Improve Credit Union Board Meetings: 4 Tips

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If you are a credit union leader or a member of a credit union board, chances are you’ve been to at least one board meeting and know how important it is for the board to have effective meetings. But how can you ensure that your board meetings are successful?

Effective board meetings are an important part of credit union management. They provide a forum for discussing important topics and making decisions that impact the entire organization. But in order to get the most out of these meetings, it’s important to make sure they’re organized and productive.

Let’s discuss some tips on how to have better credit union board meetings. We’ll look at things like setting clear agendas, encouraging participation, and more.

Tips for Improving Productivity to Facilitate Effective Board Meetings

Credit union board meetings are just as easily derailed as a daily or monthly project meeting, and Hales Property Management shared some great and targeted tips for staying on task:

  • Define the purpose of the meeting. This makes for more organized board meetings from the get-go.
  • Start and end your credit union board meetings on time – this helps keep your directors and attending staff engaged and on task so as not to waste their own – or anyone else’s – time.
  • Keep the discussion focused. Once a topic of discussion is brought forth, follow it through and keep notes on any other issues that come up within the conversation, rather than letting a tangential conversation derail your progress.
  • Encourage input from all attendees. It’s important that everyone feels heard.
  • Take breaks as needed. Sometimes a short break can help get you back on track faster than a lengthy (or heated) debate will.
  • Be mindful of body language. For those speaking and listening, it’s important to pay attention to your own body language as well as the body language of those around you.
  • Take notes. These meetings are often task-oriented, and keeping notes ensures that all of the issues that were discussed will find a successful conclusion.
  • Follow up after the meeting. Part of the note-taking should include the action items that each attendee (or committee) will be responsible for between now and the next board meeting.
  • Encourage feedback. Sometimes, sharing every opinion isn’t feasible, and certain ideas can get missed. It’s important to keep those lines of communication and trust open so that concerns and recommendations can be passed back and forth between meetings.

Meeting productivity also improves when you do a few things to help manage the attendees’ expectations. For example, you should always send out a credit union board agenda beforehand – and not just one day before the meeting. 

We’d recommend sending the meeting agenda at least one week in advance – this gives your board and guests time to include important items that may have been overlooked. It also creates expectations for the meeting topics – even if you have to include generic topic placeholders (like “Director A will discuss recent marketing efforts” or “Guest speaker will be Helen the CPA”).

Create Space for Questions and General Review

A board meeting shouldn’t feel like a punishment. While it’s not a party either, it’s important to create space for new and existing board members and meeting participants to share openly.

This means reserving time in the meeting for board members to share general news, interesting articles, personal achievements or events, and other non-discussion items.

This is a great way to keep your directors engaged without creating a feeling of having extra homework assigned. If a board member finds an interesting resource, they can simply share it with the room and those who are interested can follow up on the resource in their own time.

It also means creating space for questions. Every board is different, and each director has different skills and areas of expertise. It’s important to remember to always allow new members the opportunity to ask “beginner” questions, especially pertaining to things like budgets and financial information.

Be Clear about Renewal & Succession Planning

Choosing to simply wait until Directors on your board want to leave is not a strong succession plan. Credit unions are highly susceptible to changes in their CEO and directors lineup, and it’s important to prepare for these changes early.

It’s important to share guidelines that show exactly what the current board is responsible for when it comes to recruiting, developing, and retaining those in key positions. the credit union board agendas can shift as needed, but it’s easier to alter a plan than to go in without one.

In January 2022, the NCUA board approved a proposed rule on succession planning. The proposed rule requires the boards of directors at federal credit unions to “establish and adhere to processes for succession planning.” However, whether you are a federally-chartered or state-chartered credit union, it is wise to create these plans in order to maintain your board’s effectiveness during periods of transition.

Improve Board Meetings with Better Financial Conversations

An article entitled, “Better Board Financial Conversations” was featured in the fall 2022 issue of Credit Union Magazine.

In that article, writer Darla Dernovsek shared several ways to keep your next CU board meeting on track when it comes to tackling the hard financial discussions that will arise.

The first tip here is to keep past performance in mind, but don’t let it overtake the conversation – we can’t go back and fix things, we can only use the information we have to create better, more successful future initiatives.

The article also shares several poignant questions that may help to drive the conversation forward, rather than continuing to discuss things in a loop, creating identical conversations over the years and decades. Those questions include:

  • What do you want to get out of meetings?
  •  What type of discussion do you want to occur, and on which financial and strategic topics? (This one is important, as board meetings can often veer too far into the “big picture discussion” without making any incremental changes to help create and sustain some forward momentum.)
  • What engagement do you want to see in your meetings? You can help determine this by creating board meeting requirements for certain positions and attendees.
  • What problems are you trying to solve?

These questions are great for getting your CU leaders to think about the core purpose of each meeting and your board’s engagement as a whole.

The future isn’t as easily read as it once was – in a post-pandemic world, it’s important to look past the numbers and projections to continue to offer your members the best experience based on their current desires and needs.

Your Credit Union Board Meetings Get Easier When Your UX Improves

We’re in a world full of short tempers, quick answers, and customer service issues. Because of that, your website is a great place to start creating good momentum for your next credit union board meetings.

Boost member numbers with IMSI’s online account opening, increase loan stats with our Web Loan Applications and enhance your Keystone core with our Corelation solutions. IMSI is your partner in fine-tuning your website for great things, both for members and for CU staff.

Contact us today with questions, requests, and more. We’d love to chat with you about how IMSI can help your credit union reach its goals this year.

Credit Union Community Outreach Trends & Tips

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As people become increasingly aware of the importance of financial literacy, credit unions have stepped up to the plate with community outreach efforts. Credit unions are unique because they are not-for-profit organizations. This allows them to focus on offering their members better services and products than traditional banks.

It’s important to recognize that credit union community outreach goes beyond its members – it also serves to benefit the broader population.

Credit unions are a vital part of many people’s financial well-being. As the economy changes and evolves, credit union community outreach is becoming increasingly important. This article will explore current trends and offer tips for credit unions looking to expand their reach and engagement in their community. From partnering with local organizations to utilizing social media, there are many different avenues for credit unions to make an impact.

Why Do Credit Unions Do Community Outreach?

There are many benefits that come with running successful and impactful credit union community outreach programs. It strengthens your credit union’s brand, while also helping create positive change in the communities that you serve.

More and more, we’re seeing consumers look at brand transparency and advocacy when it comes to choosing which brands and institutions to give their money and resources to.

The goal of community outreach is to spur community engagement – and your credit union can do that in lots of ways. It can be as simple as offering budgeting and personal finance classes or as complex as running fundraisers, events, and other community-centered initiatives that run all year long.

Tips to Boost Credit Union Community Outreach Efforts

You can create opportunities for community outreach and engagement with your credit union’s resources and staff, and it all starts with a community engagement plan. Similar to any other business or marketing venture, it’s always best to start with your big goals and vision – this is your community charter. You can reach out to other community leaders and groups to help determine what items and events would best serve your community. You can also survey your current members to see what their unique needs are, especially those tied to their financial health.

From there, you’ll create a list of events, ideas, and resources that will help you reach those goals.

Here are some quick tips to help guide these discussions and planning sessions:

  • Lead with inclusivity: Most communities are made up of diverse groups. They may be diverse in their financial situations, races, sexualities, industries, and more. The more you cater to these niches, the more effective your credit union community outreach can become.
  • Leverage technology: every community has several (even hundreds) of social media groups dedicated to the diversity we mentioned above. You don’t have to sit in the town hall meeting to find out what the biggest opportunity zones are for your credit union to make a large impact.
  • Evolve as you learn: community outreach is a multi-faceted, evolving project. New issues are always replacing old ones, and some things that haven’t been an issue for years will come back into the fold. Your community outreach efforts should take these changes into account as you work with your members to create helpful solutions and resources.

Lead with a Sense of Purpose

Your credit union community outreach goals should be created with a core sense of purpose. For example, if there are many people in your community struggling to find work right now, that purpose could be financial education. You can offer free classes and workshops for budgeting and even partner with local libraries and tech centers to help those searching for jobs with access to devices they need for their search.

As you embed yourself and your credit union into the communities you serve, it’s often very easy to spot a few high-priority needs that aren’t being met, from housing to food, a shortage of childcare options, and more.

We’d recommend you begin with two tracks: one that has a goal related to financial security and/or education, and one that serves a need that is specific to the community your branch is located in. As another example, clean water is not an issue for every community, and there are different levels of need in each community for those that are unhoused. CUs around skid row, and other large cities, may have a large unhoused population – this is a great opportunity for community outreach initiatives based on housing and basic human needs. But if your credit union largely serves suburban populations, creating food banks for the unhoused isn’t going to have the same impact.

