As the pandemic presses on with no clear end in sight and consumer habits continue to change, businesses are being forced to adapt to the new climate at a rapid pace. Although vaccines give reason to be optimistic, it’s unlikely the world will return to “normal” any time soon, and doubtful it will ever completely return to how it once was. Instead, the coming years will likely be trying for many types of businesses, including credit unions.

A hallmark of any successful organization is efficiency - being able to achieve the most, in terms of results, with the least amount of wasted effort or resources. When gaining new members, a credit union shouldn't have to add staff at an equal pace. Technology should support your credit union, allowing you to maximize the effectiveness of each team member. If credit union member growth is leading to exploding operating costs then you may need to take a closer look under the hood. 

Surviving 2020 was no easy task for all sorts of businesses, including many credit unions. Those that were most effective found ways to be efficient, cut waste, adjust to changes in consumer habits and continue to provide their members with the essential services they need and expect. After all, credit unions were founded on the principles of collaboration and supporting members, and no year has seen more people in need of support than the previous one.

There are a variety of key metrics and performance ratios that credit unions should familiarize themselves with when evaluating their yearly performance. By analyzing certain metrics like the efficiency ratio, loan originations per employee, loan to deposit ratios and the cost of technology per member (among others), CUs can get a better idea about how they are performing overall.

One of the biggest factors that can affect a credit union’s bottom line is how they use their core system technologies. An efficient core data processing system can help expand member services and attract new members while keeping the underlying costs of running the CU low. Credit unions that use a large number of vendors and third-party technologies often pay too much for technology and have less user-friendly platforms.

Since the pandemic struck in March, credit unions have had to adjust to the times and reevaluate how they do business. While maintaining healthy relationships with members continues to be crucial, there are other factors that can also determine a CU’s success. One of the most vital factors for credit unions today is choosing the right technology to communicate with members, generate loans, and increase the overall efficiency and functioning of your CU.

Does your credit union have a back room that conjures images of haunted houses, lined with old squeaky file cabinets filled with paper documents? Is it the kind of room employees are afraid to visit, with cobwebs and the foulest stench in the air - the funk of 40,000 years? At this stage in the digital banking era, these cabinets are no thriller and should be set aside for your Halloween fun-fest. It’s time to significantly cut back on your paper reliance and join the modern world. Digitizing the lending process, as well as your other operational processes, can create efficiencies for both your members and your credit union.

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”.

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: