Air Force FCU’s Digital Transformation Flies High

Jim Marous (00:00):

Welcome to the FIsionaries Podcast, sponsored by Alkami. I'm your host, Jim Marous. The FIsionaries Podcast shines a light on financial institutions at the cutting edge of digital transformation, providing you with the tips and tricks to elevate your digital game, no matter what size your organization is.

Jim Marous (00:27):

We're honored to have Greg Barnes, Chief Operations Officer, and Abigail Riesner, Manager of Digital Solutions at Air Force Federal Credit Union on the show. They offer an insider’s perspective on the Credit Union's ambitious digital transformation plan that has resulted in decisions like discontinuing shared branching, elevating members' digital experiences, overcoming internal and external challenges, and integrating emerging technologies within a legacy core.

Jim Marous (01:00):

With an eye towards constant evolution through collaborative solutions, Air Force Federal Credit Union aims to continuously expand their technology ecosystem to empower member financial success. For any organization looking to champion digital advancement, this episode provides inspiration and guidance direct from the source.

Jim Marous (01:22):

Digital transformation is so important. It's almost become a buzzword in the banking industry, but anybody who's really tried to do it realizes that digital transformation is an involved process that requires all forces to be moving in the same direction toward the same destination.

Jim Marous (01:40):

Unfortunately, far too many organizations lack the vision and passion to embrace change that can impact employees, customers, or members and communities alike. So, before we get started, why don't you both introduce yourself, Greg, and Abigail, and tell us a little bit about your background, but also one of you can take the ball and run with it on a little bit about Air Force Federal Credit Union.

Abigail Riesner (02:06):

Hi, my name's Abigail Riesner. I am the manager of Digital Solutions at AFFCU. We run our loan and account origination platforms and manage our digital banking platform with Alkami. We have a huge passion for the digital experience for our members and try to streamline our processes and enhance the member experience through those channels to support a seamless and secure access to our members' financial services.

Greg Barnes (02:35):

Yes. Greg Barnes, I'm the COO here at Air Force Federal Credit Union, which won't be that name for much longer because we're changing names here in about six weeks. So, look out for that.

Greg Barnes (02:46):

I've been here at the credit union for about two years. My background is primarily in the credit union space. I started in marketing. I ended up in product in digital transformation. Had a competitor bank here in town many years ago.

Greg Barnes (03:01):

And happy to come back to the credit union industry here at Air Force, and I agree with what everything Abby was saying as it relates to our strategy and digital transformation journey. That's the number one priority for the organization right now as we compete with all the other big banks and credit unions in San Antonio, Texas.

Jim Marous (03:20):

So, while we all talk about making that a customer experience and member experience better, the reality is it is a lot harder than it seems. So, you really have to, as I said at the beginning, all pull in the same direction. But Greg, you made the proactive decision and the continuous decision to shift your focus to advanced digital services. What factors really motivate that transformation to improve your member experiences?

Greg Barnes (03:46):

It's a couple different options that we had a couple years ago when the credit union was kind of at an inflection point. Our core membership has always been Air Force, and we've been around for 70 something years. Over the years, the majority of our members had come from the Air Force.

Greg Barnes (04:04):

And what we saw over the last decade or so was that people that showed up at Lackland Air Force Base, primarily where we started the first term airmen, the young airmen that show up to get their training at Lackland already had a bank account.

Greg Barnes (04:19):

And that wasn't the case 20, 30, 40 years ago. When they showed up at the base, they had to open an account at the credit union on base to get their direct deposit to get their DFAS. Today, that's not the case. And so, they show up here, a 18-year-old first term airman from somewhere in the United States, and they have a bank account somewhere. They got the mobile app downloaded, and we're just not that relevant anymore by having a physical presence on the Air Force base.

Greg Barnes (04:48):

So, we knew we needed to make a change, and that change really was digital transformation, providing the tools and services that these younger millennials want and need. And we didn't have a good offering several years ago.

