Now a decade into digital transformation, the legacy financial services industry has made great strides in delivering the kinds of experiences modern consumers demand. Yet, credit unions continue to feel pressure to compete with the digital-native providers that hit the ground running. While credit unions were busy transforming, they were capitalizing on marketplace gaps. Mature fintechs are now poised to deepen engagement with the next great banking experience. Can credit unions beat them to it?

This theme would seek to move the audience from Digital Transformation to Digital Optimization, helping credit unions understand how they can harness user-friendly digital platforms, mobile banking, and personalized services to earn back member business lost to fintechs. The conference will showcase case studies, best practices, and emerging technologies that generate friction-free, hyper-personalized and memorable experiences.

Leveraging data to gain insights, predict outcomes and personalize services is a significant opportunity for credit unions. This theme would explore the challenges and solutions for integrating data across systems, using AI for real-time analytics, and applying insights to improve decision-making and member interactions. It emphasizes the role of data as a strategic asset in modernizing credit union operations. Potential angles to explore include data governance and ethics, data sharing and collaboration, the impact of AI on modeling and intelligent algorithms designed to help credit unions join the  intelligent enterprise movement.

The rapid pace of technological advancement and intense competition for skilled professionals make talent acquisition and development ongoing challenges for credit unions.  This theme would explore solutions for recruiting specialized tech talent, utilizing external talent sources, and reskilling existing employees. It would highlight strategies for attracting top-tier candidates, leveraging external resources, building effective upskilling programs, and fostering a culture of continuous learning to ensure credit unions keep pace with industry demands. Topics under this umbrella could also explore the hard and soft skills tech talent will need most over the next 3-5 years.

Open banking enables credit unions to meet even more consumers where they are and be there in members’ greatest moments of need. Offering and connecting to enhanced services requires the integration of third-party apps, which opens up an entirely new set of challenges and opportunities. Opportunities include leveraging interconnected, flexible platforms that support secure data sharing with in-demand financial tools, like budgeting apps and payment platforms. Risks include failing to achieve the kind of smooth transitions between channels and touchpoints that credit unions don’t necessarily own. Leveraging cloud infrastructure plays a crucial role in this optimization, providing the connectivity, scalability, security, and flexibility needed to support seamless integration and manage the increased data flows required for open banking.