Raiz Federal Credit Union

Amy Krasikov

Banking Modernization Advisor

For technology and digital leaders, legacy systems are challenging. They are difficult to integrate with, have limited features and often do not meet user expectations. This leads to the question of, “Is it time to upgrade?” 

Depending on the system, these upgrades can be labor- and time-intensive, but none more so than a core banking system upgrade. The core banking system is the foundation of a financial institution. Every other system integrates into it and all processes initiate or are completed using it. That is why most institutions only replace their core banking system once every twenty years, or so.

To truly transform an organization, leaders must evaluate whether the core system meets current needs and supports what the organization hopes to accomplish in the near and long term. If it does not, it is time to upgrade.

Next, evaluate your remaining technology stack. Do your digital solutions meet your digital goals? For Raiz Federal Credit Union, they did not. We chose to replace our core banking system, digital banking system and bill pay system and upgrade to Enhanced SelfService Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), all within the same 12-month period.

The core banking upgrade was led by the vice president of technology, while the digital banking upgrade and transformation was led by the vice president of digital experience. As a pair, the vice presidents would communicate the benefits of the upgrades and transformation by conducting regular branch visits, meeting with departments and addressing concerns.

One of the ways the Vice President of Digital Experience kept team members informed was by creating articles with fictional members and team members talking about the upgrades and how they would impact these audiences in the future.

After the upgrades went live, the next focus was transforming the branches. In partnership with the Vice President of Operations and the Vice President of Marketing, an interdepartmental team was created to train members on how to use the Enhanced Self-Service ATMs. By educating members, the team worked to transition member behavior before replacing the drive-up lanes with fully functional Enhanced Self-Service Units. This training occurred both inside the branch and outside of the branch at the drive-up units.

 No one accepts change for change’s sake. It has to have a purpose and a why they believe in. 

Within 8 months, the branches were fully digital. Members no longer waited in lines at drive-up lanes, nor did they wait in line for a teller. Employees were upskilled as member service representatives, ready to have deeper, more fulfilling conversations with members that move their financial lives forward.

Though this may sound like it went smoothly, members were initially opposed and sought to transact with a teller. Over time, though, they learned that the machines were faster, more accurate and easier to use. And that the team members were still present to answer their questions and to provide advice and counsel.

Recommendations

• With initiatives of this magnitude, I would stagger them. I would not recommend the two projects launch at the same time. This presented challenges due to the core not being fully configured, which the digital banking system required and caused delays for the digital team. It also split the team’s focus between these major initiatives.

• I would recommend starting a digital banking conversion within three months of the go-live of the core banking conversion. Most of the configuration decisions are complete at this point, with the team conducting testing and final data validation.

• I would not recommend doing a Bill Pay conversion at the same time as your digital banking conversion. I would recommend keeping your Bill Pay provider, as this simplifies the overall transition for your members during the digital banking upgrade process.

• When communicating about the upcoming conversions to your membership, I would initially keep the timing vague, as projects of this size tend to run into issues and delays. This allows the project team to flex schedules if necessary without breaking any commitments to the membership and to tighten schedules and update communication as programming, configurations and timelines become more solid. For example, start off with “coming in the spring," which then turns into a “coming soon," which turns into a specific month and then an actual date.

Organizational Change

When we complete a major initiative like a core banking system conversion or a digital banking conversion, we naturally think about the member; however, we may not as naturally think about the effect on the team member.

Initiatives of this magnitude require strategy around organizational change and how to build buy-in and overall awareness, usage and understanding of the new systems.

As leaders, we have to think about how we speak about the systems. If the system is running slowly, has had issues or bugs, or the vendor is not responding in a timely fashion, what perception does that give to the team member? How are we as leaders managing that perception?

As leaders, we own the reputation of our vendors with our team members. We have to consider how we and how our teams who manage them, speak with our internal users about these systems. We have to listen to how our internal users and our external users are speaking about these systems. Then, we have to weed through the emotional content and get to the true root of the issue and address the problems.

Sometimes, the problems are actual issues that need to be resolved. Sometimes, they are cultural or legacy thought processes that need to be addressed. Cultural or legacy thought processes take time and finesse and may not be a fast fix. One of the hardest things to change is "because we have always done it this way.”

No one accepts change for change’s sake. It needs a clear purpose and a reason people can believe in.