Greg Barnes (05:03):

But now that we've moved to Alkami and made some other moves in that area, I think we're at a good space now. We can at least compete with the other credit unions here in San Antonio. If you don't know, we have some of the largest credit unions in the United States right here in our backyard. And we also have one of the largest military affiliated banks too here.

Greg Barnes (05:26):

And they are technology heavy. They're digital first and have always been. And so, we just knew that we needed to make a change for us and to remain relevant in our marketplace.

Jim Marous (05:37):

So, Abigail, one of the major changes you made was completely changing the way you reached out to members, your branching strategy, this obviously impacts all areas of the organization. Walk us through some of the considerations and some of the outcomes that guided this strategy. Because really, if you're going to flip any switch, flipping the switch on how you reach and engage with your members is no small endeavor.

Abigail Riesner (06:04):

Yeah. Thank you, Jim. So, one of the opportunities that we had when I joined about a year ago was to identify a way to streamline the onboarding process specifically through that digital online channel. One of the pain points we discovered right off the bat was how long it took for a new member to actually receive their member details, which is kind of a contingency for them to have in order to register for digital banking.

Abigail Riesner (06:31):

So, by streamlining the workflows for not only submitting the online application, but for processing in the back office, we were able to shave down that timeframe to actually provide an instantaneous receiving of the member information, such as their member number.

Abigail Riesner (06:49):

Some enhancements that we made directly with Alkami last year to include the auto enrollment API would not only allow for the member to receive their membership information instantly, but for them to enroll in digital banking right away so that they can take advantage of our products and services.

Abigail Riesner (07:06):

So, by doing that, it's going to create sort of what we like to call that sticky membership, so that not only are they a new onboarded member, but they are already engaging with our digital services so that they're here to stay.

Jim Marous (07:21):

You mentioned about the stickiness, but the way you described it, it sounds like from the member's perspective, you made it easier for them. Sometimes when we put something in place that we think is going to be better for us, we somehow make it worse for the member. We make it more cumbersome, we make it maybe fewer steps, but harder steps.

Jim Marous (07:43):

Greg, from your perspective, how has that been received and how did it change the way the internal departments worked with it?

Greg Barnes (07:52):

We like to call it the happy path. We like to get members started, enrolled in their complete relationship built digitally. And so, we've gone through and revamped our digital onboarding process so that the moment that they get that new account open, the very next day they're getting a series of letters and emails that tell them the next steps to take.

Greg Barnes (08:17):

So, we take two different paths for indirect loans and direct members. And so, the messages that they get after the membership is opened are a little bit different. But we're trying to get, like Abby said, get them sticky and more engaged.

Greg Barnes (08:31):

Internally, I think we've used some of that technology related to account opening in our financial centers. And so, instead of booking members directly to the core, Abby's been trying to get our financial centers to use the same technology, the same happy paths that we have digitally to push that out into the front line so that it's a seamless experience.

Greg Barnes (08:54):

Everybody's going through the same process, the same algorithms and scoring in the background that allow members to open accounts and not allow bad actors to not open accounts is seamless. So, we're not doing two disparate experiences. So, that's really one way we try to use the technology in both front and back office.

Jim Marous (09:15):

So, Abigail, when you look at this, it always seems so easy. You're just changing things. But what we've found in research we've done is one of the challenges is when you're working with people that are front facing to your members as well as back office, as you're changing to digital processes, there's sometimes a thought in the back of their mind that "I'm going to lose my job because of this digital change," that "I'm going to be impacted negatively."

Jim Marous (09:44):

And as a result, sometimes employees will tend to put roadblocks in the way, not maliciously, but thoughtfully in concept from looking at their own wellbeing. How did you deal with, or how have you been dealing with this at Air Force Federal Credit Union from the standpoint of making sure your employees realize this major transformation to digital is not bad news to them?

Abigail Riesner (10:10):

Yeah, I'm actually really glad you brought that up because this is one of the big things we've considered when we drafted our digital strategy. A lot of people do look at digital as more of a competitor to the brick-and-mortar aspect of banking. And while that may be true in some aspects, I really want to approach digital to be more of an enhancement to the brick-and-mortar processes and practices rather than a change or a means to eliminate that.

Abigail Riesner (10:36):

So, whether we like it or not, you're still going to have members that prefer the face-to-face interactions over logging into digital banking. That's probably going to stick around for a little while longer.

Abigail Riesner (10:52):

However, we can't ignore the new generations and their needs for going towards digital. So, we have to create a balance while acknowledging the dichotomy between the two. And we've partnered with our financial center, our VP of retail Eric Sanchez.

Abigail Riesner (11:09):

He has teams that focus a lot on making sure that our members are taking advantage of our products and services, and we're marrying those traditional products we have that are offered at the branches to the digital services and offerings that we have and that are currently developing.

Abigail Riesner (11:25):

So, that way it does keep those staff engaged at the branches and rooting for our digital products in addition to the traditional products they have in branch. So, we think of it more as an enhancement rather than a change.

Jim Marous (11:39):

And that really impacts not only your members, but it impacts your employees as well. Because my history with credit unions and even small community financial institutions is that they're really looking out for the members. So, if you're doing something that's good for the members and you've involved them in the process, so they don't have to be fearful of what the outcome may be, it works really well.

Jim Marous (11:58):

So, Greg, from your perspective, transitioning to a new platform obviously helps your digital ecosystem overall, what specific tools or features have been most beneficial to your members? How did you make the selection of who to partner with as well? Because few institutions are doing it alone. Your example is a good one where you partner with an outside provider, but what helped make the decision as to who to partner with and then what elements you put in place first?

Greg Barnes (12:31):

Yeah, in full transparency, I wasn't here when that decision was made. But I'm happy with the decision that was made. From what I understand, they went through the normal vetting process of multiple digital banking providers and picked the best that they thought would work for Air Force. And that has been the case in my opinion, even though I wasn't here at the time.

Greg Barnes (12:51):

There's two things that really stand out that our members really engage in the platform that is interesting. And it's the transfers. This last year has been extraordinarily difficult in retaining and gathering deposits. And so, we've been running certificate specials left and right, again, competing with all the big guys here in town. But what we've seen is our members are transferring money into our credit union more than they're transferring money out of our credit union by a big margin.

Greg Barnes (13:26):

And so, they're levering that tool to move money in and out instead of going to a brick-and-mortar location to open their CD or whatever deposit promo we're running at the time. So, that's number one.

Greg Barnes (13:39):

Number two is the credit score piece from SavvyMoney that we've had since the beginning. And I've used that in other credit unions I've worked with in the past. We have really high engagement with that product. People seem to like to use the alerts and the notifications through there, they're checking their credit score. We have offers running in there and such. We don't have any loan offers running currently, but they can go get pre-screened and look at some offers. So, those are really the two that stand out to me.

Jim Marous (14:07):

It's interesting, you mentioned engagement, and we're finding in research we're doing that we're really moving from a satisfaction survey type experience measurement to trying to see how we can best engage. And you mentioned earlier in the conversation, or Abigail did about the ease of transfer, the ability to really look at the entire customer or member journey as you're looking at the overall relationship.

Jim Marous (14:33):

We didn't do that in the past, and we didn't measure that. We didn't look at transfer of funds. We did not look and say, "How often can we make it, so members actually get involved with us, get engaged with us." But those are key elements.

Jim Marous (14:47):

Abigail, Air Force Federal Credit Union is known for embracing innovation. Can you share some examples of leading-edge solutions that you've implemented to improve your services?

Abigail Riesner (14:59):

Absolutely. So, one of the key factors that we wanted to address is our wallet share. So, making sure that we are used by our members within their wallets. And that's not just in the physical sense. I think we've pretty much rocketed to the moon when it came towards the contactless method of debit and credit card purchasing.

Abigail Riesner (15:21):

So, by doing so, we've engaged with Alkami in their digital issuance product. So, what this does is it displays the card in the app so that they can start using it for e-commerce purchases prior to when their actual plastic card arrives in the mail.

