In my thirty years of forming credit union collaborations, I have come to see common lessons, especially in multiply owned CUSOs providing one or more back office operational services. I examine twelve of those lessons in these types of CUSOs. (more…)
Upcoming Events
2019 NACUSO Network Conference
Save the date for NACUSO’s 2019 NACUSO Network Conference! Details will be available soon on our conference website at https://www.nacusonetwork.com to book hotel and for more information.
2018 The Next Big Idea Competition
In the toughest competition to date, CU RateReset CEO Keith Kelly once again knocks it out of the park with his 7 minute presentation at the Next Big Idea Competition last week at the NACUSO Network Conference at the Disneyland Hotel.
Two years ago Keith won the competition with CU RateReset. This year he entered with Knocknock, a disruptive digital solution that provides bilateral interaction between the credit union and the member to deliver “just in time offers” based on real time triggers.
CUSOs in the News
AuditLink Vendor Management has a banner year
AuditLink, the audit and compliance division of CU*Answers, celebrated a stellar year in 2018 adding 27 new credit unions and CUSOs to its shared execution vendor management service offering. Jim Vilker, VP of Professional Services and manager of AuditLink, said, “we built this service based upon a cooperative mantra and have learned that vendor management is just about hard work.”
Vilker went on to say: “AuditLink is managing 650 critical vendor relationships including over 1,400 due diligence documents. It is not uncommon to have over 80% of credit unions’ existing critical relationships under management at the original risk assessment meeting. One of the real benefits to our credit unions and CUSOs is not just the monitoring of required due diligence, but also the monthly reports that continuously keep credit unions up to date on the status of their critical relationships.”
RIPCO CU and CU*Answers work together to complete successful DR readiness test
Earlier this week, CU*Answers, the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based cooperative CUSO, and Rhinelander, Wisconsin-based RIPCO Credit Union combined forces to successfully execute the credit union’s annual disaster recovery test as part of their ongoing business continuity strategy. During the test, the workload of RIPCO’s in-house core data processing server was being performed by the backup server located at Site-Four, their Yankton, South Dakota-based CUSO partner. Resources from the credit union, Site-Four and CU*Answers were involved in the project.
Scott Collins, EVP of National Sales and Marketplace Relationships at CU*Answers commented: “Business continuity within our network of online and in-house credit unions is something that we are continuously investing in as a cooperative. We have had a tremendous track record for decades, and one of the reasons is that we rigorously test our processes and execution plan. For partners like RIPCO that run their own data center, disaster recovery testing is a collaborative effort and investment.”
RIPCO Credit Union President/CEO Liza Edinger commented: “I am proud of my team’s efforts to help ensure we are ‘all systems go’ and are very pleased with the results of this latest disaster recovery test. CU*Answers plays a vital role in assisting us with our business continuity strategies and we are extremely thankful for our strong partnership.”
About CU*Answers, Inc.
CU*Answers offers expertise in implementing technical solutions to operational needs, and is a leader in helping credit unions form strategic alliances and partnerships. CU*Answers provides a wide variety of services for credit unions including its flagship CU*BASE® processing system (online and in-house) and Internet development services featuring It’s Me 247 online and mobile banking. Additional services include web development, network design and security, and image check processing. Founded in 1970, CU*Answers is a 100% credit union-owned cooperative CUSO providing services to credit unions representing over 2 million members and $21.5 billion in credit union assets. For more information, visit www.cuanswers.com.
