Transform Your Credit Union in 2023

The special relationship credit unions have with their members is a competitive edge ripe for reaping.

However, as CUTimes put it, the “credit union industry has faced many challenges in recent years, including a persistent period of high inflation, rising interest rates, compressed income margins, and stagnant demand in the economy. This economic phenomenon has been difficult for many credit unions to navigate.”

To stay competitive in 2023, transforming your credit union is a must. This transformation should cover several aspects, including; digital transformation, improving the member experience, and leveraging smart location strategies.

As one Deloitte financial institution report points out:

In this article, I outline why credit unions need to transform this coming year, how they can go about it, and why Exadel is the perfect partner to help them compete in the financial landscape

Keep reading to find out what you can do to make 2023 an incredible year for your credit union.

Which Difficulties Are Credit Unions Facing Today?

The first question is, why do credit unions need to transform? Credit unions are facing several key challenges today.

Transform Digitally to Grow in 2023

Digital transformation 2.0 is helping credit unions across the world grow and transform. There are several key digital transformation initiatives credit unions should consider as they move through 2023.

Improve the Member Experience

It’s vital to improve the member experience, both to capture new audiences and members, and to keep and inspire loyalty in long-time members. Here are some ways you can transform and improve the member experience in 2023.

Financial Wellbeing

By their nature, credit unions are great candidates for financial wellbeing initiatives. Financial wellbeing strategies involve ways of improving the financial health or literacy of your members. For example, by teaching them how to create and manage a household budget, control credit use, and plan for retirement. Credit unions can start improving the financial wellbeing of their members by providing workshops, helpful videos, training team members on how to discuss financial wellness, and by providing digital solutions, for example, digital budgets which automatically populate when a payment is made.

Holistic Digital Initiatives

It’s no secret people want things quickly and digitally. Providing a digital app, website, or platform that enables your members to be able to perform their basic banking capabilities is vital today. Not just that, your website or app needs to be constantly improved in line with changing customer expectations. Be careful not to forget older generations or customers who may prefer the branch when implementing digital initiatives. For example, while you may build out a new app that facilitates online payments or budget tracking, at the same time, don’t make it impossible for members to still walk in branch and perform the same activities.

Create an Emotional Connection

Marketing isn’t just for attracting new users, it’s also for improving your relationship with your current members. With personalized marketing, it’s possible to help foster an emotional connection with your current members. For example, remembering their wedding anniversaries and sending an automated personalized message can go a long way in helping encourage brand loyalty.

Improve Company Culture

Your people are your biggest asset. They’re also who your members need to work with when they need something. A happy employee makes a happy agent, which makes a happy customer. Focus on training your team to deal with customers in a positive way and ensure your brand is as consistent across your team as it is across your digital products.

Leverage Smart Location Strategies

Only 29% of credit union associations worldwide have access to correspondent banking services, according to the 2021 Statistical Report published by the World Council of Credit Unions.

The report further reveals that the disparity in correspondent banking access between regions is vast, with 100% of North American credit unions reporting having access to the necessary services compared to just 8% of European credit unions and 17% of Asian credit unions.

This data is just one example of many that stress the need for a more connected global economy, but how can this be achieved in a way that is not only beneficial to large banking entities and credit unions alike?

Outsourcing undoubtedly has a key role to play in overcoming this obstacle. But where should you outsource to?

We’ve found smart locations for resourcing strategies feature three main things; a wide and talented pool of resources, cost-effectiveness, and time alignment. For example, if your firm is based in the USA, and you’re looking to leverage smart location strategies for your credit union, you might consider a resourcing partner with a strong presence in both Canada and Brazil. Both are aligned with the USA timewise, both have a wide pool of talented resources to choose from, and both can reduce the cost of resourcing over a region like New York by at least 60%.

Here are several reasons you might want to transform your location strategy in 2023.

More Cost Effective

Depending on the region you choose, you may find it’s more cost-effective to find talent in different regions. It can also be cost-effective to use a split-site model, where you find the best talent but in a range of locations. Some companies, like Exadel, offer this as part of their package, for example, you could choose to have a resource in the USA, two in Canada, and five in Brazil, all under the same project.

A Wider Talent Pool

With less competition from other credit unions in the region, you’ll find some areas, for example, Poland and Bulgaria, have wide, highly-specialized talent pools just waiting to be tapped into. Many of the people available speak multiple languages, making them able to communicate seamlessly with your team.

Learn From Other Regions

Geographic diversity is vital, in fact, according to the National Financial Institution Administration in the U.S., business diversity “enhances a credit union’s ability to see business opportunities and capitalize on them in new, more relevant ways.”

By opening yourself up to work with new, exciting locations and people, you’re able to learn from countries and businesses that may have already completed cutting-edge innovation projects, giving you a competitive edge.

Exadel: Your Partner to Level Up Your Credit Union in 2023

It’s time for business leaders to step up and embrace a more cost-effective and efficient approach to transforming their credit unions. As the financial services industry becomes increasingly digital, it’s crucial to have a solid strategy for adopting innovative technologies and cultures to stay competitive.

At Exadel, we offer a comprehensive range of services to help you navigate this new landscape, including consultative support for deciding on how to transform, support in adopting a more effective transformation approach, and services like product engineering and platform development, digital experience optimization, data intelligence, and omnichannel marketing to help you deliver on transformation.

Transforming your credit union requires dedication and effort, but partnering with Exadel ensures reliable and secure implementations for your new technologies, helping you go live as quickly as possible and enables you to tap into cost-effective location strategies. Our team has extensive industry experience in working with credit unions, offering industry-specific solutions to drive your business forward.

We pride ourselves on being more than just experts; we strive to provide the best possible digital transformation, customer engagement, resourcing, and product engineering services in today’s market. With locations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, we have the global reach needed to service companies worldwide.

Drop us a message today to find out how we can help you transform your credit union and become future-proof in 2023.