploy, update and maintain, the better. Also determine if it is browser-based or runs on individual PCs. If it is browser-based and can have unlimited users, this is ideal. This way, no additional client software will be required, and software enhancements/updates can be automatically updated. Additionally, the latest software version is always on your network.
The need to securely manage supplies and card inventory. If your credit union wants to implement an instant issuance program, it is important to understand that card stock and supplies need strict controls and processes for receiving, securing and managing card stock inventory and supplies.
Ease of branch training. The industry sees quite a bit of teller turnover at financial institutions. Training new employees on various software applications can be cumbersome and time consuming. Having an instant issuance software application that is easy to understand, is simple to use, requires a limited number of steps and is intuitive to those who are setting up accounts is extremely important.
Customer service from your Vendor is imperative. Work with a vendor that does not just work with you to get your business, but one that can truly be a partner with you. This is a large investment for your credit union, and you want to partner with a vendor that can help you every step of the way – even after all is implemented.
Don't forget to promote your program to your membership. The saying "if you build it, they will come" should not be entirely expected for your instant issuance program. Do not forget to market the offering to members and let them know all you have to offer them.

Instant Insights /

Instant Issuance Is Here to Stay

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