Once you’ve created your two purposes – one based on financial needs and another that targets specific needs in your community – you can start creating events, compiling resources, and researching effective ways to combat these issues. This will mean a lot more to your member base than a single canned food drive or ambiguous fundraiser.

Reach Out to Your Members – Early and Often

You also have a great resource that can help you measure the pulse of your CU’s community – your members! Every one of them is plugged into all the events, issues, and excitement that come with a new year, season, and month.

Instead of relying on your marketing or outreach team to come up with all the ideas, why not ask your members? You can get great insights into the community’s biggest needs, all from the teller desk as your members are depositing paychecks and doing their day-to-day banking.

This includes your online community, too. And you can help foster discussion by rewarding those who speak out and actively engage with your polls, questions, surveys, and discussion threads. There are lots of ways to reward active members, including giving them moderator access, offering free merchandise, discounts on classes, and gift cards to local restaurants or other businesses, the list is endless.

An Updated Website Is Perfect for Documenting and Spurring Community Outreach

One of the biggest hurdles credit unions face is the lack of online presence and innovation. Across industries, we can see how easy it is for high-quality events and outreach initiatives to get glossed over or even forgotten, simply because you didn’t have the information available on your website and social media accounts.

Your members (especially the younger, digitally native ones) expect a certain quality of UX (user experience) on the websites of the brands they purchase from. Your credit union is no different. Website upgrades and app integrations should be a priority in 2023.

The easier you make it for your members to find credit union community outreach initiatives and signups, the more they will see how invested you are in creating a cohesive and supportive experience for your member and the communities in which they work and live.

IMSI offers targeted and professional services that can help you make the most of your credit union’s web presence. Whether you are looking for custom web development or assistance with UI scripting and batch scripting, we can help create a more cohesive website that serves your members, and your communities, better.

Don’t Miss These Top Credit Union Conferences in 2023

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So much has changed since the earliest days of the pandemic, in our lives and in the credit union industry. The rise of digital transformation, branch sharing, and so much more have shaped how your members interact with your credit union, as well as how your credit union does and should do business.

And now that we’re settling into the days of the “new normal,” we are comforted that many things look the same now as they did before 2020, like full in-person and online conference schedules that allow us to connect with industry peers and experts.

With that, we wanted to kick off the new year with some great insights about the top credit union conferences that will be taking place this year.

CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council Conference

The CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council conference is being held in Orlando, Florida on March 26-29, 2023, and it will focus on addressing relevant and impactful trends in the credit union industry right now.

If credit union marketing is a topic you are looking to dive into this year as you are looking for the best conferences for your team and leaders, you should also consider the MAC (Marketing Association of Credit Unions) 2023 Conference as well, which is being held in Nashville, Tennessee from May 22nd to the 25th.

Engage 2023: NAFCU’s Annual Conference

June 27-30, 2023 is when NAFCU is having its 2023 conference in Long Beach, California. This conference is perfect for credit union CEOs, presidents, executive management teams, board members, and supervisory committee members. Their daily general sessions will cover a wealth of topics that will be engaging and informative for any credit union professional looking to learn more about the industry we all love.

Some of the things you’ll be doing include learning about emerging industry trends, discussing actionable insights like how to attract and retain quality talent, and diving into a wide array of topics like cryptocurrency, AI, payments, growth strategies, and more.

For credit union leaders looking to focus on growth in 2023, NAFCU is also holding a Strategic Growth Conference in Nashville, Tennessee in March.

2023 World Credit Union Conference

From July 23rd to the 26th, in Vancouver, Canada, the 2023 World Credit Union Conference is being hosted by the CCUA (Canadian Credit Union Association) and the World Council of Credit Unions.

This unique conference has a global attendance roster, which allows you to network with people from all over the world while you discuss the similar (and differing) credit union trends, struggles, and techniques that make our industry tick.

There are general sessions and 4 concurring breakout sessions per day, with lots of opportunities to network and learn from your CU peers all over the world.

Expand Expo 2023

We wanted to offer a variety of learning and networking opportunities in this article, and that’s why we also wanted to feature the Expand Expo 2023, a conference more geared toward training and development in the CU industry.

This conference is scheduled for September 17-21, 2023 in Hershey, Pennsylvania and is hosted by Horizon Federal Credit Union. You will get to learn about how to create loyal members, connect with others, develop a work-life balance, and increase performance through emotional and behavioral change. You can learn more about this 2023 conference here.