Abigail Riesner (15:35):

So, in doing this, it gives members the immediate access to their new cards so that it encourages that stickiness that we're looking for. Whether it's a new member or they're an existing member getting a new card, this significantly impacts the usability of our cards and also the digital experience altogether. So, that one we're particularly excited about having, looking forward to seeing how that's going to continue to grow in addition to our rebrand.

Jim Marous (16:08):

It's interesting, you also mentioned the account opening process. The digital account opening has really been streamlined and made easier. And it may not seem like innovation, but when your competitors aren't doing it, when you realize that your engagement process is easier than other institutions in your marketplace, it really does make a difference.

Jim Marous (16:28):

And Greg, again, maybe it is an innovation in the traditional sense, but when you're looking at improving your members' lives in their financial lives, SavvyMoney is a great example of having that available because it's a different way of looking at the relationship and it helps to build stronger relationships that really shows an empathy towards the member's life, which is important.

Jim Marous (16:54):

So, from the member's perspective, do you provide/get any feedback that can give you insights into how well you're doing? Because this digital transformation process (as Abigail mentioned earlier), impacts everybody.

Jim Marous (17:08):

And some people may push back a little bit, but I think we're seeing in the general sense, members really enjoy having the options, having the human enhanced digital or the digitally enhanced humans, whichever you want to look at it. But what have been member reactions and input you've gathered since these transformative changes?

Greg Barnes (17:27):

Yeah, it's been overwhelmingly positive across all age groups. We think that some of the older baby boomers and such don't embrace technology as well as some of the younger millennials and Gen Zs and all those.

Greg Barnes (17:42):

But what we see in our engagement numbers it’s really across the spectrum of ages. And Abby does a great job of putting together every month during our digital steering committee, we actually have a digital steering committee with stakeholders throughout the lines of business that help kind of steer our digital transformation.

Greg Barnes (18:02):

But Abby puts together a dashboard for us that goes through all those member metrics, how often they log in, active accounts, who’s engaging in SavvyMoney, how many transfers, how much money is coming in and out. So, we have some pretty good metrics that Abby goes through every month that we look at.

Greg Barnes (18:20):

But I think the best out of all of them in my opinion, is our app rating. It's almost five stars out of five stars. It's 4.9. I keep telling my team that it's not going to stay 4.9 forever. So, just enjoy it while it lasts.

Jim Marous (18:36):

Unfortunately, once you get to 4.9, it's impossible to get to five.

Greg Barnes (18:42):

There's nowhere else to go except down. So, I keep telling my team enjoy it while it lasts. We're actually one of the highest rated apps here in town among these large competitors. So, we know our members are using our product, they engage it, we get nothing but great feedback from almost every aspect.

Greg Barnes (19:00):

There's things that we learn that that members want tweaks here and there, and we do that. One thing I will say is that we're also trying to change our account opening process. Because we use a product that a lot of other FIs here in town use.

Greg Barnes (19:16):

And so, Abby's doing what's called a new modern experience this year, so that we'll look and feel a little bit different than everybody else. So, we're taking kind of an existing product and taking a little more innovative step faster than the other folks here in town.

Jim Marous (19:35):

So, let's take a short break here and recognize the sponsor of this podcast, Alkami Technologies.

Jim Marous (19:45):

Welcome back to the FIsionaries Podcast, sponsored by Alkami Technologies. So, Abigail, now that I realize I probably directed the questions to the wrong person, from the standpoint of member experiences in the measurements that you've done, how about a couple aha moments where you've said, "Ah, I didn't expect that to happen," either good or bad, when you looked at what are members doing and what are they saying?

Abigail Riesner (20:10):

Yeah. I love this question because one of the key drivers of our decision making is data. It doesn't have emotions, it doesn't have feelings, and it doesn't care what we feel, so-

Jim Marous (20:21):

Until you deliver it, until you deliver it, so then-

Abigail Riesner (20:23):

That's the part we're still refining. Yeah.

Jim Marous (20:25):

For good or bad people will react to what you tell them.

Abigail Riesner (20:29):

Right. Good point. But when it comes to tracking our data, we break it down by our different services. So, if you're looking at the digital banking app, you think of our top five services such SavvyMoney, Mobile Deposit, Bill Pay, P2P. And we sort of track the dollar amounts and the number of active users on a month-to-month basis.

