In this day and age, new words are created every day. Whether they are new acronyms we learn from our kids texts and chats (ROFL, YOLO, SMH); different interpretations of words crowd-sourced into our language thanks to the Urban Dictionary (covfefe); the resurgence of words long lost in the archives of Webster (dotard); and words perhaps we never knew existed but are now a standard part of our lexicon, in a bigly way. While some of these terms may prove to be ephemeral and will lose relevance in no time, here are 5 terms that will NOT be fleeting when it comes to Disaster Recovery (DR) for credit unions:

Consumer lending has many forms and credit cards are increasingly a profitable one for credit unions. Historically, the industry has looked to outside vendors for credit card management due to its inherent risks and complexities. As core processors catch up to technology advancements and credit unions acknowledge technology to be of crucial importance to survival, in-house card management is a reality for many credit unions. Below are two of the main reasons that credit unions are jumping on to the in-house credit cards trend, and one reason your members will love you for it.

We were recently featured on CUInsight for our article, Non-Traditional Lending Can Lead to a Healthy Member Focus. In the article, Fred Dalit, CEO of the Hawaii-based Honea Federal Credit Union was highlighted for his unique view of member saving and lending. Honea FCU members, in general, save heavily and tend to avoid taking out loans. This created a paradox for the CU: After all, financial institutions were created to lend money, and interest income is typically their main source of revenue. This drove the credit union to seek out participation lending on a national level, and in turn provide member services that are tailored to the makeup of the member base. Dalit is a big proponent of participation lending and has used the program at his credit union to generate income they were otherwise lacking, thus using the funds to focus on his members' savings habits.  

As the world is learning a new term in "Ambien tweeting" with Roseanne Barr's recent blunder, they are also revisiting the ugly word "racism." Credit unions hold a unique distinction in the financial industry as consistently serving minority communities. Credit unions are frequently the only federally insured institutions serving low-to moderate-income and underbanked populations. There is no place for racism within credit unions, as the whole industry was founded on the premise of people helping people, the antithesis of racism. In addition to moral belief in the credit union difference of embracing diversity, diversity itself makes great business sense. The NCUA adamantly states: It makes good business sense to have members, managers, and employees reflect the community credit unions serve and for credit unions to serve diverse segments within their communities. Diversity leads to better service, greater innovation, improved solutions, and increased membership. 

So you may have heard: Facebook got into a bit of trouble this year. To be exact, the scandal that unfolded on national news outlets and ultimately broadcast from the Senate and House floors started well before 2018. What Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and the Russians did to the social media landscape has a far-reaching impact on all platforms, affecting both businesses and credit unions. Facebook, Instagram (owned by Facebook), Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. have all changed their algorithms and/or policies in response to this privacy breach and resulting abuse of data, which was witnessed on a global political scale. These changes have made it more difficult for your credit union to get your message in front of your members and potential members. So how do credit unions adapt to these changes and shift their social media strategy, especially those with small paid advertising budgets, to compete in this new landscape?

With Summer upon us, many families are busy mapping out their summer vacation plans. So get out your atlas and rulers, or make the trip to AAA for that all-important TripTik Travel Planner and guidebook, the only way to get turn by turn directions and a listing of hotels. WAIT - it's not 1988! Clearly, technology has advanced significantly, and the task of planning road trips has gone digital. The same can be said for mapping out your credit union's member journey. 

Many credit union executives use their bottom line profitability as the primary measure of their success. Other credit union boards solely focus on the financial performance of a given quarter or year as it compares against the prior term's figures. By putting the focus of your CU's success on past results, you lose the advantage of being a forward thinker; You ignore how well your key performance indicators (KPI's) measure against the results of credit unions in your asset group. Approaching your performance measurement this way is known as “benchmarking”.

From a pure business survivability standpoint, it's crucial to have Disaster Recovery Plans in place and test on a regular basis. Afterall, according to a recent study, 90% of businesses that do not have a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) fail. However, Credit unions are not immune to this threat due in part to tightening FFIEC scrutiny on Business Continuity Plans, thus they have a leg up over other sectors. The majority of businesses aren't faced with regulatory compliance that credit unions face, which is partly why the same study found that roughly 1 out of 3 businesses do not have a DRP in place, despite the inherent risks of neglecting this. The absence of DRP is simply not an option for credit unions. Compliance guidelines, examinations, and audits are in place to protect credit unions from meeting the same fate. 

There has been a great deal of discussion lately on the struggles of smaller to medium-sized credit unions. They face many challenges to remain on par with their peers, while not breaking the bank. However, the other side of the coin is the strength of the industry as a whole. Though 70% of the credit union population is composed of smaller credit unions, here are some numbers that illustrate basic performance facts of today's credit union industry: