A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk at a technology roadmap conference of Credit Union Executives. I've done a fair amount of work on technology roadmaps and appreciated the difficultly my audience had in answering the question, "what's the core value driver in the credit union industry and how is it measured?" One astute executive answered, "About half our customers care about superb customer service and the other half care about our loan and deposit rates." Customer service quality is measureable and well within the control of credit unions. Loan and deposit rates are less controllable and largely driven by monetary policy; though less so if these rates are viewed in competitive context. That said, it is our job to deliver superb customer service and provide an income stream to consumer and banks that is disconnected from monetary policy. Because credit unions provide a service and services are produced and consumed simultaneously, it is difficult to separate marketing, customer service, and operations. Correspondingly, Micronotes will have to be a very strong part of the service delivery organization that delivers a differentiated and superior product to credit union customers. We're well-trained and prepared to do just that.

Just this week, I also received these questions and feedback which I've addressed below:

"Can the CU market companies that are local?" Absolutely! Since our goal is to bring relevant brands and customized offers to credit union customers -- we can't think of a better way to do that than to have local brands that are highly relevant to local communities use our KulaQ system. The primary challenge will be to ensure that local companies are trained in the use of our KulaQ marketer interface; which is our job.

"Can the CU market their own products?" Absolutely! Credit Unions are local brands and ought to use the system to help their own customers save money by customizing their own credit union offers. However, financial institutions are not permitted to use the system to market to the customers of other financial institutions.

"The CUs asked for a more detailed explanation on the process of how the member gets paid, including determining what account gets credited."  The process depends upon the credit union's secure website configuration and program desires.  For example, if the CU's online banking site contains the customer's account number, our software is able to read that number and append it to the CU-Customer's profile.  At the end of each month, we sum the cash-back each CU-Customer has earned and make an ACH transfer directly into that customer's account.  We can also make a single cash transfer -- with earnings report by customer/account -- at month-end to the CU, who credits customer accounts in either cash or reward points.  If the CU's online banking environmnent doesn't present the customer's account number, we collect that number from the Credit Union once, and only once, upon customer registration.          

Additional comments and feedback included:

• "[I] can't picture encouraging this to our members."
  While I don't claim to understand the exact nature of the concern here, I can understand wanting to protect my customers.
• We'll just have to demonstrate that we are the quality organization that we claim to be and focus on delivering a great experience, cash-back, and great offers to credit union customers.
• "I was prepared to not like this, but in the end I see real possibilities."
  Indeed, we are already in discussions with at least one credit union who has an inventive way to strengthen and existing customer retention program using our platform.
• "I will refer this to marketing."
  Marketing does seem to be the natural locus for our platform since it doesn't require IT development.
• "Interesting product."
  Well, we think so -

I really enjoyed our discussions and look forward to strengthening our partnerships with our flagship credit unions.