Combining Data, Modern Technology and a Strong Mission to Innovate & Grow

Jim Marous (00:00):

Welcome to the FIsionaries Podcast, sponsored by Alkami. I'm your host, Jim Marous.

Jim Marous (00:15):

The FIsionaries Podcast shines a light on financial institutions at the cutting edge of digital transformation, provide you with the tips and tricks to elevate your digital game no matter what size your organization is.

Jim Marous (00:27):

On this episode of the FIsionaries Podcast, I'm joined by Luis Cruz, chief information officer at Educational Federal Credit Union, or EdFed for short.

Jim Marous (00:36):

Luis provides a captivating exploration of EdFed's innovative approaches to digital transformation, including the serving and engaging of younger demographics and their overall communities.

Jim Marous (00:49):

EdFed's strategic use of data analytics and their unique outreach programs aimed at fostering financial literacy among youth are case studies for success.

Jim Marous (00:59):

We also unveil how EdFed Credit Union successfully navigates an increasingly volatile banking ecosystem, while maintaining an unwavering focus on their legacy and on the future innovation.

Jim Marous (01:13):

Educational Federal Credit Union, or EdFed for short, is based in the Miami-Dade area, and it's another one of these unique organizations. While their asset size is not huge, their mindset for innovation and new ideas certainly is.

Jim Marous (01:28):

It's interesting when we're going to be talking to our guest today, all the different things they're doing that many large organizations have not embraced. This is going to be a great discussion.

Jim Marous (01:41):

So, Luis, before we dive into the specific topics, could you share a bit about your career journey and how EdFed continues to evolve to serve the needs of your communities?

Luis Cruz (01:53):

Absolutely. But before we get into that, Jim, I wanted to thank you for having me on your show. I follow your podcast Banking Transformed, and I particularly enjoyed the recent episode you did with Allison Cerra on how emerging tech data and AI are reinventing bank marketing.

Luis Cruz (02:07):

That one really provided me with valuable insights to further our use of data in the marketing use case. So, thank you for that and-

Jim Marous (02:19):

Thank you. That's really nice of you.

Luis Cruz (02:20):

Yeah. So, I'm excited to be here. I have to say I'm extremely grateful for the 26 years of experience I have working in technology. Nearly 20 of those are in the credit union space, and before that I worked as an IT manager at Florida International University.

Luis Cruz (02:36):

But the lion's share of my career has been with Educational Federal Credit Union or EdFed, and it's been an amazing journey.

Luis Cruz (02:43):

The thing I love about credit unions is how helpful everybody is. I believe that most people who are successful didn't get there by themselves. And that's certainly true for me.

Luis Cruz (02:54):

I've had many mentors over the years, and I certainly couldn't have gotten to where I am today without the people who work with me, especially those in our IT area. They're some of the smartest people that I know. And believe me, if I could, I would clone them.

Luis Cruz (03:09):

But I started with EdFed when I was very young as a systems and network administrator. And over the years there were a series of promotions increasing my responsibilities.

Luis Cruz (03:20):

Now, my field of study was computer science, IT and business. And I've always kind of had a business minded background with some understanding of economics and finance.

Luis Cruz (03:30):

But when I was promoted to director of IT, something kind of happened. I started to become more interested in the business of credit unions almost as much as I was interested in the technology aspect of that business.

Luis Cruz (03:43):

And I realized that the same principles that had made me successful as an IT leader could be applied throughout the organization.

Luis Cruz (03:50):

And back then, this was a really long time ago now, I chaired a lending committee for EdFed that reimagined how lending could be done at our credit union. And we had many innovative ideas come up. Not all of them were implemented. In fact, many weren't.

Luis Cruz (04:08):

And I had somebody who was really nice to me and told me that the ideas were just a little bit too advanced for their time. But the important thing about that was that it brought awareness to the executive suite of my interests and capabilities in the business of credit unions.

Luis Cruz (04:23):

So, when the previous VP of IT retired a number of years ago, I was selected for that role. And one of the first things that I did was to champion business intelligence and data strategy for our credit union.

Luis Cruz (04:38):

And let me tell you, it was lonely at first. I had a lot of persuading to do. It took a couple years before we really got anywhere with it.

Luis Cruz (04:48):

And then COVID hit, and our credit union did this crazy thing where we decided to implement about a dozen transformative initiatives all within about a one-year time span, maybe a couple more months added to that.

