More than 325 leaders in innovation from 160+ organizations got together for an incredible amount of learning at this year’s Credit Union Analytics Summit covering very important topics around big data and analytics – from business & technology considerations to consumer adoption – we spoke about trends and challenges faced. There were so many case studies shared – a lot of useful information – innovative, yet practical insight to drive success.

I took the liberty of taking key ideas from each presentation to share with our community:

Mike Upton on Innovation: Look at your financial institution is an APP. Focus on creating efficient service interfaces. Omni channel will drive success. Omni is about remaining relevant, removing friction, and creating a culture within. Executive sponsorship is the most important success factor for Omni.

Sandi Papenfuhs on Value of Analytics in Lending – Income: Sandi’s was able to nearly double the interest earned by focusing on income analytics strategies. Her focus was to analyze income numbers – stated, verified, and validated to arrive at strategies to make the First Tech card top of wallet.

Roger Hull on Transactional Analytics: Roger spoke about reducing the time between getting insight and actually taking action. His presentation focused on leveraging machine learning capabilities to further operationalize insight resulting in more loans with less risk & a much better member experience.

Michael Cochrum on Using Analytics to Drive Loan Portfolio Management Decisions: Michael spoke about keeping the underwriter involved in the lending process even after the loan has been made by AI. This underwriter feedback adds to their knowledge base and allows them to make even better decisions.

Brian Knollenberg on a Machine Learning Trial: Brian spoke about how machine learning is helping drive results at BECU with initial projects in card, auto, checking, and mortgage. Machine learning can help quickly sift through a lot of data plus even make decisions based on patterns and expectations.

Mike Terzian on The Power of Storytelling: Mike spoke about leveraging the influence of members – ‘social currency through members.’ In addition to deep dive analytics he spoke about the simplicity of campaigns – putting an offer out by featuring a “valuable” gift to drive uplift in campaigns.

Naveen Jain on Influence: Simply said, what would you do if you knew who your most influential members were. Wouldn’t you treat them a little better? The power of focusing on this influencer segment will get you more from members & reduce attrition. Remember, recommendations from friends is the most credible form of advertising.

Rob Silverii on Using Data to Drive Marketing Priorities & Content: Rob offered a systematic three step approach – use data to tell a story, align on a single metric, & iterate (and move) quickly. A simple image supported by data goes a long way in explaining things. And of course, “avoid the zombie dashboard.”

Aaron Hill on Conjoint Analysis & Maximum Distance Scaling for Credit Unions: Aaron helped us answer a very simple yet powerful question, “Which topics should be on the program so that each person has at least one session that they really want to attend?” His approach allowed us to create a precise agenda & this methodology will help you resolve a number of CU “data choice” problems.

Gary Angel on The New Frontier in Customer Experience Measurement: Gary asked a question, “Does the branch still matter” and provided some measurement strategies that are used in other industries including Wi-Fi, Mobile Apps, Passive Sniffers, & Video Cameras. And yes, the branch does matter.

Jon Voorhees on Branch Distribution Analytics: Jon led the discussion on a simple question, “How many branches do I need?” Two concepts he shared were competitive saturation and branch density. He explained the efficiency ratio well – “How much expense does it take to generate revenue?”

Ron Shevlin on Using Mobile Location Data to Improve Marketing Effectiveness: Ron spoke about studying path by understanding – where they went, how frequently, how long did they spend, & where did they go from there? Oh, but before you track your consumer make sure you are compliant.

Adam Hass on Using Mobile App Analytics to Make Data Driven Decisions: Adam shared a very good graphic on important metrics from number of downloads, to retention rate, to number of users, to user journeys, to active users, all the way to conversion (and a few others in between).

Manoj Rai on Analytics Driven Member Experience: Manoj made a simple yet very powerful statement – numbers don’t lie. His advice – look at data from a member centric perspective – observe them, understand them, and solve for what they want (and expect). Of course, keep tracking, keep improving.