Abigail Riesner (20:50):

So, one of the key things that actually surprised me was when it comes to our P2P, we were actually shocked to see kind of the low active usership count as than what we were expecting. Knowing that P2P is actually increasing holistically across the fintech space, more and more the younger generations are utilizing that above all when it comes to just quick transfers.

Abigail Riesner (21:15):

So, one of the key indicators we have in our focus is seeing how we can have P2P used as a more popular service within our product while leveraging sort of the fraud indicators that may come from that as well. So, with that being said, P2P is also one of our higher channels of fraud that we've seen. And I think a lot of FIs would agree.

Jim Marous (21:36):

How do you measure fraud? Do you measure it by a number of times there's fraud or by a dollar amount, or both?

Abigail Riesner (21:43):

Both. The dollar amount is certainly the driver of how quickly we make decisions and where we need to pivot, but sometimes you also have to consider the number of count and how many members it's impacting, because when you think of experience, you have to think about the bad as well. And fraud is certainly a big slice in that pie.

Jim Marous (22:03):

Yeah. So, it's interesting as you look at everything that's going on, and we've talked about the way it impacted your employees, your members, everything else, all these changes bring obstacles at times. Nothing goes perfect all the time.

Jim Marous (22:20):

What challenges have each of you seen while you're pioneering this digital shift and how do you tackle them? I’ll go to both of you, but I'll start with you, Abigail, from the standpoint of anything that has been an obstacle, a little bit more of a challenge than maybe you thought it would be, and how did you deal with that challenge?

Jim Marous (22:36):

I would imagine just bringing on a new third-party provider brings its own challenges at times, even though they help solve them as well. But what are some of the challenges you've seen faced?

Abigail Riesner (22:46):

Right off the bat when we were challenged with consolidating the number of days and streamlining the process to take to onboard a member, we were quickly reminded of the number of opportunities it may open for fraudsters to penetrate the credit union.

Abigail Riesner (23:03):

So, we have to reevaluate A, what is our risk appetite versus how we want to enhance the onboarding experience and sort of leverage that happy path that Greg was explaining earlier and how we can sort of balance the two.

Abigail Riesner (23:19):

So, by doing so, we have implemented a new system last year into Meridian Link our origination systems called CrossCore. It's an Experian product, and what this does is it accurately identifies the applicant to basically let us know that beyond a reasonable doubt, this person is who they say they are, because that was a big problem we were facing last year.

Abigail Riesner (23:45):

Just to give an example, we were seeing that deceased socials were coming up as not deceased. So, by implementing that product was a pretty big monolith, I should say, just on a training aspect and getting folks internally abreast on how to utilize it.

Abigail Riesner (24:06):

But by doing so, has created a huge success in the number of origination fraud on the ACH channel with this type of characteristic. So yeah, you're totally right. Nothing's perfect, and there are lots of things we need to consider when we want. It's easy to say, "Let's just shrink down the process, let's streamline it, let's speed it up."

Abigail Riesner (24:25):

But fraudsters hear that, and they salivate a little bit because they know that opens up opportunity for them to penetrate and we have to kind of wax on, wax off ways to kind of prevent them from doing that.

Jim Marous (24:37):

So, Greg, have you seen any challenges that really had to be addressed in the implementation of more digital engagement?

Greg Barnes (24:45):

No, not anything that Abby hasn't already described. Institution our size is we become more and more relevant in the community. We get more attention, and we get more attention, especially with our upcoming name and brand change.

Greg Barnes (24:59):

We hopefully will open more accounts, have new folks give us a chance for new loans and new deposits. As a smaller organization, the fraudsters just test us out more than they do some of the larger organizations that have more robust security measures in place.

Greg Barnes (25:17):

And we've worked on that the past year, like Abby mentioned, putting in some of those tools. But it is like playing Whac-A-Mole, every couple of months something pops up and we got to go whac that one and figure that one out and something else pops up.

