GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—CU*Answers is launching MyCUToday, an online data warehouse that seeks to allow credit unions—large and small—manage information across the entire organization quickly and cost-effectively via a dashboard.
Affordable access to timely data is critical to helping CUs succeed, especially small ones, said CU*Answers CEO Randy Karnes. The latest CU industry data shows that membership in small credit unions continues to decline.
“This means every credit union, whether they are a three- or 300-person shop, can understand exactly where the credit union stands each day,” said Karnes. “It is critical that the cost of accessing and managing the credit union’s data is lowered in our industry.”
MyCUToday does not have any affiliation with CUToday.info.
Karnes noted that many people have a “doomsday” attitude about small credit unions. “A lot of times I think people just convince the small credit union that all of the challenges they face are overwhelming. Accessing data should not be one of those challenges.”
Accessible via the web to CU*Base credit unions, the tool provides a dashboard of daily updated metrics and trends, currently tracking 60 data points across balance, member and transaction data categories, with more data points to be added in 2015.
Randy Karnes, CU* Answers
Cost for the service ranges from $25 to $50 per month, depending on when the CU signs on. Karnes expects about 50 credit unions across all asset sizes to be on board when the product is officially released Jan. 1.
The data is easy to digest, said Karnes, comparing the daily dashboard to reading the newspaper. “Find out how many new members are signing up in a day, watch for average checking account balance changes, see how many share account withdrawals does your membership do a day, examine branch performance . . .”
Karnes hopes MyCUToday helps the industry understand how much faster and simpler data reporting can be. “If MyCUToday catches on this year in our core environment, which I believe it will, I expect we will see more core system companies offering the same thing. The result will be credit unions having a lot more answers about their business at an incredible speed.”
Track Any Data Point
MyCUToday extracts data each night from the core system and ports it over to a server farm that delivers the data to credit unions by 5 a.m. The data points are customizable, as are the alerts the system generates. The system can be set to track any data point and alert the CU when a certain threshold is reached.
“Say I want to celebrate wins, like the credit union setting a record for a certain business category or reaching a goal. You can tell staff the CU had its best day ever,” said Karnes.
Karnes said MyCUToday makes the entire organization—including the board—“data aware. One of the most important aspects of this tool is that the CEO has a clear picture of where the CU stands before stepping into the office each day. And, you can walk into any room with WiFi and carry your facts with you on a phone or tablet.”
Members need a snapshot as well, added Karnes, who believes it is important the CU regularly lets members know how the co-operative is performing.
“In the old days we posted the income statement and balance sheet in the lobby not because the government told us to, but because members could see how their investment was performing,” said Karnes. “You show respect and earn it by sharing data with others, and you differentiate yourself.”
Karnes said MyCUToday, which filters data based on access level, could be accessed via home or mobile banking platforms. “So when members check their own balance sheets they could click on a link and see the credit union’s balance sheet as well. It gives that member-owner a feeling of ownership, and we know how hard it can be to get members to feel like they own the credit union.”
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