Takeaways from CUES School of Payments this week in Chicago. By Lisa Hochgraf
Yesterday in Chicago, Terence Roche summarized some key concepts discussed at the CUES School of Payments. Roche is principal of CUES Supplier member and strategic provider Cornerstone Advisors, Scottsdale, Ariz. Establish clear performance metrics that target key revenue and expense drivers. People are saying, “I’m calling those out and they're as visible as loan growth and delinquencies” when management gets together to talk things out, Roche said. These can get pretty granular, and seek to answer such questions as: Who’s using bill-pay? and If mobile is the most important new payment offering, how many members use it? Have a clear plan for “reduce and redirect” spending on payments. If you save money in one area of payments, you can use it to reinvest in your offerings or new payments ventures. Establish clear organizational responsibility. "If we have 18 metrics, who is the person responsible for each of those 18 metrics? Who’s responsible for your next contract negotiation" with a vendor? Roche said the answer needs to be the name of a person, not a department or group. Use analytics strategically. Leverage your vendors to help get good data, Roche suggested. "Identify opportunities for activation, usage and retention," he added. "Have account and transactional data presented in both visual and data formats. Involve senior management in creating and maintaining the member experience. How easy is it to sign up for a payment system with your credit union--or to enter into a dispute? "It is absolutely ridiculous that management teams talk about credit, deposits, account opening but not the member experience," Roche said. Have a roadmap that details key projects and milestones. This isn’t a long written out document, but a visual representation. "When you’re selling a board or rallying a senior team on a new idea, go visual" in how you present information about what you're projecting three years out, by channel, he said. Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES senior editor. Download CU Management magazine's special report on payments, which was sponsored by two CUES Supplier members: CO-OP Financial Services, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and MasterCard, Purchase, N.Y. Email CUES to get more information about its upcoming report: The Future of Payments: Scenarios for Credit Unions 2018. The executive summary will be free and the full report will be available for purchase. This important research was also sponsored by CO-OP Financial Services and MasterCard. Learn about upcoming CUES schools.