Greg Barnes (25:30):

We're currently running a checking offer that we're doing through a digital campaign, and you start to get some of those fraudsters coming in and trying to take advantage of the account to get the bonus and leave. And so, we just see some of that stuff pop up and we go tackle it.

Jim Marous (25:47):

Abigail brought up the fact that you fix something, but you don't want to go so far to make it so there's friction in the environment, the security and speed and ease kind of fight each other quite a bit.

Jim Marous (26:00):

When you look at third-party partnerships such as Alkami in this case, when you look at the fact that they offer an array of services that you can either take or not take and implement across the board, how does that improve your innovation process?

Jim Marous (26:17):

And what you put on the to-do list digitally, when you have a partner that actually can help you match your challenges with some of the solutions they bring to the table where they really are, again, a solution provider that's trying to provide you with speed and scalability in such a way that you can innovate quickly, easily, and with a partner that understands your business?

Abigail Riesner (26:42):

Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head by using scalability. One thing I particularly like about Alkami is that its development stack allows us to take little bites at a time to help initiate quick wins when we see fraud before we approach those larger ticket items such as a full blown implementation of a system.

Abigail Riesner (27:04):

And by doing so, this allows us to create a faster reaction time when we start to see those moles pop up instead of us reaching out to the vendor waiting to hear back, "This is your only solution and it's not a quick win whatsoever." And meanwhile we're bleeding.

Abigail Riesner (27:23):

So, I think, from my previous experience, I've worked with other vendors in the past, Alkami does offer with their robust development stack opportunities for us to sort of self-service in a way in our platform to help while we scope out those larger ticket items that may prove as a solution.

Jim Marous (27:45):

You brought up a really good point, not just the ability to upscale, but to minimize the scale of change to say, "Let me try it out here and see how it works." But also, with everything changing so fast, and this goes with most partnerships out there, the third-party solution providers can give you guidance as to how do you take advantage of opportunities that have just come into the marketplace that we're seeing at other institutions? Or how can you avoid making the mistakes that other organizations have had, you only have your organization to work with.

Jim Marous (28:18):

But to work with partners that actually can help hold your hand, for lack of a better term, to be able to say, "Here, let's go down this path. Let's not go down this path." Based on the experience they have certainly adds to the robustness of innovation, but also because they have so many partner providers that they can integrate quickly, it expands that universe of what you can do.

Jim Marous (28:42):

So, for both of you, when the focus stays on the future of banking and you have to always have an eye on the current, but also an eye on the future and what's down the road and how do we stay ahead of what the member is asking for, what developing innovations do you believe will shape the experience of your members going forward? I'll start with you, Greg.

Greg Barnes (29:05):

There's several technologies that are out there that I just to call them the white squirrel, people go out there and see the it's white squirrel shiny object and let's go sign them up. Let's get that as soon as possible.

Greg Barnes (29:20):

I think chat bots and AI was some of that stuff a couple of years ago. We looked at some of that, putting it in the call center and things of that nature. Some of our peers had gone out and bought that and ended up not renewing with those providers just because the adoption didn't take off.

Greg Barnes (29:37):

So, from my perspective, we like to be leading edge but not bleeding edge. And we like to consume what's best for us in our membership. So, if one of our providers offers an API, for example, like a wealth management solution that will allow our members to see their information inside of our digital banking app, we've done that.

Greg Barnes (29:58):

That made a lot of sense for us that there was some demand for that type of product from our folks on the wealth management platform. And so, last year we implemented that.

Greg Barnes (30:08):

But I think my dad used to say he'd rather be lucky than good. And I think there’s a lot of luck involved in some of this. A lot of it is intuition and experience, but when you try to dip your toe in some of these uncharted waters, you really use COOs, there's a lot of good luck and that so far we've been pretty lucky.

Jim Marous (30:28):

Abigail, from your perspective, what have you seen from the standpoint of the future and what you think is coming down the road?

Abigail Riesner (30:36):

Yeah, absolutely. So, one of the key indicators that we put into our digital strategy was a lot of prediction. As Greg was saying, we'd rather be lucky. So, the two big items that we want to build into our strategy, long-term that we think our members would enjoy directly or indirectly are hyper-personalization and gamification.

