A crisis that could not be predicted, the Covid-19 has brought the day to day lives to halt. This has led to an increase in economic burden, especially for the financial sector.

Your credit union can use operational data analytics to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and cater to the changing needs of members, staff, and the organization.

Here is the summary of how some of the progressive credit unions – such as Sound Credit Union are using data.

1. The most ultimate need is to have a rapid response with data. Due to this sudden change in situation, Banks and Credit Unions, need specific data and reports urgently. Through the BI team, toolset, and data warehouse foundation the business can get to the insights and then responded to changes very quickly. Sound CU was successful in creating about thirteen reports in one business day related to the Covid-19 impact. In a week, the reports amounted to thirty.
2. At this time, the credit union and the internal resources should be directed from low demand to high demand areas. Having a foundation of the data warehouse with metadata mappings, schemas, and joins established, it becomes easy to get to the insights to make appropriate decisions.
3. Amidst the pandemic, in instances where there is a high volume cash withdrawal activity at branches, through the reports, operations are able to enact withdrawal limits and remove limits when appropriate. Branches can operate through drive-thrus and by appointment. The transaction volume impact should be analyzed, along with an analysis for operations leverage and these reports will be helpful in adjusting staffing levels.
4. When card transaction volume increases and dollars spent increases, data should be used to analyze the impact and make various business decisions and adjustments. The immediate value should be provided to the efforts of the credit union’s effort to respond to a dynamic situation.
5. For members filing for unemployment, Sound has developed a dashboard to visualize the impact. A report was prepared for each member claiming unemployment. Such reports and visualizations show loans and credit lines those members have with the credit union, based on real-time data. Through targeted communications, these members can be reached out for providing relief. One effective strategy of Sound CU was to waive the late fees for loan payments during the pandemic. There was a 1917% increase in skip-a-pay benefits with fees waived and 91 new loans were booked in the new member assistance loan program - short term loans with no interest, with six months to pay the loans back.

To be able to analyze which member is spending on what category, can help understand where the priorities of the members lie and serve them accordingly

Data quality remains the biggest challenge. Right answers should get to the right people, in the right form at the right time. It is important to connect as many data sources as possible to one platform. With data, decisions are easier to make. The emphasis should be on making the data accessible and building a foundation ahead of time so that you can get timely actionable insights.

HERE IS THE RELATED WEBINAR THAT EXPLAINS THE WHOLE STORY.