Pack It Up, Pack It In

Any leader worth their salt will tell you – doing more doesn’t always mean making more.

Yet, as credit unions look to stay competitive by expanding services, they tend to retain and implement more systems, tools, reporting, and controls so they can manage…you guessed it…more products.

The catch? Maintaining legacy systems pushes expenses skyward while becoming dead weight as customers use them less and less. That’s why inventorying current systems is a vital component of your ongoing Payments Strategy. And a word to the wise: revising your product line may not mean adding more.Current software may be capable of offering you additional features without breaking the bank. The right payments system could supplant multiple others, such as:

• Bill payments
• Account to Account (A2A) transfers
• Person to Person (P2P) transfers
• New account funding

But how do you evaluate these solutions to make sure they’ll help answer the problem and not just create new ones? The answer will be contextual to your institution. Nonetheless, here are 3 tips for evaluating potential systems that can be applied broadly:

1. Does It Stretch? Is the system capable of meeting current needs while also scaling and adapting to future demands? A system that only solves today’s challenges is a short-term investment, and this is a long-term game.
2. Does It Mix? It might seem like a no-brainer but choose a system that can integrate with your existing technologies and data sources. You’d be surprised how often we see a solution that necessitates more money, time, and resources just because it integrated poorly.
3. Does It Come with Support? New systems are just that—new. So be sure they come with support and training and help your team access both so they’re prepared to implement the new system. Success hinges on your team.

Could now be the right time to replace two or three systems with one? If so, we should talk!