Abigail Riesner (30:56):

So, you think of applications such as Starbucks, and they have those stars that you gather and it's very interactive. You log in and they even have a status bar that's almost shiny to tell you where you can meet the next milestone and redeem those stars for other products or goods.

Abigail Riesner (31:13):

So, as we look towards the banking side of things, we may want to mirror that type of gamification into, let's say savings goals. Or some of the products that we offer may have some perks that you can take advantage of, that only just engage with the member even more and create such a sticky relationship.

Abigail Riesner (31:35):

So, those are the type of big ideas that we have after we sort of tighten up those bolts and create a strong foundation for our members so that the fun engaging tools can work seamlessly with them.

Jim Marous (31:51):

Okay, so those are not what I would've expected you to say. I think they're both really strong digital capabilities that not many organizations really embrace.

Jim Marous (32:04):

The reason I say it wasn't what I expected was because a lot of people don't swing for the fences or don't try to get that double that's more than just doing what you currently do better.

Jim Marous (32:16):

To go to that extra mouth that you just brought up, I believe it takes top management leadership that really embraces the ideas that you just brought up, that embraces the thinking that's outside the box, that embraces the ability to get market share by not being like everybody else.

Jim Marous (32:38):

Changing your whole branching strategy, changing your digital engagement strategy, changing what's going on during the entire journey is a lot on the plate, but you need management support. I know you're not going to talk down about your management, but is it true that your management really is embracing what the future can be in banking as opposed to just saying, we just want to keep pace?

Abigail Riesner (33:05):

Yeah, I would totally agree with that. I mean, this only becomes amplified when we talk about our rebrand and the strategy that's behind that. It's been strongly communicated internally that this is where we're headed. We have to embrace digital. If we don't, we only hurt ourselves. And not only that, our members are embracing digital even long before institutions start to embrace it.

Abigail Riesner (33:28):

So, in doing that, and some of the changes that I have assisted with implementing internally, even in the only have only been here for just over a year, we've had such a large, almost exponential trajectory of change internally. And for our member experience on the digital channels that proof's in the pudding. Air Force is putting money where their mouth is when they say that they want to embrace digital.

Jim Marous (33:54):

And that's interesting. And Greg, from your perspective, doing the things that you are doing at Air Force Federal Credit Union, I would imagine, because I know enough about San Antonio to know there's a whole lot of smart people down there that work in financial institutions, and some of them, every one of the financial institutions are leaders beyond the region, but it sets the bar pretty high.

Jim Marous (34:19):

I would imagine the changes you're making are making it so that the hiring process has gotten easier, that people will say, "I don't mind working in a finance institution. You guys are doing some cool stuff." Is that true? And I kind of set you up if you say, "No, it's not true," that may be a problem.

Jim Marous (34:36):

But given the fact that you're not the biggest credit union in the neighborhood, but given the fact that you're doing things differently, has that impacted your hiring any?

Greg Barnes (34:46):

I think it has. I think we've been able to attract and retain some pretty good talent, Abby being one of them. And San Antonio, there's some Fortune 500 companies that we compete against, and there is a large talent pool. I don't think that our location where we are today helps us very much because we're kind of nestled over by the Air Force Base. There's not a lot of amenities and things of that nature.

Greg Barnes (35:12):

We are moving into a new corporate headquarters downtown San Antonio that will make us much more relevant from an employer attraction standpoint. More amenities downtown by an area called The Pearl. Lots of things for employees to do before, during, and after work in that area. And we're retrofitting a five-story office building that was built in 1983.

Greg Barnes (35:34):

We're completely gutting all five floors going in with open floor plates, lots of windows, hoteling, offices, things for employees to ... docking stations to come in and have them move around the space and work independently.

Greg Barnes (35:51):

So, I think it has been a challenge for us in the past to get this valued group of talent to take a look at Air Force. But I don't think that's going to be the case moving forward.

Jim Marous (36:04):

Again, it just points to leadership that is really not sitting still. They're not going to let moss grow on the rock, because between rebranding, digital transformation, new offices, this makes a big difference. And especially at a time when there's many organizations that are scaling back because the uncertain economic situations.