Luis Cruz (05:01):

And it felt like we were playing that juggling game where someone just kept tossing new balls at you to see how many you can juggle before it all comes crashing down.

Luis Cruz (05:11):

But if anyone ever asks me, what's the most challenging thing you've ever done? I know how to answer that question.

Luis Cruz (05:18):

But everyone was firing on all cylinders that year, modernizing the entire credit union to better serve our members. We were all operating at a very high level.

Luis Cruz (05:28):

That really marked the start of our digital transformation and we got through that. The credit union came out a stronger organization on the other side of it, and we were better positioned to help our members. And a couple of years later, I was promoted to CIO and here we are.

Luis Cruz (05:43):

But I do want to call out the importance of surrounding yourself with good people. If you're always the smartest person in your room, then you're learning nothing. And I've had the privilege of working with extremely brilliant and talented individuals on our executive team.

Luis Cruz (05:59):

And I think one of the greatest strengths of EdFed is our leaders and our people. It's the employees who are working very passionately to ensure that our members are getting the best possible service.

Jim Marous (06:12):

Luis, you said so much that resonates with me so heavily because one of the things we keep on bringing up and the way a smaller organization can out punch their weight is when the organization's going in the same direction, when the leadership and the culture speak the same language. We take that for granted sometimes, but it's not always the case.

Jim Marous (06:35):

The other thing you said that really comes from one of my scripts is you can't afford to be the smartest person in the room because you're closing out other people's ideas and you brought that up.

Jim Marous (06:46):

But when you have so many people around you that can do that and can work multiple jobs as they had to during COVID.

Jim Marous (06:53):

It's sometimes amazing that it's been four years since COVID struck. And we look now, at the economic situation in the world and we say COVID was a breeze compared to the economic challenges we have today.

Jim Marous (07:06):

But you also, look at the fact that we had those COVID loan programs that were put in by the government that on a Thursday we were told what we had to create and on a Monday, we had to implement them.

Jim Marous (07:17):

I never looked back and not say, “We did this before. We moved at speed and scale and developed brand new products that weren't even on the drawing board two days before. And we got them done.”

Jim Marous (07:30):

And it appears that EdFed really took that as a calling card to say, "You know what? We got to move beyond what we've done in the past, take on the new challenges and do as much as we can, as well as we can, and as fast as we can.

Jim Marous (07:44):

So, we've heard about EdFed's focus on engagement (when I did some research) with metrics like active number of users, number of logins, and products per member.

Jim Marous (07:55):

Could you share some of the strategies you've employed to achieve this growth and why you moved to the importance of engagement as opposed to simply an experience measure?

Luis Cruz (08:05):

So, if you look at it from a 10,000-foot view, we did two things to accomplish this. First, we were intentional in our efforts to modernize our system and fix the back office.

Luis Cruz (08:16):

And second, we increased our engagement and our outreach efforts within our community. Both of those things play off each other to help us succeed internally and with our members.

Luis Cruz (08:26):

And we had to start by implementing technology that was capable of supporting our growth goals, our objectives. With our legacy technology, we had literally no insight, no data.

Luis Cruz (08:39):

We had limited historical reports from our core system, but that was really a rear-view mirror solution to the coming head on collision.

Luis Cruz (08:47):

And as we modernized our platforms and technology, we made it a point to ensure that data was always part of the equation.

Luis Cruz (08:56):

And so, every time we onboarded a new vendor, a new solution, part of the implementation was, “Okay, where's the data? Yes, we want all of it, and how do we get it? And let's set it up so that's automatic.” We were relentless in our pursuit of data.

Luis Cruz (09:12):

And the goal, of course, was to centralize access to all of our data from all our vendors and from all our sources. And I can't say that we're a hundred percent there yet, we're still on that journey.

Luis Cruz (09:22):

But I would say that one of the key factors in our transformation success was rolling out a modern digital banking platform. And we did that through Alkami. And Alkami has really been an amazing partner for us. Their platform is secure, reliable, it's connectable and flexible.

Luis Cruz (09:43):

And my favorite part of it is that we have access to a wealth of data. And we mine that data and we provide our leadership team with essential metrics and insights about our members.

Luis Cruz (09:54):

We use that data to help protect our members from fraud. And the data that we analyze is instrumental information for decision making and strategy development.

Luis Cruz (10:04):

And in fact, those strategies have led us to a very successful year for our credit union with growth numbers unlike anything we've seen in a long while, at least as long as I've been with the credit union.

