In January, I had the privilege of speaking at CU 2.0’s Brainstorm event as a panelist alongside a handful of incredible leaders, including Ajay Hans, Founder & CEO of Mobetize, Thomas Heatherly, Director of Growth at BankingOn, Kris Kovacs, President & CEO of Constellation, and Frank Wasson President & CEO of CommonWealth ONE FCU. I would especially like to thank Kirk Drake and Chris Otey for facilitating our panel discussion, titled “All Aboard the Fintech Service Bus: Accelerating Digital Transformation.” Attendees made it clear that CUs grasp how important this evolution is for their survival and success by voting digital transformation as the most popular topic of the event so I thought I would share some of the highlights from our conversation.
Credit unions must be able to integrate quickly
Credit unions are not only struggling to increase the pace of innovation but are also looking for the opportunity to become leaders in this area. New business lines will be a key driver for credit unions in the year to come. Software companies like ModusBox greatly simplify the connectivity between Fintechs and CUs, and fintech service bus solutions like PortX streamline that process. If CUs expect to compete in an industry rich in modern consumer banking services, they must position themselves by driving toward best-of-breed applications and the capability to integrate quickly.
Credit unions must think like software companies
Embedded banking with innovative new fintechs will be a real business strategy for CUs in 2022 and beyond. New technologies create a dynamic marketplace for banking services and unleash rapid innovation for those taking on member services and experience initiatives. However, simplified connections between member services and the banking core are shifting banking-as-a-service (BaaS) from vendor-centric solutions to banking services directly. CUs will have to rethink their vendor relationships and pivot to a product development mindset that requires “ownership” of their IT and data stacks and in-house knowledge of APIs and why they are critical to its survival.
How to drive change and accelerate innovation in the CU
CUs will have intense competition when hiring developers, project managers, and other technical positions critical for digital transformation. Automating manual processes will be the critical capacity gap that CUs must solve. Appointing a digital transformation/integration/product owner will be essential for driving organizational change. The key to unlocking innovation will be to leverage tools like a fintech service bus, which broker (and simplify) all communications with the core. This approach can speed up delivery and reduce costs by a factor of 10x – without the need for hiring high-level architects.
Learn more about how we partner with CUs
At ModusBox, we use our software and expertise to drive faster innovation by connecting applications using API best practices, building on microservices, and implementing business process automation. Our service delivery approach leaves your team in control with the knowledge and reusable assets needed to sustain rapid innovation.
If you missed the conference, watch the recording of our session and be sure to sign up for the next event on CU 2.0’s Brainstorm site or learn more about how we are partnering with Credit Unions, community banks, and FinTechs to create online banking integration, banking core independence, and enabling payment integration and management solutions. Or, simply start a conversation with our team today.