Joseph W. McLean on Fraud – A Moment That Matters: Joseph brought it home by asking a very simple question, “how you would feel if you were made to jump through hoops if you were the victim of fraud?” His systematic data driven approach leveraging a member first approach was extremely useful.

Joel Hartzler on Data Analytics on Supporting Credit Union’s Members First Philosophy: Joel walked us through the evolution of our data journey. He spoke about achieving ROI – balancing business value and maturity – from what happened to why did it happen to what will happen to making it happen.

Steven Simpson on Engagement Metric – Advanced Analytics: Steven’s message focused on achieving advanced analytics to power prescribed action. His framework of combining the channel (digital/traditional), with a message, at the right time (and context) was a powerful one.

Brian Ley on Customer Graph Analytics – Humanizing Data: Brian spoke about identifying influencers and leveraging their connections to drive three to four times better results. He spoke about activating, influencing, and converting. Look hard he said, because “everyone is connected.”

Khosrow Hassibi on Behavioral Predictive Modeling of Attrition in Financial Institutions: Khosrow shared a proven methodology of data analysis for attrition. Voluntary or involuntary, the ability to predict attrition in advance provides an opportunity to create proactive improvements.

Nate Derby on Growth Through Member Centricity & Analytics: Nate helped define member centricity with this message, “focus on your most valuable members by aligning your products & services to serve those members” with this caveat – “the right member is always right.”

Dave Ulrich on Credit Risk Analytics – Preparing for CECL: Dave described First Tech’s approach to CECL & capital planning so they can provide & plan for what they think will happen. This approach to risk-based pricing will help them offer a fair price for every member and stay compliant.

Karan Bhalla on Small to Big – Credit Unions CAN Use Analytics to Win: Karan spoke about a five-step journey – make a commitment, allocate a budget, obtain talent, small manageable projects, & keep improving. A key reason for failure – inadequate resources and technology.

Matthew Maguire on 4 Ways to Make Data Your Best Digital Transformation Asset: Matt’s session focused on positioning – top of wallet becomes top of device. He spoke about integrating utility functions into your applications thereby offering consumers convenience & reasons for top of wallet.

Sam Maule on Barbarians at the Gate: Sam spoke about the future of digitized objects aka Digital RICHES – Real-time, Intelligent, Contextual, Human, Extendable, Social. Your mantra - use digital capabilities to deliver valuable services to consumers who are underserved or overcharged.

Paul Ablack on The Analytics Journey @ Ideal Credit Union: Paul’s message was on the mark – what can you do to get your member to transact more often. He explained the value of nurturing by sharing a successful member VIP program case study – analytics & digital make for a powerful combination.

Anne Legg on Drowning in Data & Starving for Insight? How to Fuel Your Credit Union Growth: Success comes through effort, you can decipher intent & effort by deciphering data. Anne’s message - leverage predictive analytics to customize what you can offer & improve operational efficiencies.

Sundeep Kapur on Selling, Starting, & Effectively Executing a Big Data Project: I shared three successful case studies and offered a five-step process to chart a big data project. Start with a decision discovery workshop (educational), conduct an analytics assessment, map prioritized big data journeys, focus on continuous improvement, & instill analytics expertise within your organization.

Andre Iervolino on Big Data, Small Data, But What About the Right Data: Andre prioritizes big data projects on their ability to deliver on revenue. He walked through the process of creating an end to end data success strategy including defining a clear vision, mission, & specific tactics including measurement.

Concluding Thoughts: So, what should we expect in the future?

Five key trends are driving innovation - there is a tremendous amount of data, artificial intelligence to help us sift through this data, connectivity to disseminate information & services expeditiously, consumer adoption of technology, and a world that is going to a mobile first strategy.

The future lies in digitized objects (better API’s), omni-channel integration, & intelligent (AI based) digital services. The financial institution of the future will be built on an API providing real-time seamless services to consumers.

As an attendee of this event I can assure you that the interaction and learning was phenomenal. This conference has grown from 100+ to 200+ to many more than 300. We look forward to a continued year of learning & an even better conference in 2019!