Fifty-four third party integrations to core; what does this number mean? This number represents:

• 54 separate IT projects that include hours upon hours of IT resources
• 54 separate contacts for professional services and the related costs
• 54 different technologies that may have to be updated or tested with every core or system update
• 54 times IT added another significant, time consuming project to the project queue
• 54 times the business owner asking for this new system integration is frustrated because of this lengthy queue slowing the time to market

This reality of integrating systems is not going to change. Emerging technologies and the consumer adoption rate and demand for these new features, benefits, access and products is driving our business. Unfortunately IT is the small end of the funnel with the adoption of all of this work. Regardless of the business unit that is asking for the enhancements and the latest technologies to serve the member better, IT has to project manage all of it.

What makes this integration process so painful is the awareness that 80% of the fields that have to be mapped with any integration project have been mapped time and time again with the core and the vendor. This capital waste and resource inefficiency has to end.

CUFX Standards, www.cufxstandards.com, had a solution. An innovation that came out of the CUNA Tech Council, CUFX has created and is continually improving a standard for credit unions. It is a volunteer effort and is collaboration between forward thinking credit unions, established vendors and emerging tech vendors and core providers. Through this voluntary collaboration is having amazing success. CUFX is finding the integration costs have been reduced by up to 75% and the “time to market” has been cut in half.

How can credit unions help CUFX become successful?

CUFX needs the following four things:

1. Credit unions to contact CUFX before they do their next RFP
2. Credit union contact CUFX before their next implementation to see if we have the standard they can use
3. Ask your vendors and core to use CUFX for all their credit union implementations
4. Contribute to CUFX so we can continue to add more vendors, do more implementations and sustain. Call or email busdev@cufxstandards.com.

Fifty-four third party implementations by one credit union are not unusual. If you did a quick count of all the third parties you require to meet your members needs you will see how important it is to be able to implement and maintain all of these vendors more cheaply and quickly. We need this if credit unions of all sizes are to remain competitive in this world that continues to evolve. Become part of the solution instead of living with the consequences…