FinTech Magazine October 2020 | Page 137

“ Four key pillars defined the first phase of our digital strategy : online banking , mobile banking consumer lending , and consumer new account opening ”

— Thomas Novak , AVP / Digital , Visions Federal Credit Union
our employees and the various enterprise collaboration tools have really made the difference . Quite simply , we had the right infrastructure in place at the right time ,” Novak adds . “ From an employee perspective , we were able to scale up very quickly regarding the overall remote working rollout , and on our member side , we just accelerated the adoption of technologies that we had already been using . Having that bedrock in place has been a real differentiator for us in comparison to other , similar organizations that may have more manual processes in their backend operations . There is a common misconception in the financial services sector that big tech companies like Google and Amazon can do technology better , and therefore will take our customers . Through COVID , we learned that we can absolutely compete at that level . By working collectively towards objectives , we can compete against the biggest tech companies and financial institutions in the world .”
With members in mind , Novak explains that the impacts of COVID will be far reaching for people ’ s financial well-being . For many , he explains , survival mode has been the immediate new normal , and their job was to give them the tools they needed to succeed . “ We ’ re here to partner with them , and the benefit and joy they receive from succeeding is the same that we get from being a successful cooperative . All of the technology implementations we have carried out , such as modifications to our ATM fleet , a general increase in digital services like machine learning powered interactions , and taking a multichannel and empathetic approach to communicating with our members digitally , have allowed us to help shepherd them through a challenging situation .”
Naturally , Visions would not be able to guide its members without adopting the latest technologies . One area
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