It's the brutal truth: IT is a key player in aligning delivery systems for your CU's survival. By Lisa Hochgraf 
Making delivery systems both serve members well and be truly efficient requires credit unions to have several factors in place. One of these, according to CUES Supplier member and strategic provider Cornerstone Advisors, Scottsdale, Ariz., is a truly high performing information technology function at your credit union. Cornerstone Director of IT Leadership Butch Leonardson has identified four pillars of the high performing IT organization: 1. The priority. According to Leonardson, the high performing IT group will have the members' experience as top of the list. The chief information officer will look in from the outside to make sure members are delighted by their interactions with the CU. As a result, IT becomes a positive player in unifying the CU around key initiatives 2. The 'therefore.' A high performing IT organization will have a strategy that is a direct result of its member focus. For example, our members need similar experiences with us regardless of delivery system; therefore we will choose vendors and configurations that support this vision. 3. The project leadership. In a high performing organization, implementation/project management becomes a core competency. Projects, when possible, have an aspirational customer experience objective--and they are never seen as "IT projects." 4. The gift. If the other three pillars are strong, an IT professional will love working for your credit union. This is a gift to your IT staff members that will give back to your credit union in spades. In the high performing IT organization, IT staff see they are in the middle of vital work for the CU. As IT’s vocabulary becomes more line-of-business-centric, richer relationships will develop across the enterprise. All this helps create a safe environment for IT's imagination to work hard on behalf of members. Is your credit union's IT organization built on these four pillars? What could you do to strengthen your IT group in these areas? Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES senior editor. CUES members can log in to view a related webinar playback presented by Leonardson and colleagues from Cornerstone Advisors. Cornerstone Advisors is CUES' strategic provider for strategic technology and enterprise risk management services. Leonardson will be a key presenter at CUES School of IT Leadership, Sept. 15-17 in San Antonio.