Luis Cruz (10:16):

And now, since we have a data program, we're able to automatically track our member digital engagement.

Luis Cruz (10:22):

And what we found was that in our first year of having Alkami’s robust digital banking platform, our member usage of that platform has increased by 20%. That's incredible. We've never seen that level of digital growth.

Luis Cruz (10:38):

And so, we also learned, unsurprisingly, that our digital platform quickly became the preferred channel for our members. And we know that because we track these metrics.

Luis Cruz (10:49):

We actually have about two dozen key performance indicators that we're tracking through the data that we get back from the Alkami platform.

Luis Cruz (10:57):

And, Jim, you know what was most insightful about all of this? We've learned that we have a captive audience. We have access to more data than we've ever had before about our audience.

Luis Cruz (11:07):

And so, now, we can use that data to listen to what our members need but aren't really telling us. We can deliver added value to our members by enhancing our products and services to suit the need and set up these win-win scenarios.

Luis Cruz (11:23):

And one of the thing I want to go back to, which I wanted to talk about was technology and data are just one part of the equation. The success that we enjoyed was really because of a number of factors.

Luis Cruz (11:34):

And one of the other critical aspects of that was our member engagement work. The ability to see a need in our member base and fulfill that need. We have to constantly be on the lookout for these new opportunities.

Luis Cruz (11:46):

And I can tell you that just like many other credit unions, sometimes we are successful with our initiatives and sometimes we're not.

Luis Cruz (11:54):

But it's not just about seeing that opportunity. We have to be agile enough to seize that opportunity. And that's why getting rid of inefficient back office processes is also important.

Jim Marous (12:06):

Boy, it's interesting because we talk about this quite a bit, that you can get these tools, but unless you use them and implement them and have everybody on the same page saying that they're important, it really falls on deaf ears.

Jim Marous (12:20):

I think one of the examples that I was told about your company was that you use data and analytics to actually cross-sell loan opportunities. Can you tell us a little bit about how you did that specific initiative to actually improve engagement, but also, service use in revenues?

Luis Cruz (12:40):

Yeah. Jim, if you can believe it, before we modernize our lending platform, it would take us about one to two weeks to process and approve a simple loan. That's just crazy.

Luis Cruz (12:50):

After we modernized our loan origination system, we were decisioning loans almost instantly. And even the exception cases were handled within the same day.

Luis Cruz (13:00):

And we couldn't have done that without data and automation. This change alone really had an impact on member satisfaction and their trust of our credit in EdFed.

Luis Cruz (13:09):

That's why it's so important to have a data strategy and execute that strategy, because if you haven't done the work to converge all your data silos and to get them to a place where you can coordinate that data and get deep insights, then you aren't going to be able to take advantage of the synergies that come from that. You don't even know what they are.

Luis Cruz (13:28):

And you won't really be set up to listen to your data so that you can know what the needs of the members are.

Luis Cruz (13:33):

If we think that our members are just going to outright tell us what they need the credit union to provide in terms of products and services, then we're living in a fantasy land.

Luis Cruz (13:42):

I mean, a tiny fraction of them might tell us and if we go out and do surveys or other outreach work, but we really need to be able to listen to our data so we can provide members what they need.

Luis Cruz (13:53):

So, when it comes to what EdFed is doing, having that data strategy, gives us the ability to surgically target our audiences for our promotions.

Luis Cruz (14:03):

And so, we have IT and marketing who work closely together, and we deliver meaningful campaigns that are designed to help transfer value to our members.

Luis Cruz (14:13):

And let me give you a specific example of what that looks like, where we can combine the capabilities of our data and automation with our marketing function to drive a high ROI campaign. And hey, at the same time, let's give some of that value back to our members.

Luis Cruz (14:28):

So, in this particular campaign, we linked various data sources which had already been cleansed and normalized and labeled to find a very particular group of members.

Luis Cruz (14:41):

And the goal of this campaign was simple. We wanted to get members to refinance their auto loans with EdFed. So, then we developed a digital campaign using the tools that we already had in our Alkami digital banking platform.

Luis Cruz (14:54):

We used things like interstitials and header cards and other aspects of Alkami's platform.

Luis Cruz (15:00):

And one of the most important things that we did was to have that data flowing back into our data platform where we can track everything from who clicked on the promotion, applied for the loans got funded, the total dollar amount being funded, revenue generated by these loans.

