Four key evaluation factors to ensure long-term success with your fintech partners
Partnerships between credit unions and fintechs are nothing new. Getting the right fintech partner in place helps credit unions leverage innovative technology needed to take their digital banking experience to a level competitive to that offered by the megabanks. To give your fintech vendor selection process the best chance of long-term success, consider these four key evaluation factors before making a final decision.
Factor #1: Technology
Know going in, with as much detail as possible, what problem you need the technology to solve and how you will measure the success of that solution.
Beyond that, you’ll need to have an in-depth understanding of how the underlying technology operates and how it fits within your existing infrastructure. Does it integrate well and is there demonstrated evidence of successful integrations? Once the technology is implemented, what additional support will you need? If your team has deep bench strength on the technology side, perhaps all you need are the keys to the platform, and your team can take it from there. If you don’t have the resources, understand what support is available.
Additionally, how does the vendor plan to scale the technology? If your member base grows – always the goal – you need to be confident that your fintech partner’s platform can scale alongside it. Will the technology be able to meet the evolving needs of your members? As we’ve seen, account holder expectations today are very different from what they were just a few years ago. Whether that means offering additional features, providing greater flexibility, or ensuring security can scale to meet future needs, be sure that your vendor is committed to improving and enhancing their product.
Factor #2: Strategic Fit
The fintech space is crowded with vendors, all of which have different specializations and provide different levels of service. Some vendors are vertically specialized, while others are more general. Similarly, some vendors can service all of your technology needs, while others are tightly focused on a smaller number of service offerings.
When starting the process of finding a fintech partner, one of the first steps you should take is to identify how the vendor will strategically fit within the rest of your ecosystem. How well does it integrate with your core tech stack? What resources will be needed internally for the relationship? What kind of support do they provide? Determining this can help you narrow the list of potential vendors to only those that best fit your needs. While this may take some time on the front end, doing your homework at the outset can save a significant amount of time and headaches later on.
Factor #3: Values
A vendor’s values are an intangible factor that often isn’t prioritized as highly in the review process as other elements such as price or industry experience. But make no mistake – over the long term if the values of the company match or complement yours, it can make a huge difference on the quality of the partnership. We’ve all seen scenarios where a vendor may not be the best fit on paper, but the culture, people, and commitment more than make up for any potential shortcomings. The values of a potential partner often play a significant role in determining how successful the partnership is. A collaborative approach alongside aligned culture and values, often goes a long way towards creating a lasting and successful partnership.
Factor #4: Troubleshooting
Even the most meticulous planning can’t account for all potential scenarios, and unforeseen challenges will occur during every technology project. Bugs or glitches may pop up, service outages may occur, and other issues may arise throughout the course of the partnership. Perhaps the tech implementation runs behind schedule, or additional costs arise that you weren’t prepared for.
When you inevitably run into unexpected iss...