IMSI: Your Partner in Those Big Post-Conference Plans

For more 2023 conference information, you can check out CU Conferences and NAFCU’s Conferences page.

You can also learn more about upcoming credit union conferences by visiting the Conferences and Events page from Credit Union Executives Society. It has tons of educational and networking opportunities listed, both online and in person.

Your credit union deserves an online stage that is worthy of the best conference hall and reception. And IMSI has a wealth of great services to help you put your brand’s best foot forward.

Our well-honed industry experience coupled with our technical expertise in web development is the perfect combination for your next credit union website project. Whether you are looking to add more self-service forms or landing pages to your site, or you are looking to refresh everything from the homepage on down, check out our custom web development services and contact us for more information.

And don’t forget to let us know what 2023 conference you’re most excited about and why! Follow us on social media and here on our blog page for insights about the credit union industry, tips and tricks, news, and more.

Harness the Power of Credit Union Transparency

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Credit unions are, in many ways, the antithesis of big bank operations. The goal of most credit unions is to integrate with the communities they operate in and help serve and educate their members in a bid to be more accessible than larger, corporate-feeling financial institutions.

At the heart of that differentiation is the transparency credit unions choose to have with their members. There’s no need to hide the “secret formula” from the world – a credit union’s job is to share the ins and outs of the financial industry with everyone who has a willingness to learn.

Here are some of our favorite ways you can harness the power of credit union transparency.

Why Credit Union Transparency Is So Important

Many professionals make the mistake of thinking that transparency within their business just means being overly honest – you share even the most mundane details about your operations with your members. But that’s not it.

When you think of credit union transparency, imagine showing your membership base all of your mission, vision, and values, as well as a demonstrable list of how your credit union is consistently working to meet those goals and embody those core tenants. So, how do you create that transparency and make it authentic and valuable for your members?

Share Your CU’s Unique Traits

Credit unions are far more transparent with their business practices than any big bank or other financial institution by virtue of the publication of your credit union’s general information. From business plans to quarterly performance and investment success or failure, credit unions are beholden to their members because the business is almost always owned by those members.

Since everyone is given a stake in the credit union and its success, you’ve already got a great framework for legitimate business transparency.

From there, you can share other unique aspects of your credit union. Do you serve a specific community or industry? Are there other programs that allow your credit union to stand out among the crowd? Lean into these aspects and use them to create a transparent communication line between you and your members.

Financial Education is Key

We are all intrigued when an expert in their field asks something like “Do you want to know my secret?”

Credit unions are the first ones to share their insider expertise with members, and that transparency is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal.

Cultivating a financial education program (or multiple programs) boost your business transparency while also showing member and non-members alike that you aren’t gatekeeping your financial planning knowledge, you are willing and able to share it.

Lending Trust is Waning

Because of predatory student loan practices and payday lending, many of today’s borrowers and potential borrowers are very skeptical about the loan process.

Because so many people have seen the negative effect a bad loan can have on someone’s livelihood for years or even decades, it’s more important than ever to focus your credit union transparency on sharing helpful information about the lending process.

There are many reputable credit unions sourcing and creating loan programs ethically and in a way that benefits both the credit union and the borrower. It’s your job to prove to your prospects and your members that you aren’t taking part in less-than-reputable lending practices.

Faster and Clearer Transactions

Big words and complicated programs aren’t what your members are looking for. They want helpful insights given to them in ways they can understand, and they want to be able to manage their finances quickly and easily.

Impressive technology isn’t about creating a complex and intricate solution – it’s about creating real change or momentum with as little effort and friction as possible. This is why your communication efforts with your members are so important.

You have hundreds or thousands of people using your services every day. Chances are, they can give you some great insight into what’s working and what’s not. Make sure those lines of communication are open and easy to access.

Boost Your Credit Union Transparency with Elegant, Member-Facing Solutions

The more you can show your members what you do, the easier it is for them to believe your statements about being transparent. IMS Integration has several member-facing solutions that can boost your credit union transparency, including Online Self Service Forms, Online Courtesy Pay, and Make a Statement.

Communication is a key component of transparency, and IMSI can help you share insights and offer vital resources to your members anytime, anywhere.

Credit Unions & the Great Resignation

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The Great Resignation has not been easy for credit unions. And much like the rest of the country, your credit union must be looking for some explanations and solutions to the problems caused by the Great Resignation.

