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iPads deliver service where most convenient for First West CU members
Grocery shoppers stocking up for their Thanksgiving feasts last fall were greeted with a tempting offer by an iPad-toting Envision Financial employee: If you open an account with Envision Financial, we’ll buy your turkey for you. Then, as shoppers filled their carts, the staffer strolled along, inputting information into the iPad to open the new accounts.
These encounters were made possible by MobiBranch, an application launched in 2013 by First West Credit Union, Langley, British Columbia, which operates under the Envision Financial, Valley First, and Enderby & District Financial brands. MobiBranch enables employees to perform secure banking transactions wherever it is most convenient for members—completing mortgage applications at an open house for a new housing development, opening accounts for students during move-in week at a local college, even assisting a client settling an estate at an attorney’s office.
During a six-month pilot, employees using the new application generated almost $1.2 million in new business for the $7.7 billion credit union/177,000-member credit union.
“There’s a certain cool factor, but this application is more about how people are using it than the technology itself,” says eBusiness and Innovation Manager Doug Ebner. That appeal likely contributed to First West CU’s recognition in Central 1’s 2013 InNOVAtion Awards
The CU partnered with Mobilearth, Vancouver, British Columbia, to adapt the company’s prototype to allow CU staff to provide a full range of noncash services in remote locations—and perhaps even in branches, as employees move from behind their desks to offer a more collaborative, side-by-side interaction with members.
“IT asked why employees don’t just bring a laptop to meet members outside our branches, but that can be more awkward to set up,” Ebner notes. “Using a tablet creates a very different customer experience, and prospective members have been impressed that we were able to come to them.”
As employees continue to experiment with using MobiBranch in different venues, the CU is working to streamline back-end processes. Though the iPads can capture signatures on screen, CU policies and Canadian regulations require paper forms with members’ signatures for some loans and other accounts. Remote deposit capture through the MobiBranch app is also in development. “In a few cases, technology is ahead of us,” he says. “We want people to have the complete experience without having to walk into a branch, but some of those steps are still a work in progress.”
Karen Bankston is a long-time contributor to Credit Union Management and writes about credit unions, membership growth, marketing, operations and technology. She is the proprietor of Precision Prose, Stoughton, Wis.
