“Self-service technology is here to stay, and Credit Unions that deploy it strategically are positioning themselves well for the future.” – Nathan Rogers, Senior Manager of Product Marketing, Co-op Financial Services.

Within living memory for most, the height of self-service offered by most financial institutions was a deposit slip filled out with a pen chained to the counter to be dropped into a box and sifted through later by a teller. The industry has rapidly modernised over the last few years, with self-service offerings becoming more and more popular, to the extent that the experts at Gartner Technology Research expects 85% of the interactions consumers make to be purely digital by 2020.

There’s no debating it: self-service is going to be an integral part of almost every organisation’s future, so how can your Credit Union benefit?

Innovate & improve your member experience 

“More than ever, consumers today appreciate the speed and convenience of self service.” – Craig Beach, President of the Credit Union Service Corporation

Your members are used to making daily use of various forms of self-service, a platform which has permeated almost all aspects of daily life, from doing your weekly shop to placing a bid on a house!

For a lot of your members, the only time they can get to your Credit Union in person is on a Saturday – which is one of their only two days off, so they may begrudge spending half of it in a queue to see a teller.

There are two keys ways your Credit Union can combat this issue: introducing a self-service kiosk to your Credit Union, and making use of online and mobile banking.

An in-branch self-service kiosk means a decrease in wait times for members who want to perform simple transactions, as well as shorter queues and more time with tellers for those who need to do something a bit more complicated, like apply for a loan, or set up a new account. All of this adds up to an increase in footfall - meaning more opportunities for your members to take advantage of all your offerings.

Giving your members access to their accounts through mobile and online offerings means they can interact with your Credit Union on any day, at any time, from wherever they are. This is a great way to keep younger members who have moved away, professionals who may too busy for your normal hours of operation, or families who have other weekend commitments engaged and playing an active role in your Credit Union. Marketing your products also becomes a lot more cost effective when done through an app instead of on paper!

Member experience can also be modernised by integrating your mobile app with a self-service kiosk, allowing your members a seamless, speedy transaction. Using a Touch-ID enabled device to login to the kiosk gives your members the ability to login with a fingerprint, saving them the time it takes not just to remember their account number and password, but how long it takes to type it in!

Increase your operational efficiency & keep you compliant

“Dramatic growth in the usage of self-service can help your credit union grow without having to add future back office or branch staff, thus improving efficiency.” – Efficiency Best Practices, CUNA

There’s a reason that everyone from chemists to banks are introducing more and more self-service options for consumers – Accenture recently released data that it’s up to 95% cheaper to process digital transactions over physical, teller-based ones.

Introducing self-service means your tellers no longer need to manually handle routine transactions, freeing up time for them to speak to members, directly promoting your loan products, or to convince others to join your Credit Union, supporting growth.

We all know that to error is human, and it’s worth keeping this in mind when it comes to your Credit Union’s AML compliance. A machine can take a much more detailed look at a possibly forged note in a much smaller amount of time than a teller with a counterfeit pen or SafeScan device. This means with a digitised self-service machine, not only is AML checking more productive, it’s more secure.

If your Credit Union takes advantage of the benefits and growth opportunities presented by a move to self-service now, you can reap the benefits in the future, when other institutions are still playing catch up. Making sure your Credit Union as efficient as possible means you can dedicate more time to your aspirations, like growing your loan book, improving your member experience, and engaging with the wider community.

Want to find out more about what self-service can do for your Credit Union?