By Ray Birch
TAMPA, Fla.—When it comes to leveraging member data, 2020 needs to be the year credit unions do things they’ve never done before, says Tom Davis, making clear those efforts are not limited to just large CUs.
The president and CEO of Trellance spoke with CUToday.info about the challenges credit unions face in making use of the rich member data they possess, including gaining the partnerships and expertise to effectively analyze their data to make the right decisions in the face of growing competition.
And while credit unions are not currently lagging behind Community banks when it comes to using data, they soon may be if they don’t make strides this year, according to Davis.
“Trellance is positioned to help credit unions do new things with their data that they have never done before,” said Davis. “We can help them use more of their data, be more precise and concise with their data, use cleaner and more meaningful data, all to make better operational and business decisions.”
Significant Upgrades
As CUToday.info reported, Trellance reported it has made significant upgrades to its M360 data platform. Following its acquisition of OnApproach last year, Trellance said it has increased product investment, completed four product releases and tripled the number of live clients using the solution.
“We now have 62 use cases for our M360 platform, and the use-cases are growing,” said Davis, who said he understands it would be challenging for any credit union to be taking advantage of all the platform’s data applications today.
But what having that ability does emphasize, said Davis, is credit unions need to begin making data an essential part of their growth strategy.”
“The enterprise M360 platform is the enabling engine behind digital transformation and member experience initiatives for credit unions. Credit unions use the company’s solution to integrate multisource data through a structured connector that standardizes data elements. The recent product releases have led to faster data loads and shorter implementations,” he said.
The Amazon Effect
Davis said credit unions simply must get more out of the data they have because the pressure from the major retailers, such as Amazon, have changed consumers’ expectations of service. As CUToday.info recently reported, for the first time in the history of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), banks have been given a higher customer satisfaction score than credit unions.
“How does Amazon know so much about me? If I do a Google search or go to Amazon, I see offers for products that I looked at months ago. How do they know me so well? That is what credit unions need to do, get to that same level of connection with their members by using their data. Credit unions must get to know their members very well to make the right product and services offerings to them at the right times.”
Davis insisted having the ability to leverage member data to that level of sophistication is necessary as more members stop by branches less often.
“The face-to-face interaction is what credit unions used to rely on well to know their members, but now that is all changing,” said Davis.
Tom Davis
What’s Important Now
As CUToday.info reported in its recent series on member service, the consumer definitions around service are changing. More importance is being placed on retailers really knowing their customers and moving quickly.
Davis said that Trellance, formerly known as CSCU, partnered with credit unions so they could effectively leverage their payments data.
“We've already demonstrated what we can do with payments; now we're bringing that expertise to all other areas of the credit union,” explained Davis. “That's what you're going to see in 2020—us working with credit unions to help them effectively use their data across the entire organization and make the best business decisions.”
What will also help credit unions make better use of their data is acquiring the skill in-house to manage and work with the information, he said.
“Credit unions are starting to develop these disciplines, which allow them to adapt and use data more effectively and more quickly,” Davis said. “These disciplines and core competencies are becoming very important for credit unions.”
Not Limited to Large CUs
And Davis said it’s not just the large credit unions making strides in this area.
“It’s large and small,” he said. “I know one credit union that is not large and the things they've been able to do with data is pretty impressive. So, there are some that are doing well and there are some that are not. If you aren’t using data, you are guessing. You can’t guess anymore. You have to know your member to serve them well, and what it means and what it takes to do that is becoming increasingly complex. The concept of the PFI has been eroding for years—and you often only get a certain window to make an impact on your members, so you have to make the most of your data to do that.”