The Power of Transformation, Part 1: Integration

Sponsored by OnBase by Hyland

The digital transformation age is upon us, and many members are looking for new ways to engage directly with their credit unions. As such, credit unions are adopting digital transformation strategies to allow new relationships to be formed and maintained in ways they couldn’t achieve before. From small steps to large leaps, from cloud technology to mobile to analytics, every technology decision a credit union makes helps propel it further toward the goal of becoming a digital business.

Many credit unions are also feeling the burden of integration and limited automation without advanced workflow functionality. At the same time, there is a growing movement of organizations implementing technology modernization strategies to supplement their core banking platforms and address those integration and automation challenges. 

The first step of such a modernization strategy for financial institutions is to evaluate current technology and better integrate the systems applications that hold important information. While taking a digital transformation journey, credit unions should review their existing solutions, including their core banking platforms, and connect the disparate data siloes across the organization. With consumers looking often at new banking options, the systems your front-line employees rely on need to be able to communicate with each other, because it’s essential that employees are able to answer member questions more quickly than the competition.

Siloed information is one of the biggest hindrances to the growth of financial institutions. According to 2016 research from NTT Data Consulting, only 4 percent of banks planned to replace their core systems in the next three years. That means it could take more than 20 years for the entire banking industry to replace the legacy technology in use today. Additionally, of the more than 1,000 U.S. consumers and 100 institutions surveyed, 70 percent of banking executives expressed that they were frustrated with current technology, because existing tools aren’t flexible and agile enough to adapt to the changing face of the industry.  

Although the drive for digital transformation and enhanced member service is causing many institutions to take another look at their cores, in the long term, it also makes sense for them to consider how to evolve their content management strategy. By integrating line-of-business applications with a content management platform—an information hub to connect people, processes and data—credit unions can eliminate the employee pain point of switching between screens, ease the transition to new software and reduce manual data entry. 

But what does a changing core banking platform change mean for credit unions’ other systems? Does a core change mean they have to rethink content management strategy, too? If a credit union doesn’t have a true content services system in place, it’s probably up against a wall regarding the core provider’s document imaging component. If the credit union decides to switch cores or has to consolidate and share content from an acquired CU, it is impossible to do so without an independent content management solution that can integrate, grow and evolve with other technology investments.
With the right digital transformation strategy, legacy core modernization is possible. Credit unions looking to change core systems need to look holistically at creating multidimensional platforms that can provide an omnichannel member experience. Your credit union simply can’t afford to have its data held captive in silos.

Michelle Harbinak Shapiro, solution marketing manager for financial services, brings more than 15 years of experience in the industry to her role as Financial Services Industry Expert at CUESolutions provider OnBase by Hyland. Her mission is to share best practices and evangelize the power of content services as a tool for financial institutions to help automate processes and proactively manage regulations. Follow her at @HarbinakShapiro.