Your credit union staff is quite often part of the “face” of your CU’s brand. And as the Great Resignation and its effects linger, it can reflect poorly on that brand if you are unable to keep your branches staffed well. As inflation and cost of living expenses rise, it is less likely that your credit union is a “bad employer” and more likely that you aren’t marketing your positions in an optimal way, among other things.

Let’s talk about what the Great Resignation is and how to create targeted solutions to keep credit union staff issues to a minimum.

The Great Resignation: What It Is and What It Taught Us

In 2021, nearly 50 million people left their jobs voluntarily. This number is 12 million higher than the previous year.

What caused this mass exodus? Here are some of the top reasons cited by those who quit:

  • Burnout (40%)
  • Organizational changes (34%)
  • Lack of flexibility (20%)
  • Instances of discrimination (20%)
  • Contributions and ideas not being valued (20%)
  • Insufficient benefits (19%)

The stress from the pandemic – including many companies calling their staff back from remote work to in-office, loss of employees due to COVID, increased responsibilities, etc. – are all contributors to the burnout that many people are feeling in their workplace.

And credit unions are not exempt from these things. Like many businesses, most CUs can’t support 100% of their workforce going full-time remote, and it’s up to individual institutions to decide how to handle cost of living hikes and inflation issues.

However, when you look at the list of reasons why people are leaving in droves, a lot of it comes down to employees not feeling supported by the businesses they work for and support.

And while this information may seem negative, it’s also worth noting that the financial services sector actually experienced the Great Resignation less significantly than other industries. However, the number of resignations is still outweighing the number of new hires, even now, though that trend seems to be slowing the further we get into 2022.

Hiring & Recruiting: Jumpstart Your CU’s Search

If you are looking to increase your credit union staff numbers, or you have vacant positions to fill, we’ve got some tips.

Right now, posting your open positions on your website and your favorite job boards isn’t enough to attract the candidates you’ll want. Your hiring approach has to be more active.

You can use those same job boards to seek out specific people or to search for individuals who may be gainfully employed but looking for other opportunities. For example, LinkedIn lets people note on their profile if they are open to other job opportunities, even if they aren’t actively looking to change jobs.

You also need to expand your search. Though each position may have preferred skills, it’s important to seek out and evaluate potential candidates who don’t fit all the criteria on your list.

When you think about the ideal person you’d like to fill a specific position, what sort of attributes are most important? Do they need to be personable? Should they have high problem-solving capabilities or be great at written communication? Many of these attributes are tantamount to, say, their experience working in the financial sector, but they are often overlooked until after the interview process has already begun.

Offering sign-on bonuses or other perks including higher wages that are consistent with or better than your area competitors is helpful, too. But these things are only so important to prospects, especially for businesses with staffing issues based on workload, company culture, or other more systemic problems.

Evaluate Your Expenses

Much of the effect of the Great Resignation for credit union staff was seen in the resignation of frontline workers including tellers and other employees who work directly with your members. And while this can be frustrating, it also offers a great opportunity for your credit union to see what improvements can be made to ease the burden on front-facing roles by implementing new processes or investing in new technology.

The Great Resignation is also a great opportunity for your branches to evaluate other expenses. There are likely ways to reduce costs without reducing your staff. For example, IMSI has a host of credit union solutions that take some of the more repetitive or preliminary member-facing tasks and creates online solutions that you can build directly into your CU’s website or app offerings.

Web Solutions for Busy CU Leaders

When you are having staffing issues, the last thing you want to do is make things harder for yourself or your current credit union staff. That’s why IMSI concentrates on bringing you customized, high-quality solutions for your online forms.

Our online self-service forms can collect information for you and even enable member-led self-service request fulfillment. IMSI can build dozens of forms that can ease the burden on your staff and place some of the power back into your member’s hands.

Are you interested in learning more about IMSI’s self-service forms? Reach out to us today and request a consultation.

Boost Member Loyalty for Your Credit Union

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Retention and loyalty are the main foundation of any customer- or member-based business. And credit unions are no different. And lately, reputation and online presence are determining factors in the loyalty conversation. Here are some tips for boosting member loyalty.

Get Creative with Loyalty Programs

Your loyalty program will be as successful as you make it. Members are constantly looking for the best deals, especially when it comes to financial opportunities like lending, saving, and debt consolidation. 61% of financial institution members would prefer to manage their loyalty benefits through a mobile wallet.

