Discover why digital transformation is the first step to preparing for your digital banking implementation.
For many credit unions, digital banking is at the top of the list of your current strategic priorities. The opportunity to transform the member experience and streamline back office processes is not only vital to your future relevancy, but also being able to succeed in an increasingly competitive sector.
It means investing in your people, processes and brand, but those investments don’t have to start and stop with your implementation. In fact, Deborah Moore, Director of Digital Transformation at Celero, says that credit unions have a distinct opportunity to use their digital banking implementation as a launching point for broader digital transformation.
“Digital banking can really be the start of a change journey into digital transformation – enabling your credit union to become more change ready and change resilient going forward,” Deborah says.
Four Critical Steps to Prepare for Digital Banking
As the financial services industry is rapidly evolving, taking a forward-thinking approach to change will better prepare your credit union to adapt and respond to fluctuating market forces, while embracing innovation. The approach you take to prepare for digital banking – and more impactfully – digital transformation, is essential in laying the foundation for your future success.
Deborah shares four critical steps that credit union leaders should take as part of their preparation for digital banking below.
01./ Be Purpose Driven
Developing a digital strategy is necessary for digital transformation. However, Deborah notes that if you don’t have one, beginning with a purpose and a vision for digital banking is a solid place to start. Essentially, you need to know what will bring the most value to your members and your credit union.
“This includes setting the success criteria up front, because it will allow you focus your efforts, monitor your progress towards your vision and understand how well you did in managing the change with members – critical for continuous improvement,” she says.
02./ Take Stock
This step is what Deborah calls ‘reaching a state of understanding’. It’s about evaluating your current digital banking experience, processes and current internal capabilities. What’s the experience you deliver today and what do you want to deliver through your new digital banking solution? This assessment should extend to the digital banking solution you have chosen. Question how the new tools enable you to engage with your members and prospects in new ways.
By assessing where you are and where you want to go, you can identify what works well, what should change and your priorities and your internal capabilities. This will help you assess where to bring in an external partner, like Celero, to help you deliver on your vision.
03./ Develop a Content Strategy
A content strategy isn’t just about the content on your website – it’s about the experience you want to deliver to your members and how you attract new members. Deborah says that a good content strategy should strike the “right balance between your members’ needs and your business needs” and be informed by the insights you gathered about your members in the assessment phase.
“Understanding how your members navigate through your digital platform and what those journeys look like today will help you prioritize your actions for the redesign to optimize those experiences,” Deborah says.
It’s during this step that you should start establishing the governance model, standards and roles to keep your content consistent, relevant and aligned to your vision and purpose.
04./ Get Change Ready
Supporting both your employees and your members by developing an effective change strategy is critical not only for the successful migration of your digital banking solution, but also for preparing for future changes that digital transformation will bring.
This migration isn’t just about your website and back-end. It’s also about the impact to all the downstream processes or interdependent tools. From your marketing collateral to your internal training documentation and any other projects, such as a brand refresh.
One key phase of the migration that’s often overlooked from a change standpoint is post-migration. Deborah says to post-migration should focus on “empowering your staff and empowering your members” – what communication, training and self-discovery resources need to be in place to help them both adjust to the changes and embrace the changes.
“A digital banking initiative can be a catalyst to start digital transformation within your own organization. It can be the beginning of many changes and opportunities to transform the way you operate and engage with members,” Deborah concludes.
For additional guidance and support on these steps, or to start your digital transformation consultation, please contact us or talk to your Celero Account Executive to learn more.
Editors note: This post was originally published in November, 2019 and has been refreshed and updated for accuracy.
