Ink on the Interview
Q: So, how is the conference going for you?
A: Yeah, it’s going great. The highlights for me are twofold. We’re networking with my other credit union peers, but also having some face time with the Eltropy team. It’s really been a great partnership over the years, and what I love about the Eltropy team is they allow us to have a voice, not only in what’s happening now, but what’s happening in the future. When we think of partnership at InRoads, we think of stakeholders in our growth, and I think Eltropy really models that for us.
Q: Any session highlights you would like to share?
A: Well, AI is the buzzword and has been for a few years, and at times, it just becomes a bit too much. It’s overwhelming sometimes. I do think it’s such a critical part of how we’re transforming our business to be relevant going forward. So I think all of those sessions are terrific. Hearing not only what Eltropy is sharing, but also some of the questions, concerns, if any, with the credit unions and community banks out there. So I just feel it’s very good when we’re all talking together.
Q: How are you working with Eltropy?
A: Yeah, we have a very deep relationship with Eltropy. We’ve been with, you know, with Video Banking, which was our entry point in 2019, then we went to Tech. It was POPi/o. But really, the next thing for us, the future is the AI voice. We’re really excited about that to really kind of bring the communication platform, that omnichannel experience to life. It’s kind of the missing piece for us. We are in the middle of a core conversion, so we really want to get through that and set up that connectivity in our new core. And then we’re just going to go off to the races at that point.
Q: But how has the video aspect of it, how has it changed the credit union life, so to speak? Can you give us a before-and-after picture?
A: That’s a great question. I think we had implemented it right before the pandemic. And it was really a lifeline for us. Because we were like most institutions, we closed our branches for a brief period of time. When we came back, we were able to leverage the video banking platform to continue to connect with our members. We’re a smaller credit union. We have four branch locations. And our model isn’t about rolling out five, 10, 15 new brick-and-mortar locations. We believe technology is our path forward to reach all of our community charters that we have. So again, Eltropy is such a vital part of that for us to execute that strategy.
Q: So what’s next for you? What’s on the plate or on the horizon for InRoads?
A: I mentioned the AI voice. That’s going to be kind of the next leap for us. But I think it’s about continuing to be engaged with them about what’s next after that. We’re thinking about 26 and 27. Much of that is going to be tied into what Algebra is bringing to the table. So I think that again is that partnership, because what we don’t want to get going down a road with another vendor, we’re staying engaged with Eltropy to make sure that we can keep that unified experience. I was just thinking, you took the words right out of my mouth, because you’re really taking advantage of that unified platform, the one platform that they keep talking about. When you’re disconnected, disjointed, if you will, inevitably it creates a disjointed experience for the membership. So I think that’s why it’s so vital that we execute that strategy. But it puts some pressure on us. We raise the demands, the expectations, because we’re competing against large institutions. And we feel this is a real competitive advantage for us to be able to execute that.
Q: Before we wrap up, any final thoughts?
A: Yeah, just I guess encouragement for my fellow credit unions out there to share your voice because you may have the idea, the thought that benefits us all. So I would just be encouraging you on that.
