NACUSO was very excited to hear of the acquisition of OnApproach by our Platinum Partner Trellance. NACUSO CEO Jack Antonini sat down with Tom Davis and Paul Ablack last week to learn more about this amazing partnership.
JACK: Tom and Paul, Congratulations. This makes so much sense since it allows you to continue to bring significant benefits to credit unions where scale is truly beneficial (i.e., understanding data uses, trends, and combining more data for the benefit of all users), just as you did with payment cards! Brilliant move, and keeping Paul Ablack to continue product development of M360, with Trellance’s resources, should be a very big positive for the industry!
TOM: Thank you, Jack, we appreciate the partnership with NACUSO and the support you’ve given us over the years.
JACK: I know these deals don’t just happen and take a lot of work. What was behind the decision to move toward data gathering and analytics, that led to the talks with OnApproach?
TOM: As you know, we’ve been working alongside credit unions for over 30 years and during that time we’ve seen three pillars of growth – member experience, member growth, and operational efficiencies. And when we thought about the key drivers to realize growth in these areas and help our credit unions succeed, we came up with intelligence, insight, and foresight.
We knew that to add real value, we needed to provide credit unions with data analytics solutions that lead to action and better business decisions for growth in the future. When we started looking for a company that could help us make a difference with data, we came across OnApproach and knew they were the best fit.
PAUL: Absolutely. We are very excited to be working with Trellance. It really is a natural fit for both companies, and we certainly see it as a win for the whole credit union industry. Analytics is driving the future of financial services, and by pairing OnApproach’s analytics platform with Trellance’s services and vision, it’s a whole new ballgame for credit unions and data utilization. Our mission at OnApproach has been to enable collaborative analytics, innovation, and revolutionary business transformation for the credit union industry. We’re off to a great start and joining forces with Trellance will only amplify and accelerate our ability to provide credit unions with powerful and effective analytics.
JACK: For those that are not familiar with M360, Paul, can you take us through this model?
PAUL: Your analytics are only as good as your data. It is crucial to ensure the data within your credit union is both connected and trustworthy. OnApproach M360 Enterprise is a system-agnostic solution designed to integrate a credit union’s various sources and ultimately create a reliable single source of truth for disparate data. This means credit unions have full access to their data to improve decision-making, member service, and operations. To take it a step further, it is an industry standardized data model, meaning data definitions are consistent across all credit unions using M360. This creates opportunities for credit unions to truly collaborate around analytics by seamlessly sharing reports/applications, benchmarking, data pooling, and more. By leveraging the efforts, resources, and expertise across the industry, we can advance credit unions along the analytics curve much more quickly, and ultimately create the best possible experience for members.
JACK: Tom, since making the transition from payments services to being a data analytics company, what would you say your greatest success has been so far?
TOM: Since the acquisition, we have been fully committed to ensuring that both our teams and credit unions have what they need. We want to ensure that we listen to those around us to guarantee we have given everyone on the team what they need to be successful so that credit unions truly receive what they need to enhance their members’ experience. This aids in collectively growing together, allowing for collaboration, innovation, and effective planning for the future.
With that comes being agile and flexible in our decisions so that we positively impact our credit unions now and in the future.
JACK: CUSOs are collaborators, and to have two powerful CUSOs decide to come together is a real success story. Where do you see Trellance in the next 5 years now that you’ve brought the power of OnApproach on board?
TOM: As an organization, we are constantly looking to provide products and services that not only aid in the growth of a credit union but that allow credit unions to remain relevant and competitive. Also, to provide each member with a truly unique experience that is custom to their needs we believe that real-time predictive analytics is going to be the future for credit unions.
As thought leaders, we operate with the belief that there is always more to learn, and this allows us to understand the issues and opportunities we are facing. We are continually motivated to learn more, grow more and research more. Our desire to constantly learn keeps us humble and motivates us to continue to look beyond the horizon.
JACK: Your IMMERSION19 event looks pretty amazing, how do you plan to highlight this acquisition at your event?
TOM: Thanks, Jack. We will be hosting a roundtable discussion on Thursday, April 9th to talk more in-depth about the integration plan and what’s next as we put the power of data in the hands of credit unions. We will also answer any questions our attendees may have.
Additionally, we have secured a roster of relevant speakers within and outside of our industry, like Peyton & Archie Manning and Jim Nussle. Our agenda is full of educational workshops and informative sessions on data analytics, card portfolio growth, member experience, vendor evaluation, and fraud. So, we are looking forward to welcoming our credit unions and partners to IMMERSION19 in Fort Lauderdale.
JACK: Paul, congratulations on winning the NACUSO 2018 New CUSO of the Year Award. We look forward to seeing you both at the 2019 Network Conference in April in San Diego. Big Data and Data Analytics was our most popular break-out sessions track last year, and we think this year it will be even more popular as this is a very hot topic.
PAUL: Thanks, Jack. It is a real honor to have been named the 2018 New CUSO of the Year, and we’re proud to be working now with another CUSO to further our vision for credit unions. The NACUSO Network Conference is always one of our favorites, and we are very excited about what credit union attendees will witness and learn this year in the Big Data and Data Analytics track.
TOM: We are looking forward to being in San Diego at the Network Conference and connecting with credit unions that we can partner with to drive real growth with predictive analysis. Along with the data analytics track powered by OnApproach and a break-out session on “Using Data to Create a Unique Member Experience” led by our AVP of Product Development & Thought Leadership, Lou Grilli, our team will be in the Network lounge answering any questions credit unions may have. We look forward to seeing everyone there.
