LAS VEGAS–Using a Shark Tank-like format, three teams of credit union professional pitched three different ideas for new products and services here.
Team Broken Boundaries
Team Broken Boundaries, Team Beyond 7, and Team CU Force presented their concepts as part of the REACH Innovation Groups process, which is modeled on the Filene Research Institute’s i3 program, during the California and Nevada leagues’ REACH Conference here. The session was moderated by Tansley Stearns, chief impact officer with Madison, Wis.-based Filene.
Prior to making their presentations, the groups participated in a two-day experiential learning session that was aimed at immersing the participants in the Filene Method of Innovation. Then the teams met weekly remotely, connecting every six weeks via webinars facilitated by Filene.
Acting as Sharks and asking questions of the various teams were Diana Dykstra, CEO of the California/Nevada leagues; Carolina Willard, SVP with CO-OP Financial Services, and Tony Boutelle, CEo of CU Direct.
Here’s a look at the three ideas pitched:
Team Broken Boundaries. Product: CU Simplify
Team Members: Ashley Brinkman, CU 1; Eurie Im, USC CU; Mindy Mills, SchoolsFirst FCU; Natalie Tomajan, Educational Employees CU, and Chris Olson, The Members Group.
To make their point that credit union employees at all levels are overwhelmed by email and information, team Broken Boundaries asked audience members to take out their cellphones and look at how many unread messages they had received.
At the same time, the team said research it had conducted had discovered that one-third of all credit union staff don’t know where to look for information on credit unions. Moreover, there are numerous inspirational stories of how employees are helping members, Team Broken Boundaries suggested, that need to be shared.
Their solution: CU Simplify, which the team described as a custom-branded email delivered right to employee email.
“We want to inspire them to get more news,” team members said. “We will then send them to our website where they can read more news from various organizations. We are going to aggregate all those news sources into one central place…Our news source will also provide the inspiration that people need by highlighting the cause, with people helping people, credit union feel0good content.”
Team Beyond 7. Solution: VABA (Voice Activated Banking Assistant)
Team Members: Chris Bruno, McKesson EFCU; Christina Haley, PostCity Financial CU, Jon Hernandez, CalCom FCU. and Linda White, United Health CU.
Team Beyond 7 used as its target market the sinble mom who is busy and who has no time to deal with many of demands of her day. “With VABA, she can feel like Super Mom,” said Team Beyond 7. “She could do her banking when her mind is free but her hands are not.”
The concept was similar to Amazon’s Alexa, a voice-activated solution that allows the member to conduct financial transactions. In this case, VABA would operate behind a credit union’s mobile banking platform.
The team its research found 70% of users are mobile banking users.
VABA, the team added, is a solution “aimed at people who don’t sit behind a desk all day.”
Team CU Force: Solution: CU Virtual Training Group
Team CU Force.
Team members: Anthony Couturie, SchoolsFirst FCU; Brenda Lopez, MyEE CU; Justin Weiler, BCU; Nicole Camrillo, Wealth CU; Steven Page, SafeAmerica, and Lawrence Curry, SkyOne CU
Team CU Force described its solution as a place where “virtual reality meets service reality.” The team’s plan calls for using a virtual reality training module using headset/goggles that “gamifies” real-life simulations of members making requests, asking questions, and needing assistance. Employees are transported to a “real” situation in a real-looking branch (perhaps even their own) and faced with questions about the right choices to make.
The team said its research found one-third of employees leave in the first year, and that just 12% say they are able to apply training to their job. At the same time, seven in 10 say training is the reason they stay.
Team CU Force said CU Virtual Training Group could help reduce employee turnover, increase in service and sales.
From left, Tony Boutelle, Caroline Willard and Diana Dykstra.