While many lenders fall under the fast-follower mark, America First Credit Union is setting the bar high with its new Innovation Center, a collaborative hub to showcase the company’s latest technology solutions. The Innovation Center is part of the credit union’s attempt to expand its mobility efforts and to create a better customer experience, said Executive Vice President Randy Halley.
The Innovation Center is set up as both a learning facility for consumers and a place to complete transactions, he told AFN. America First will test multiple channel experiences — such as mobile video chats and an in-lobby teller kiosk — to gain real-time feedback so that AFCU can implement the products across its 116 branch locations.
“I think the Innovation Center shows that we are out front, and we’ve always tried to be that way with our products and systems,” he said. “There’s no question that we have spent a fair amount of money with these different systems, but our board has been very positive about that. They wanted us to be innovative, and they’ve given us funding to move forward, but we all know there is risk there.”
AFCU aims to learn from its consumers what devices they prefer, especially when it comes to the loan process, Halley said. Some of the featured products “won’t make it out” of the Innovation Center and into the company’s branches, he said, but it’s all part of the process to create a better lending environment. AFCU projects to have a good sense of which products are working and which are not after six months of testing, at which point the lender will interchange the products.
Ultimately, lenders benefit from innovation whether they are first movers or late to the party, Praxis’s Parry said. For example, many lenders haven’t even scratched the surface of what analytics and data can do to provide a better answer, in terms of expenses, credit losses, or profitability. “As more lenders embrace innovation, they become more efficient and, thus, more competitive — which means those that don’t get moving will ultimately be left behind,” he said.
This story originally appeared in the July issue of Auto Finance News. For access to this publication, subscribe here.