Jim Marous (36:29):

So, I guess this is going to both of you, but change comes with lessons and opportunities. What guidance would you give a financial institution that's looking to drive digital transformation and keep the ball running over time? What key element would you say, if you're going to do this, you better do this? Abigail, I'm going to start with you on that one.

Abigail Riesner (36:53):

I think the number one thing you would have to consider is to in your best ability avoid change-fatigue. So, change whether it be good, whether it be bad is change. And there's going to be some folks internally that experience fatigue when it just keeps running down.

Abigail Riesner (37:12):

As much as people like Greg and I get really excited for the avalanche of change that we want to embrace, we have key players that support the systems and changes that we're implementing on a day-to-day, that are just frankly going to get sick of it even if it's a good change. So, if at all possible, we really try to avoid entering that realm so that way we can keep the momentum going because we want to deliver quality over quantity when it comes to our projects.

Jim Marous (37:45):

Greg, what, from your perspective, would you tell other COOs, maybe at financial institutions from the standpoint of what guidance would you, what suggestion you say you better keep an eye on this?

Greg Barnes (37:58):

I think the biggest opportunity for smaller credit unions, now larger ones probably a little bit different, but start small, start somewhere. We have a digital steering committee that like I mentioned, has players from each department or stakeholders from each line of business that get together once a month and talk about it and come up with strategies.

Greg Barnes (38:20):

And it's not a large group, we meet every month. But starting somewhere, having some sort of digital roadmap or digital strategy in place, I think is the foundation. And as you grow, that will grow. You can grow your digital team, you can bring in analysts, you can bring in programmers, but you got to put a stake in the ground.

Greg Barnes (38:46):

And I think that's what we've done over the last few years is put a stake in the ground, bring in some folks from the outside that have done this at other institutions and done it well and build from there. So, you don't have to go all in like we have, but just start small.

Jim Marous (39:05):

You know what, this is a great example. This podcast is a great example of what we set out for with the FIsionaries Podcast with Alkami. Basically, we were looking for smaller, more modest sized organizations that are doing great things, that are out punching their weight class.

Jim Marous (39:23):

And this is a great example, the discussion with you, as my team knows, I get more excited every time I have one of these interviews because it gives me hope that the only thing that stands in the way of progress is leadership that wants to stand in the way of progress.

Jim Marous (39:38):

And you both have an emotional level that shows there's a passion for what's going on, not just what you're achieving, but the way you're achieving it. You both are there because the organization's moving forward as opposed to letting things happen to them.

Jim Marous (39:55):

Membership will catch word of that. They'll feel it because they're going to say, "Your organization's just bringing that on. My organization does that already." Or you're rebranding, even that change, Abigail, to your point, someone's going to hate it. It goes without saying, there are going to be those who hate it.

Jim Marous (40:13):

Well, the reality is, it's for a purpose. It's to prove you've already put the proof in the pudding as to what you're becoming before your branding. Your branding comes afterwards. And that's a big deal.

Jim Marous (40:26):

And I just want to tell you how enjoyable this conversation has been because it again, reinforced the fact that some of the most exciting things are happening at the foundational level, at the smaller financial institutions that have found the power of partnerships with third-party providers that can take dreams and make them actually take place. So, thank you so much for being in the podcast today.

Abigail Riesner (40:51):

Thank you.

Greg Barnes (40:52):

Thank you.

Jim Marous (40:53):

Thanks for listening to the FIsionaries Podcast. We hope you enjoyed this deep dive into tips and tricks you can use to elevate your digital game.

Jim Marous (41:01):

If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share with others, both inside and outside your organization. Post about it on social media or leave a thumbs up or a comment.

Jim Marous (41:13):

This has been a production of Evergreen Podcasts, a special thank you to our senior producer Leah Haslage, and audio and video engineer Chris Fafalios.

Jim Marous (41:21):

I'm your host, Jim Marous. Until next time, remember, any major evolution requires focus and strong leadership to reach new heights.