Are Credit Unions Less Attractive to Consumers Because of Poor Digital Banking Strategies?

DIGITAL SECURITY : BY MICHAEL CARTER, CMO OF D3 BANKING

Has your credit union’s approach to online banking locked you up in digital jail? If so, there are ways to work around getting at the customer behavior habits you need to offer your members the personalized experience they’ve come to expect from all their Internet activities.

Introduction
According to Wikipedia, Stanford Federal Credit Union was the first financial institution to offer online Internet banking services. That was October 1994. It is not surprising that a credit union owns this historic marker, since credit unions answer to member owners as opposed to institutional investors and operate under a non-profit structure. They are often more willing to deploy innovative services as well if it means their members can enjoy more convenience and choices. Ever since Stanford FCU made its foray into online banking, credit unions have developed an impressive range of e-channel offerings. But all too often – for a variety of reasons – these services have been rolled out as disparate channels. This disparity results in a poorly optimized member experience and places credit unions at a competitive disadvantage because they cannot easily access the data required to offer personalized services.

The Digital Tsunami

Before 2007, online banking existed as a singular digital channel. Adoption was occurring, but no one would have called it a revolution. Most financial institutions were using first-generation online banking solutions and were able, more or less, to meet the needs of the users of those systems. Then, Apple introduced the iPhone, which served as the beginning of a tsunami of digital devices that was to wash over the landscape of financial services.