Technology

Judy Dahl Online, real-time text chat gives members another way to connect with your CU. When they want quick, accurate answers about their finances, text chat is the go-to channel for some members. To use it, a member simply types a question into a chat window on the credit union’s... READ MORE

James Collins Dr. Seuss would have a field day with phishers. It all began late on a Friday afternoon, when the first e-mail hit: “Dear Sirs: I recently received an e-mail from you, telling me that my home banking was disabled. I wish to thank you for sending me this... READ MORE

Dianne Molvig The cat-and-mouse game of card fraud has CUs and vendors scrambling. Fortunately, CUs can take steps to reduce fraud risk. In August 2008, the Justice Department indicted 11 people for allegedly stealing millions of consumers’ credit and debit card information from TJX, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market,... READ MORE

James Collins If the site’s typography doesn’t look like a ransom note, you’re not trying. Personally, I find paying a professional to design a Web page a bunch of hooey. (Definition: something inherently useless. Synonym: Congress.) Fact is, information technology (IT) folks have developed Web pages for years. But a bunch... READ MORE

Judy Dahl Eliminating paper saves time and money, helps the planet, and provides faster, better service to members. A thick sheaf of paper typically heralds each closed mortgage. It’s solid and real—but expensive, time-consuming, and environmentally harmful. That’s why mortgages at $4.8 billion asset BECU, Tukwila, Wash., now are paperless from... READ MORE

Dianne Molvig   A remote sales force—a.k.a. relationship managers—can bring you closer to members. Time was, building relationships with members meant drawing them into your credit union to do business and then showing them what else you could do. The idea was to leverage branch traffic to generate more business.... READ MORE

Lucy Harr Virtual boardroom technology improves communication and decision making. It’s good for the environment, too. Ron Whitworth is a champion of any technology that can help his credit union achieve efficiencies and increase effectiveness. So when the State Department Federal Credit Union board member learned about a product that... READ MORE

Kathy Kuehn Whether print will survive is a moot point. People’s habits change. “To expect future generations to be satisfied with printed books is like expecting the BlackBerry® users of today to start communicating by writing letters, stuffing envelopes, and licking stamps.” That quote, by Jeff Gomez, author of the... READ MORE

Walk into any credit union information technology (IT) manager's office and announce it's time to switch core systems. What do you think the response will be? READ MORE

Cathy Fleming   Today’s CIOs must be strong leaders as well as talented technologists .   The pace of technological change demands a unique combination of flexibility and forecasting by credit union chief information officers (CIO). The CIO’s role has become even more critical in executing strategies to increase membership,... READ MORE