By Jeff Rendel, CSP
The idea of innovation can be intimidating—but only if you think it means discovering an idea no one has ever thought of before.
In reality, business success doesn’t lie just in innovation; it exists in imitation. Research published in the April 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review demonstrated 97.8% of the value of innovation is experienced by imitators.
For example, the Harvard Business Review article notes several years ago restaurant professionals were the only people who kept a card allowing them to charge purchases and settle up at the end of each month. Companies such as MasterCard, American Express and Visa adopted the idea and reinvented it to serve a larger customer base, creating the modern day credit card.
Since innovation is really about members, credit unions often hear the advice to look at their business “through the members’ eyes.” To innovate through imitation, I encourage doing exactly that. What do your members see and experience every day that can become your next big thing?
More specifically, what do members expect from you? They expect the same level of access and experience they receive from other customer-focused industries. A great example of this is mobile access. Many credit unions have found members now expect access to their accounts and services via mobile devices, and seek out credit unions providing it. Mobile access didn’t originate in the financial services arena, but it has become an important part of customer satisfaction.
How can your credit union take advantage of innovation? Many of your current strategies for product and service development are crucial. Watch the financial services marketplace, read trade publications and look at the relative certainties in your business. Talk to your front-line employees and encourage them to share any ideas or information about member needs and expectations they pick up during interactions with members.
These strategies will give you a great foundation of industry-specific knowledge. Add to this the information gained by looking at innovation outside the financial services industries. What are other consumer-focused industries, such as airlines and retail, doing to better serve their customers? Ask yourself, which of these new ideas seem most useful, and why? How can they be translated into new tools, products and services for members?
Innovation through imitation will help your credit union become more member-focused and position you as an industry leader. Remember, the best ideas aren’t necessarily the newest—it’s the ones that offer the most to your members.
Jeff Rendel, CSP, is president of Rising Above Enterprises, Corona, Calif.
Learn more about innovation from Rendel by attending CUES’ Execu/Net 2012, August 19-22, in Big Sky, Mont.
