CHICAGO–It’s a challenge common to most CUs: data is siloed in systems that don’t talk to each other. But there’s another challenge and it can be even bigger—data professionals are also siloed, and they aren’t part of two-way communication with the rest of the credit union—and that comes with a big cost for both the individuals and the CU itself, said three people here.
That difficult issue was tackled during a discussion here around how a technology leader in a credit union can become a better business leader. Two CIOs and one CEO who came up through the IT ranks offered some interesting answers to the question.
The trio who spoke to the joint annual meetings of the CUNA Technology Council and CUNA Operations and Member Experience Council here included Samantha Amburgey, CIO with MSUFCU in Michigan; Sharon Moseley, SVO/CIO with Kinecta FCU in California; and Rudy Pereira, president and CEO with Premier America Credit Union in California.
Here’s a look at the questions asked along with the responses beginning with each panelist’s road to where they are now:
Q: What roles have you served in your organizations and how have they helped you get to your current one?
Pereira:I came up through the tech ranks. I graduated with a degree in computer sciences and wanted to be a programmer. My company, Hughes Aircraft, was sold to GM, and then I went to Hewlett Packard, where someone introduced me to a credit union looking for a programmer. That was back in 1990. I worked as a project manager, then VP of IT, and then took a little stint in working a little more on the strategy side. So, when Kinecta was looking for a CIO I made myself known and got the job, and then I was recruited by Alliant Credit Union (Chicago) in 2005. I spent seven great years there and learned a new culture, but at Alliant, my boss, Dave Mooney, said you might want to consider doing more than IT because of my passion for culture and member experience, Six Sigma, and process improvement. I got a CEO position at Royal Credit Union (Wisconsin), which was fun and I didn’t plan to leave. But then I had a special opportunity to return to California as a CEO.
Moseley: My story has all been IT, and in all areas of IT. I started in 1977 as a computer operator working seven days on, seven days off, 12-hour shifts, and 12 hours at night. I saw the programmers working 9-5 and said I want to do that, so I learned Cobalt and got a job as a programmer trainee. Several months into this job, my manager at a consumer finance company in Canada, and I bless him for this, wanted me to go to a branch for a week. That was an amazing experience for me and that’s where I learned you have to understand the business at that level. And from that point on I have always asked when I was coding how this would affect people. I came to California in 1996, and eventually became a CIO. During the past eight years at Kinecta, for six of those I headed up strategy, and I loved that role. IT puts you in an enviable position in an organization because you can see every function.
Amburgey: I started in retail and hospitality, including six years in Las Vegas. Then I started in the call center at MSUFCU, where several people urged me to get into the management development program. I took some programming classes and became call center manager and then a branch manager, and then I got hired into a new division called e-services because I knew how to code—I have a degree in sociology and what do you do with that?—and that team is now 60-65 people. As e-services manager, I started working with the team that created our website and internal intranet. We were exploring idea of custom development as it was not as expensive and we could have complete control. Then we decided to develop our own home banking and it started to take off. I became VP and became a digital leader in the organization, working under (now CEO) April Clobes. About five years ago we had some trouble filling our leader over IT, and everyone looked to me, and it took a while to take on the role, but I did. Today, there are about 80 people on that team. We’re a big shop with a lot of customization. I’ve been able to work with the team to understand what the rest of the organization needs, and been able to get the rest of the organization to know how IT works.
Q: How does understanding your organization’s key metrics and drivers understand technology decisions?
Moseley:Strategy certainly matters, and understanding that as an IT leader is essential for success. The decisions we make are key to helping the company succeed, and understanding the metrics used is critical to knowing whether technology decisions have been effective. A technology decision should be measured by the business outcome it produces. When you build a platform, not only should you be asking the member how was it, you should also have the metrics there to know if you are building the growth expected from that channel. I think it’s important for the IT folks to understand when an initiative is taken on what you expect the business outcome to be. It’s not just did you get it done on time, but did you get the result?
Amburgey: A lot of what we have done is talking up front about what the metrics are, what is the value, and then reporting back to the team on how it was successful and how it is being used. It allows us to make future decisions on projects.
Moseley: I have found that often there are members of the team who don’t understand what has been delivered. We have monthly tech talks, and people there become advocates and the things we are doing are actually put to use. It’s not necessarily for managers, but for people interested in technology.
Q: In what ways can a business leader overseeing IT assist with alignment with IT and the rest of the organization:
Amburgey:A couple of things I took from being in branches and the call center––any time there was a technology issue it was hair on fire and chaotic. It’s hard in a call center when you need to help people. The first time we had issues when I was in IT I actually went to the call center. That was a significant difference from past IT leaders. It makes my peers feel more comfortable and involved. I have tried to teach everyone in IT the value of communication. They are fixing things, but we have also put in place a process to identify someone to be the communicator. We had to build that, it wasn’t something that was understood by the IT individuals, who thought the most important thing was just to fix it.
Part two has been communication extended to regular touchpoints. I have started a process of meeting monthly with my peers. We address their concerns and how we can address them. We have tried to switch to a proactive mode from a reactive mode. We are working on process management so people can get things the way they want, but it’s important to realize there are two sides and to keep the dialogue open. It’s easy to forget to talk. It’s important for IT to realize they are part of the credit union. They may think and breathe IT, but they are part of a larger organization. So, we look for people who align on the values of the organization. That’s what the credit union wants to hire on the service side, but you should hire for that on the IT side, too.
Pereira: One thing I have learned is you work with peers, but everyone has their priorities, and in becoming CEO the more clarity I can provide, the better. Sometimes it means saying no. The first thing I’ve done as CEO is identify our core purpose: everything in our organization has to line up with the mantra of making it easier for members to achieve dreams. All of our projects have to line up with one of four pillars. The more clarity you have from the top, the easier it is for the rest of the organization to achieve goals.
A second metric for us is consistency, which is probably the most elusive. But we want consistency in service and delivery. It means things don’t go down and they don’t break.
Moseley: When people came into this room, they expected the lights to be on. When employees arrive at work they expect things to work. They don’t care there was a crash at two in the morning. In terms of clarity, we have created a one-page document that shows what we are trying to accomplish strategically. Everyone has this on their wall. They know if we’re working on this it’s because of this, and it will lead to this. It is such an easy tool.
Q: Are there ways for IT staff to walk in the footsteps of others in the organization?
Mosley:I love people who come from the call center. They understand what the stress is in trying to help the member. (At a previous position) I played call center recordings of what it is like when the system is down, the abuse they would take. There was shock on (IT’s) faces. It astounded them that this was what they were putting people through. I’m not sure I would do that again, but it certainly woke people up.
Having been exposed to a branch early on, I’ve always tried to encourage the IT folks to go and sit and see what they do. Go and observe and see what’s really happening. I saw in a mortgage unit that different managers didn’t speak to each other, and it was a bigger problem than the system itself.
We have built at SWAT team of five people who have other jobs but they are assigned to go and look at an area and observe a business unit and they come back with a list and prioritize things to get done.
Amburgey: There is a lot of effort in our process development team to adopt agile development. A lot of times in IT we ask, ’What is it you want?’ A lot of times they don’t know what they want, they just want it to be better. You really need to get immersed in that individual business you are serving to make a positive impact.
Pereira: It’s not just IT. There are people who oversee areas who don’t (go and see how their own areas are working). That is critical. I ask my senior team to go into the call center, to go into the branches. When I was at Royal, I got trained and worked at nine of our branches—yes for morale, but also to walk in their shoes. It gives great insights into the challenges they have.