By Roy Urrico
Integrated Financial Technologies (IFT) announced the official launch of CU Max, a comprehensive suite of outsourced services for credit unions. Through CU Max, credit unions can leverage IFT’s skilled workforce and technology to manage a number of functions, including member support, collections, inside sales, and other needs.
Vancouver, B.C.-based IFT, a provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions for lenders, expects CU Max to dovetail with its artificial intelligence (AI)-based platform that manages omnichannel communications and what it calls its “quick-fix smartsourced” solutions for lenders that can integrate with legacy credit union infrastructures. CU Max is scalable to meet the front- and back-office needs of any organization, and brandable according to the credit union’s specific requirements.
“Credit unions face unique challenges in maintaining the level of service their members expect, while also keeping within strict budget parameters to ensure their own financial stability. Our company has a long history of working with credit unions. We understand the requirements of this market, especially in a climate where adding headcount is not always practical,” said IFT President Tod Chisholm, who discussed how credit unions can benefit from CU Max with Finopotamus.
Chisholm added, “CU Max helps credit unions overcome their staffing needs by accessing a team of highly trained personnel who are experts in the field. Our ability to offer an experienced workforce alongside state-of-the-art technology empowers credit unions to maintain high service levels and improve operational efficiencies without hiring more personnel.”
Scaling Up Credit Unions
Many credit unions need to scale up quickly for customer support and specialized services, especially when it comes to lending activity, revealed Chisholm. “(It’s) the reason we started to provide servicing for credit unions in many different verticals. So, we put together from our smartsourcing package, a group of services that we believe would support credit unions. Everything from front end services on the sales side, to collections, customer service, and even some accounting support to enable them to have turnkey solutions to bring to market.”
Chisholm also noted CU Max encompasses both products and services for their members in a more quick and organized fashion. “[We] really put it together in a package that would make sense to credit unions, is how we've ended up with CU Max.”
CU Max, he noted, is available to both U.S. and Canadian credit unions. “There's a lot of similarities between the two groups, the landscape from a competitive standpoint; but there are some unique differences in terms of compliance and language support perspective.
“One thing that is common between all of them is they're all very resource constrained,” said Chisholm. “So anything that can be more of an operating cost as opposed to starting a department; adding a whole bunch of head counts, getting a bunch of new technology, being able to smart source that out to an organization like ours encompasses has been quite valuable to a lot of them.”
How CU Max Works
Chisholm pointed out CU Max covers all sales and credit functions, plus all the backend services. “Then we go through each individual service as a modular component. A full turnkey solution is available; you do not have to take the entire CU Max portfolio to use CU Max.”
Chisholm noted that IFT offers individual components. “If you only need support, as is very common these days, in say customer service or collection work, then you can deploy that part of CU Max.” Likewise if a credit union has some sales initiatives like a refinance program, then they can use the CU Max refinance component. “It really (does) everything a lender does, but is able to break it into modular services under the CU Max product suite.”
CU Max combines the capability to deliver superior members support with transformative technology, explained Chisholm. “Our servicing platform (branded as IFT Ignite) and the CU Max module is really built on an entirely white label premise, meaning that we are always representing the brand of those organizations. And because of the technology we are using and because of our servicing platform, artificial intelligence is actually listening and paying attention to all of the transactions. Everything is monitored at all times.”
In addition, there's scripting capability relative to each credit union. Said Chisholm: “Then we have the right agents to support those markets. So, if we need Spanish speakers, obviously we have that in place. In Canada, we obviously need French speakers. There is a bunch of those components that we have built into the platform, and then all of that data is stored in a data warehouse. We can provide that to any of our customers so they can actually take a look at it themselves.”
A ‘Working’ Relationship
From a consulting standpoint, IFT can demonstrate to credit unions what is working and what is not or what needs improvement. “So, as an example in the sales process, they (may) have two offers and a refinance campaign,” Chisholm said. “We measure the results of each of those programs and what the uptake is and do some testing and provide that back. The same is true in the collection or customer service space.”
Chisholm further explained, “The sentiment indicators that we have in real time show that customers really do – or do not – like what you are telling them. We can adjust the scripting and methodology on the fly with management oversight. It is way more interactive. We are able to emulate what the best practices and really stay very close to the brand.”
After a soft launch, IFT said CU Max is ready for primetime. “Within our Canadian market, we have four or five credit unions already,” said Chisholm. IFT considers CU Max a strategic asset for the credit unions because it enables them to continue going down the path of delivering quality service without the economic headaches. “A lot of credit unions want to get into lending. This is a comparatively low cost.”
Langley Township, British Columbia-based First West Credit Union ($18.6 billion, 253,000 members) contracted IFT to address a book of business the company needed to sunset to comply with federal regulations as the credit union changed its business model. “IFT has a proven track record of delivering reliable, professional, and cost-effective outsourcing solutions for a wide range of credit unions,” said Darrin Lee, vice president of real estate at First West. “They are an ideal partner to ensure that our legacy customers are properly serviced as we pivot to meet exacting federal regulations.”