MEMBERS! DATA! ACTION!
5 Proven Ways to Activate Your Credit Union Data
Data is one of the most important investments an organization can make, according to Forbes, McKinsey & Gartner. Despite that, a whopping 92% of all credit unions do not effectively leverage their available data.
This is not a data acquisition problem,
but rather a data activation problem.
Credit unions across the nation have, on average, 60 to 100 separate data sources. The challenge is not in acquiring data, but in activating the data you already have. Here are five ways to do just that.
1. Develop an actionable data strategy.
While this may seem like an obvious first step, only 30% of financial institutions surveyed by McKinsey reported having a data strategy. It is important this data strategy align with and support your overall organizational strategy, with a clear path to data maturity and adoption throughout your credit union.
Simply stated, it is not possible to leverage the true power of your data without a comprehensive strategy.
2. Translate this strategy into tangible solutions.
This starts with a simple question: “What’s your member’s problem (or problems)?” Your members generally have some combination of four problems your credit union can help solve:
- A transportation problem. Your members need transportation to address basic needs.
- A shelter problem. Your members need a roof over their head.
- A travel and/or play problem. Your members want to travel and enjoy themselves.
- A rainy day and retirement problem. Your members need both short-term and long-term security.
Your credit union is uniquely and powerfully positioned to provide solutions for each of these member problems. Data is key to identifying your members’ problems/needs on an individual basis.
3. Have a clear, high-level road map.
To solve your members’ problems, you must have:
- A starting place. What is each member’s problem. (See #2 above.)
- A time frame. How long do you want this journey to be? The average duration of a data strategy is between three and five years.
- A destination. What is the desired end state of this data journey? What success metrics would your credit union like to accomplish?
- A clear set of directions. Where do you want to go as a credit union and when do you want to arrive? By answering these questions, you can begin strategically activating your available data accordingly.
As you develop your road map, envision the destination – the divergence of your data and members – through the lens of your credit union’s overall mission.
4. Establish a formal data governance program.
Credit unions need to govern their data for the same reasons they govern their loans. Simply stated, data is an asset. This asset needs to be organized, prioritized, documented, and audited. Policies and procedures need to be created.
At the highest level, every data user at your credit union is involved in data governance. Key data stakeholders include:
- A data domain sponsor/lead. This is a senior executive who provides guidance and is ultimately responsible for data within your credit union.
- A data steward. This is the individual responsible for measuring data quality, designing and executing remediation plans, and maintaining quality standards.
- A data governance council. This group (typically the leadership team) is accountable for data strategy and direction.
5. Leverage talent to turn your data into action.
To truly leverage the power of your data, you must have the talent to activate it. Your credit union marketing team is a great source of talent to convert data into action. Marketing can identify member segment targets, craft appropriately personalized messages, and deliver them via member-preferred channels in the most effective cadence.
(For a detailed look at turning data into action, see 4 Ways to Make Your Members Feel at Home in a Rocky Rate Environment.)
Your credit union has all the data you need to become a truly data-centric organization. The key is knowing how to identify the data – and what to do with it when you do.
Member data alone is not enough.
“To truly transform your credit union, you need to know how to make that data actionable.”
Rich Smith
Chief Marketing Officer – Home Loans
PenFed Credit Union
Anne Legg is the Founder of THRIVE, a data education and strategy consultancy located in San Diego, CA. THRIVE has worked with over 600 credit union leaders and offers the only accredited data activation course in the industry. Ms. Legg is the author of Big Data/Big Climb: A credit union playbook for leveraging data and talent to achieve revolutionary member relationships, which has recently been added to America’s Credit Union Museum’s Ensweiler Research Library. www.anneleggTHRIVE.com
Scott is a dynamic innovator and entrepreneur with performance marketing & brand advertising DNA. He founded two highly successful, nationally recognized advertising agencies including Quattro, which was Awarded by the Gramercy Institute as one of America’s “TOP 12 Financial Agencies” of 2020. He was also Honored as PhillyDMA Marketer of the Year and on the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross of Eastern Pennsylvania.