By Lisa Hochgraf
Steve Williams told attendees of the CUES School of Product and Channel Management last week in Schaumurg, Ill., about a marketing channel turned delivery channel. 
A marketer was explaining to participants in the credit union's board meeting how great Facebook and Twitter were for marketing, said Williams, principal of CUES Supplier member and CUES strategic partner Cornerstone Advisors Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz.
Then the CEO jumped in, saying: "I'm on our Facebook page right now, and last night our member Lance sent a message saying he was locked out of Internet banking and no one has responded to Lance 14 hours later.
"Facebook is not a marketing tool," the CEO continued. "It's a delivery channel because our members are making it one."
How's a credit union to keep up? Williams threw out the idea of developing a "service delivery command center."
To illustrate, he described go-live day when he assists a credit union with a core conversion. As the new system comes online, he sits with executives in a command center watching screens providing real-time feedback about how the conversion is progressing.
A similar command center could be set up for delivery channels. "Why not have the command center open at all times?" Williams suggested. "We might have a service delivery command center somewhere below the executive suite so we can get to it fast."
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
Learn more about Cornerstone's credit union consulting services in partnership with CUES.
