By Rich Jones
Credit unions are becoming more and more dependent on the many third party technology systems talking to each other and core to bring the access, tools and products members deserve.
These integrations include online banking, mobile banking, consumer lending, mortgage lending, underwriting, asset recovery, HR and incentive software, compliance systems, disaster recovery and business continuity systems into a core operating system. The cost of these integrations can feel like a money pit.
But relief is on the way.
A small group of volunteer Executive and IT professionals from the CUNA Technology Council in partnership with industry leading Credit Unions and vendors are responsible for creating universal integration standards.
“They all have day jobs working for some of the most innovative credit unions in our industry,” stated David LaCroix, Project Manager with CUFX Standards. “These IT professionals saw an opportunity for credit unions small and large to be able to compete more effectively with the bigger and deeper pockets of large banks in the speed and cost of integrating new technologies.”
“These complex integrations take up a tremendous amount of our resources and cash,” added Chris Saneda, SVP/CIO of Virginia Credit Union. “This core of credit union volunteers across the country are investing their free time developing these standards because we want credit unions of all sizes to stay competitive with the convenience, access and tools our members want and deserve.”
Early indications indicate that a fully deployed CUFX Standard can save a credit union 35% or more in the cost of integration and maintenance. It is also expected that the time to market for new CUFX compliant standards will cut the speed to market in half.
CUFX (Credit Union Financial Exchange, www.cufxstandards.com, is an open, vendor agnostic, and broad integration standard for systems integration. In lay terms this is a standardized way to connect all those plugs and wires between vendors and our core operating systems. The Core Objectives of CUFX is to:
- Improve the member experience by enabling a greater range of seamlessly integrated service offerings.
- Enable innovation and speed-to-market within the industry by removing technology barriers.
- Dramatically reduce integration complexities and operating expenses to drive costs down across the industry.
This volunteer team has already created over 50 integration standards by working in partnership with some of the leading core systems, online banking providers and other vendors in the industry. These top tier vendors continue to work closely with CUFX to create standards for integration designed exclusively to bring faster and cheaper integrations to credit unions.
Rich Jones is responsible for marketing and business development with CUFX, and also president/principal with Leading2Leadership LLC. He can be reached at rich0747@comcast.net.