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Innovation Credit Union’s new service center is equipped with all the latest technology—and has the added advantage of having no fixed address. Instead, the CU’s Mobile Advice Centre (see photo) will travel throughout western Saskatchewan serving members at fairs and other special events and in small communities without a permanent branch.
The mobile unit is expected to enhance member service, double as a movable marketing vehicle—if you’ll pardon the pun—and even round out disaster recovery response, says CUES member Daniel Johnson, CEO of the $2.6 billion credit union serving 48,000 members.
“A big part of this venture is to demonstrate to members and staff that banking doesn’t have to happen in a branch,” Johnson says.
The 40-by-8-foot unit is equipped with video ATMs and computers with 55-inch touchscreens to let existing and prospective members perform a full range of transactions while interacting with financial service representatives at Innovation CU’s contact center or one of its 22 branches, says Chief Digital Officer Dean Gagne. Employees staffing the unit will also guide members through mobile access options on their smartphones or demonstrate with CU-supplied tablets and phones.
Innovation CU planned to roll out its mobile branch—the first such unit owned by a Canadian credit union—at its annual general meeting this spring. The Freightliner vehicle, adapted by Mobile Facilities, LLC, is equipped with 3G/4G LTE technology for wireless connectivity, an electrical generator, and satellite GPS tracking. Even though the mobile branch is about one-third the cost per square foot of building a stationary branch, the mobile unit will serve a much wider area, Gagne notes.
Marketers and member service staff have generated plenty of ideas for using the mobile unit to maximum effect—like pulling up outside a coffee shop for a “FreeStyle Friday” to buy patrons a cup of coffee, describe Innovation CU’s FreeStyle no-fee checking account, and demonstrate easy access by transferring $5 into their new accounts. Another possibility is stopping by member-owned businesses to give their employees an opportunity to enroll.
“We want to engage our entire organization in outreach” by inviting employees at local branches to staff the mobile unit when it’s in their area, says Gagne, a CUES member. “Everywhere it goes, Innovation’s brand is promoted—not just our name but the brand of innovation.”
The mobile unit can also be deployed to serve communities in the aftermath of natural disasters. Innovation CU has talked with an insurance provider about hitching up a trailer housing its mobile office so both services can roll into emergency zones together, Johnson says.
Karen Bankston is the proprietress of Precision Prose and a longtime credit union writer.