The first thing you need to do to boost member loyalty is to make sure your loyalty program accounts for new and developing digital solutions that have come about either by the natural progression to online services or through the rapid digitization of many industries, as caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Top priorities for your revamped loyalty program should include:

  • Streamlined services: lending, FAQs, user-friendly apps and banking processes
  • Optimized mobile solutions and capabilities
  • Application checklists, reminders, and estimation tools (mortgage, personal loans, web loan applications, and more)

Personalization

Social media, promotional emails, Starbucks coffee cups – people like their consumer experiences to feel personal, not transactional or mass-produced. And credit unions are tailor-made for this. If you can offer similar products and services as big banks but do it in a way that feels significant to your members as individuals, loyalty to your credit union and your financial brand will increase.

Creating authentic conversations and transactions with your members can help them commit to loyalty programs and campaigns. And data and automation can help make the personalization process more efficient and error-free.

Reach Out to Struggling Members

One way to increase loyalty is to offer more assistance and education to your members who are struggling financially. Adding extra classes or online resources that cater to those in the lowest income brackets is a great way to do this.

If you have members who are in arrears, your credit union’s leaders should spend some time brainstorming and implementing processes that can help your most vulnerable members create some momentum for future financial growth and success. This is especially true with Millennial and Gen Z members, who are ultra-focused on paying down debt and achieving financial independence from student loans and other expenses incurred in early adulthood.

Optimize Your Technology

Rapid service and after-hours access are things your members have come to expect in this increasingly digital world. Leveraging technology on all fronts will help your members remain loyal because they know your credit union is at the forefront of innovative solutions.

Technology optimization can mean creating and revamping mobile apps, including new computers or tablets in your employees’ workflows, and creating contactless touchpoints that could include kiosks in your branches, or other ATM or online services that can enhance your member experience.

Boost Loyalty with Customized CU Solutions

A robust digital presence is instrumental to the success and future of your credit union. IMS Integration has a number of elegant member-facing web solutions for your credit union, including Make a Statement, Online Courtesy Pay, Online Self Service Forms, and Trial Balance.

Request a consultation today for more information about these and other credit union solutions we offer.

5 Benefits of Finance Automation

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Finance automation technology can be scaled – it can be all-encompassing, or it can help your credit union increase the efficiency in some processes so your employees can spend more time serving your members. Let’s talk about the five benefits of financial automation.

Fewer Errors

When automation is done right, it creates fewer errors than manual data entry or calculation performance. But rather than replacing your staff with automation, most finance automation is meant to be guided by individuals, keeping that human touch, and then set free to perform as it should, in the background.

Higher Consistency

Every employee is different, and no matter how hard you try, each individual will handle situations and complete tasks in the way that best suits them. This is great for inclusivity, but not so great for processes that should be standardized. With finance automation, you can create greater consistency through standardization.

Increases Information Utility

When you have automated real-time data collection, you can increase information utility. This allows you and your teams to recognize patterns and address issues much sooner than if you had your employees trying to collect and aggregate this data by themselves.

Decreases Fraud Risks

We all want to believe the best in people, but even innocent mistakes can have a devastating impact on your credit union.

Fraud risks, especially those tied to online and electronic activities, are continuing to increase. And certain innocuous employee habits can leave gaps in security big enough for fraudsters and cybercriminals to take advantage of.

Finance automation, by creating greater consistency and reducing the potential for errors all while minimizing human contact with the mechanics of a standardized process, can help decrease fraud risks by limiting the number of people and the time they are involved in a process.

Saves Time

As with most automation, finance automation saves time. It saves your employees and members time when it comes to running the programs and collecting the data. It saves you and your managers time because you don’t waste so much time trying to identify what went wrong, and where, and who.  

Great Examples of Places to Implement Finance Automation

Spend Journal recently shared some finance automation opportunities, and we wanted to list a few here:

  • Payroll: If you think no one cares about a small mistake, try missing someone’s payroll check.  Automated payments, both internally and from member to credit union, are a perfect place to implement finance automation, and payroll is a great place to start. 
  • Banking Statements: IMSI’s Make a Statement service can help you with that. Create e-statements and e-notices, and even consolidate multiple statements to the same vendor automatically.

IMS Integration Wants to Help Lower Fintech Friction

IMS Integration is here to assist you so you can better serve your members. With technology solutions tailored specifically to credit unions, IMSI can offer great services that your members will love, like Skip a Pay. You can set it up for member use, for staff use, and it is fully integrated with your core system.

Request a consultation today for more information about our credit union solutions.

Credit Union Leadership & Innovation in 2021 and Beyond

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Innovation is often seen through the lens of cutting-edge technology, but the cornerstone of anything innovative is the creativity to start or improve existing ideas and processes. And credit unions across the U.S. were able to grow their membership by 2.8% between year-end 2019 and September 2020. Far from the perception of antiquity that seems to stick to them, credit union leadership and innovation are paving the way to a bright future.

Fostering Creativity through Leadership

If innovation stems from creativity, you need creative leaders in your credit union. The role of a leader is said to account for 67% of the influence in determining if the organization will be creative.

But how does a leader foster creativity? In short, you foster an environment where creativity can thrive. Your leaders should be trained in creativity methods – prioritize the idea of showing your teams that creative ideas are more than just encouraged, they are tested and executed. Creating a space that allows for feedback and testing on new ideas shows your managers and employees that they have the power to affect change on every level. And once your staff feels like they can be vocal, they’ll continue to contribute to those conversations.

Spearhead a Competition

Sometimes, you can find creativity when you think outside the box. Many companies, large corporations with even larger social media followings, often run contests to drum up creative taglines or content ideas. You can do that within your own teams, too.

Rather than simply relying on your marketing team to shoulder all creative burdens, invite other departments and create a friendly competition out of creating a new logo, tagline, or advertising campaign. Idea-based competitions can take many forms and garner surprising results.

Don’t Give Up

This embracing of creative ideas requires a fair amount of buy-in, as well. When you take on these new ideas, you have to keep them in place. Most new programs need time to be implemented, and then understood and accepted. This is especially true if your new process also involves your members.

Investing in innovative ideas means investing in the time it takes to see if the change will net a positive outcome.

Creative Problem-Solving Process

Practice makes perfect, and CUManagement offers a 4-step creative problem-solving process:

  1. Clarify the problem
  2. Generate ideas. The more, the better.
  3. Develop solutions from the best of your ideas.
  4. Plan for action.

Once you’ve created a process that works for you and your teams, you can build on these 4 steps and tailor it to give you the best outcomes.

Embrace Failure

Some of your innovative ideas will fail. It’s inevitable. And how you and your team leaders handle that is paramount to fostering a culture of innovation.

When those failures come, it’s important to practice humility and forward-thinking. According to Meistertask, when team members consider their boss a humble leader, this creates “psychological capital,” which increases feelings of hope, optimism, and resilience.

Like any team effort, focusing on solutions and adjustments over blaming or apologizing allows for growth and continued momentum.

Professional Services for Innovative Credit Unions

IMS Integration knows credit unions from the ground up. We have a range of professional services that are customized to you and your credit union. From custom web development, to UI and batch scripting, to custom electronic forms, IMSI can help you implement innovative solutions that will better serve your members and create opportunities for your business.

Request a consultation today for more information about our credit union solutions.

Tips for Re-Evaluating Disaster Recovery Post-COVID

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Disaster recovery planning is an essential part of every business. But what happens when a disaster strikes that is not only bigger than anything you ever needed to feasibly plan for? And what happens when the disaster is felt on a global scale? Let’s discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we think about business continuity.

Here are some tips for re-evaluating credit union disaster recovery post-COVID.

Evaluate for Gaps in Your Plan

CUInsight shared some great lessons learned from the pandemic, like identifying gaps in your disaster recovery plans. As your business continuity plan ages, it’s vital to evaluate and identify gaps that have formed in your plans. The example they use includes the idea that remote work was likely a small facet of your BCP before the pandemic, but that caveat comes with a lot of gaps.

These gaps include making sure you have a supported and tested VPN that can do the heavy lifting you need when your workforce has to perform their duties remotely. That also means making sure all employees have their own laptops and other required technology in their home or remote workspace.

Another gap you may need to fill in the future is the idea that, while many businesses can operate fully remotely, your credit union may need to identify and understand which employees need to work part-time or full-time in-house. You could create hard and fast rules, or just outline general expectations from different departments or work areas.

Prioritize Communication

Communication was a unique challenge during the pandemic, but having to shift or restore communication channels is not a new idea in the world of disaster recovery. Your employees need to know where insights and directives will come from if primary communication lines are disrupted.

Likewise, your members, vendors, and other outside collaborators will also need to be able to easily find updates on the state of your business, whether that is a messaging system in online banking portals, additional website landing pages dedicated to sharing updates, or even social media channels. You want to make sure your credit union has a clear and consistent plan for sharing changes with the people you are normally interacting with.

