CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 197 Barb Lowman President CUNA Strategic Services on Credit Union Survival Skills 2022 Edition

 Buckle up, this will be a bumpy ride.

That's because today's guest, Barb Lowman, president of CUNA Strategic Services has a huge portfolio of responsibilities - and she need to succeed to keep the credit union sector thriving.

We are in existential times.  Break out your Kierkegaard because, honestly, the future of thousands of small and even mid sized credit unions does not look bright as pressures grow in technology, in regulation, in compliance and you know the lengthening list of issues that credit union CEOs wrestle with.

Lowman's job as CUNA Strategic Services is to find ways to give credit unions competitive edges and she is looking hard at technology. For instance: how can small credit unions have good, contemporary core systems? We talk about exactly that issue.

We talk a lot more tech too - but know we also talk executive compensation and board recruitment and those are issues that smaller credit unions in particular fight with.

Can you guess the typical CEO retirement package at a small credit union? Listen: Lowman tells us.

And when you hear it you will know why many credit unions struggle to survive when a long serving CEO retires.

Lowman is a lifelong optimist. This is a cheery podcast.

So smile.

And listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Tags: Gliadigitalmember experiencemergerscredit union 

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 194 Bill Clark Engageware on Digital Trends

The company name flows much more smoothly off the tongue: Engageware.  

Before it had been TimeTrade SilverCloud and that was its name a year ago when CEO Bill Clark guested on this podcast. Now he's back for an encore.

The company's business remains helping companies - credit unions very much included - get more member engagement through whatever channel and tools the member chooses to use.  

Engagement is critical today. You know that.  That's also why Bill Clark is a man to talk with because he knows engagement and he also knows that credit union execs are tempted by many new shiny objects but do they deliver?

In last year's podcast Clark talked at length about the findings in the company's digital first banking report.

This year he is back with a new report with new findings and some of what you will hear in this podcast will blow your mind.

Such as?  Chew on this: Consumers will stay skeptical. We just aren't as trusting and believing as we had been and that changes a lot. Including relationships with credit unions. Clark elaborates on that theme in this podcast.

Another finding: 40% of bank customers say they are willing to leave their primary financial institution for digital banking that compares to a great online shopping experience. Do your digital channels measure up against Amazon's? They better.

35% of bank customers nationwide say it is not easy to find  even simple answers on their banking institutions’s mobile app or website.

You and your peers say digital is the priority in 2022. But what does that mean? Clark talks us through this.

Listen up: this is a podcast that will refresh what you really know about digital and member engagement.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 196 Dan Michaeli Glia on Digitizing Member Service and Credit Union Merger Mania

 You know the numbers.  In just the first three quarters of 2021 the NCUA approved 117 mergers and there will be more this year. In the mix is an ever growing number of credit union acquisitions of banks.

Here's the million dollar question: post merger how many members (or bank customers) will flee to a new institution. If you are going to have to learn how to deal with a new institution, why not make it a completely new institution?

Hmm.

Then I saw an article by Glia CEO Dan Michaeli in Credit Union Times  that put out an entrancing thesis: "Credit unions undergoing a merger can benefit from modernizing member service with a digital-first approach.."

What if?

What if you not only can lose fewer members but get more wallet share?

Just maybe, says Michaeli, you can do exactly that.

In this podcast he talks about the 2022 credit union imperative to master digital member experience.

It no longer is nice to have. It's an authentic must have and do.

Incidentally, Michaeli also believes that a good member digital experience can help boost employee satisfaction. That's news you want to know in the era of the great resignation.

You say you think you heard Michaeli on this podcast before? Bonus points are yours.  Episode 115 was his first appearance.  

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 195 Gordon Flammer Datava

 Is the company name pronounced Datava, Data-va, or, what's your guess?

Just as the pronunciation of the company's name may prove slippery for many, so too is it difficult to neatly sum up exactly what Gordon Flammer's company does.

But I can tell you this: when American Heritage Credit Union worked with Flammer, it grew by $1 billion. Organic growth, Not acquisition.  That has to grab your attention. Here's a link to a CUBroadcast show about this $1 billion miracle fueled by Flammer's unique way of looking at credit unions and their data. 

Here's a link to a press release about the same fantastic growth.  

His starting point: a lot of software and tech tools sold to credit unions do not do what they are promised to do and, importantly, they do not solve the problem the credit union wants solved.

So Flammer takes a different kind of look at what ails a credit union and he comes up with different kinds of solutions.

Much of what the company works on is creating better sales tools, dashboards, monitors, and so on.  But there's more in Flammer's tool box.

Along the way in this podcast Flammer explains why his company is a CUSO - he is a big booster of the format - and he also muses about the plusses and pitfalls of working with venture capitalists. For some - point a finger at Flammer - a CUSO is simply a better path.

Listen up.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto