Still maintaining the status quo?
Legacy technology… we’re hearing the term a lot these days. And for good reason. When it comes to the way banks and credit unions run, it’s messing with… well… everything.
But, as CRMNEXT continues with our “Stories from the Frontlines” series, let’s just take one piece of this unnecessarily curse-worthy puzzle and zoom in a bit on: Maintenance.
So many issues, so little time.
With most core systems, whenever you open up the maintenance functionality, all fields are available to be edited. This presents a whole lot of room for error and – with that – potential issues that affect an entire boat load of credit union operations, including loans, deposits, research, call center, accounts payable, wires, ACH, item processing – in addition to audit, compliance, and risk management.
It’s a dangerous domino effect just waiting to happen – with your data integrity hanging in the balance.
Let’s say you’re a credit union employee, and you need to change a member’s address. Since it’s on the same screen as so many other fields (think TIN, member name, date of birth, product type – things that essentially should not be changed) your permissions are restricted so no actions can be taken. This leads to unempowered employees and unnecessary servicing wait times for members.
Conundrum? Yes.
Or perhaps a couple has a checking account, and one goes into change their address. By accident (because it’s on the same screen), someone changes the relationship to “sole” instead of “joint.” Both owners are still on the account, but one’s now the sole owner. If something happens to the sole owner, the other owner may not have access to those funds anymore. Big problem.
Then there’s this fun scenario. Say I change a product type by accident. It’s going to throw off my monthly service fees. For a business account, that can cost thousands of dollars.
With many businesses having account analysis, fees are often offset by funds in higher interest-bearing accounts. So, if I somehow unlink a busy operating account that’s doing 10,000 transactions a month and being charged $0.35 cents/debit, I’ve now got a hard service charge of $.50/transaction, as fees are no longer offset by other accounts.
And it all stems from the tiny mistake of changing a field that shouldn’t have been changed.
The list (and associated headaches) could go on and on before your legal battles begin. Oftentimes, these mistakes go undetected until the member comes in hot, or something goes awry in operations.
Solutions that simplify.
This is where finding the right technology – the kind that actually simplifies work – can save your sanity (and a whole lot of money.)
Look for an action center with built-in guardrails, allowing you to choose which fields branches have access to and making what could otherwise be a mess, simple and visual.
Remember that address change example? The right banking CRM can set up a workflow to say, ‘Ok, you can’t do a temporary address here. It’s only for a physical address. If you need a temporary address, it needs to be handled this way.’
The same goes for the checking account mistake, the product change, and so many other potentially disastrous scenarios. By limiting field availability, the right CRM prevents those problems from occurring.
It also, ideally, will require no custom coding, eliminating the need for additional head count. And it empowers employees to work more efficiently, increasing productivity and allowing time to hold meaningful conversations with your members – all of which leads to massive savings for your organization.
On top of that, a CRM that ensures high quality data offers less mistakes and ultimately better relationships with members… the reason credit unions exist in the first place.
So, if your legacy technology has you limping along, know that the solution is out there. Are you ready for it?
P.S. Can you relate to this scenario? Do you have your own story to share? Let us know in comments or reach out directly to emily.thomson@crmnext.com.
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