Increase Cybersecurity Disaster Recovery

The word “disaster” often calls to mind a natural disaster – hurricane, tornado, things like that. But cybersecurity is becoming increasingly critical, as more and more business and personal transactions are taking place online.

Cybercriminals never stop evolving, and your business continuity plan for dealing with a cyber threat shouldn’t either. Another layer of protection you might want to consider for your credit union disaster recovery is cyber insurance – but be careful, not all insurance policies are created equal so you’ll want to do some good research before settling on any solutions.

Prep for Future Pandemics

As COVID cases recede in the United States, it’s easy to imagine that this pandemic was one-and-done. Unfortunately, new strains are being discovered, and other countries around the globe are facing a myriad of increasing and decreasing case counts as areas reopen and then close again. Consider evaluating or amending sick leave policies and protocols for any future outbreaks, COVID or otherwise.

Similarly, consider retaining and updating any communication channels you have in place for spreading legal and other regulatory changes. The last thing you want is for your credit union to be non-compliant with current laws, regulations, and ordinances pertaining to the pandemic.

And lastly, remember this: flexibility in policy doesn’t mean the policy is no good. Anticipate that there will be exceptions to the rules and plans you set forth, and come up with strategies to handle them fairly and as transparently as possible.

Upgrade Your Credit Union Disaster Recovery

IMS Integration offers a range of professional services – customized to you. From custom web development to UI and Batch scripting, our team is here to make sure you never miss a beat.

Request a consultation today for more information about our credit union solutions.

Community Outreach during National Small Business Week

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2021’s National Small Business Week is coming up. From May 3 to May 9, communities come together to highlight the importance of entrepreneurs and small business owners across the US. And this is also a great time for your credit union to perform some targeted community outreach.

Let’s discuss some tips and ideas for celebrating small businesses with your credit union resources.

Why Celebrate National Small Business Week?

Credit unions are (or should be) seen as more than just banks – they are financial institutions with close ties to the communities they serve.

Recently, it’s been reported that credit unions are losing out on opportunities to serve small businesses, due to the rise of fintech like Square and Stripe and larger institutions’ increasingly focused efforts to capture the small business owner’s attention.

But credit unions are uniquely positioned to help small businesses, which means you should be using that positioning to your CU’s advantage!

Celebrating National Small Business Week is a great way to build relationships with local entrepreneurs.

Sponsor an Awards Competition or Spotlight

Small businesses need many things, but one of the biggest things they need is quality “air time”. They need people and businesses in the area to talk about their brand, products, and services to help spread the word and drum up more business. And that’s never been more crucial than right now.  

Millions of small businesses closed temporarily or permanently due to the COVID pandemic, and entrepreneurs need someone to start talking about them again. Credit unions are a great partner in this effort.

There are many ways your credit union can highlight local businesses, and during National Small Business Week, one great way to do this is to host a spotlight or awards competition for local businesses. Businesses can sign up to participate or be nominated by a social media comment or event share, and then you can use a preferred platform to spotlight each business and its purpose. After the spotlight, you can also create polls or contests to let your community members participate in choosing the winners. You can use the Small Business Association’s list of awards as a starting point or you can make up your own!

Create a Tradeshow or Event

This one is a bit more time-consuming, but your credit union can also sponsor or host an event where you allow small businesses to set up a booth for a small fee.

Not only does this generate business for you and the participating businesses, but it’s also an engaging way to promote your credit union’s brand as community-centered. Attendees will associate your credit union with fun “shop local” initiatives, thus increasing the visibility of your brand.

Host a Panel or Discussion Group

Small business owners often feel like their concerns aren’t heard in the same way that big businesses are. To combat this, you can host a roundtable, discussion group, or dinner event for local entrepreneurs.

This gives small business owners a chance to network with you and other area businesses and share their struggles, triumphs, and insights with like-minded individuals. It also shows these businesses that you and your credit union are open to building meaningful relationships that will benefit your business and theirs.

Upgrade Your Software to Compete with the FinTechs

Big businesses aren’t the only ones that can upgrade their software and score more customers. IMS Integration is dedicated to helping you bridge the gap so you can compete with the big guys while still staying focused on serving the little guys in your community.

IMS Integration is here with a full range of credit union software solutions to take your problem-solving effectiveness to the next level.

Request a consultation today for more information about our credit union solutions.