Luis Cruz (15:19):

So, all that data allowed us to observe the results as they came in, and to then alter certain parameters mid-campaign so that we can maximize the results. Sometimes that meant that we were changing how a member saw or interacted with a promotion.

Luis Cruz (15:34):

Another thing that we were able to do, because of the level of detail that we were getting back from our data, we saw that a number of members were responding to that campaign. They were applying for the loans and getting approved, and for whatever reason, they never completed the process. They never funded the loan.

Luis Cruz (15:52):

So, we were able to get our teams to start reaching out to these members, and they were able to get a good number of them converted.

Luis Cruz (15:58):

So, that campaign ended up being wildly successful for us. It generated a significant number of loans.

Luis Cruz (16:05):

Like I said, we were very surgical with the audience selection. We only had about 5,000 members that were in scope. But we generated well over 5 million in loans from that campaign.

Luis Cruz (16:18):

And what I really loved about that campaign was that we were also able to give back to our members. Members were able to get cash back, they got a great loan product. Because if we can lower somebody's monthly payment by 50, 100, $200, that's significant for most people.

Luis Cruz (16:35):

And the credit union, not only did we get more loans, but we also, deepen that relationship with the members. And now, the member knows that we're looking out for them and the next time they're in the market for a loan, we'll be their first stop.

Luis Cruz (16:48):

So, overall, that was what I call an ultra-efficient high ROI campaign that ended up delighting our members. And because of the strong digital ecosystem that we've set up, the entire process was a seamless experience for our members and practically automated on the backend.

Luis Cruz (17:05):

And there's no way that we could have pulled that off without an established data program and the digital transformation that we undertook just two to three years prior.

[Music Playing]

Jim Marous (17:20):

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

Jim Marous (17:30):

Welcome back to the FIsionaries Podcast, sponsored by Alkami Technology.

Jim Marous (17:33):

Okay, so, Luis, it's interesting because you talk about data, you talk about your partnership with Alkami, you also talked about your core provider and other partners you have.

Jim Marous (17:44):

A lot of organizations will end up getting a roadblock when they think about the fact that, "Geez, we're going to use a third party beyond our core provider when our core provider is supposed to or says they will provide all this data upfront." The reality is we know they don't.

Jim Marous (18:04):

But what you have to do as a CIO is you have to sell the facts to your senior management that we're going to take on a new partner that's going to provide us greater scope that does overlap what the core provider does, but it's going to give us the revenue opportunity and the future look of what's going to be needed in the future.

Jim Marous (18:24):

How did you do that with your senior management? And more importantly, how did you pick the partner that'll allow you to, let's say, double down on investment?

Luis Cruz (18:36):

One of the first things that our CEO did many years ago when he was a new CEO (and he's been with us over a decade now) was he had to overcome this cultural kind of barrier that had been instilled in our credit union.

Luis Cruz (18:52):

Because we have a credit union that has benefited from very long tenured employees, we have very low turnover rate. And with that came this kind of culture of it's always been done that way.

Luis Cruz (19:03):

So, one of the things that our CEO had to do to get over that was to reorganize the credit union and bring in a new level of leadership.

Luis Cruz (19:10):

Now, obviously, we felt like these employees who had been here a really long time had tremendous insight into our organization and their experience and knowledge was invaluable.

Luis Cruz (19:20):

But the new executives who we carefully selected to lead and reorganized business lines, those new leaders were able to help others to embrace the change that was needed so that we can innovate and grow as an institution.

Luis Cruz (19:33):

And so, with the help of these new leaders, we established a kind of an executive committee to lead us through this digital transformation.

Luis Cruz (19:40):

And so, when we look at new partners, this is actually the time when the data initiative that I kicked off so many years back, had started to gain ground. Because these new executives kind of understood and knew that data was so important and that we had to have that as part of our strategy.

Luis Cruz (19:59):

So, when we were looking at these extremely important partner relationships, we launched it as part of a formal RFP procedure. And the entire executive team was involved in that process. Not one business line was not represented there.

Luis Cruz (20:14):

And so, our digital banking platform, our land loan origination system, our card processors, everything down to even our rewards program platform. Everything was looked at end to end. And we wanted to make sure that we were bringing in modern platforms that were going to be able to interface with each other.

Luis Cruz (20:33):

And that we were going to be able to take that data and bring it into our backend data platform so that we can analyze it, so we can turn through it, and be able to derive some real insights and valuable information, which can in turn be used to help decision making in the organization.

Jim Marous (20:53):

Okay. So, we all make it sound so easy. I do, you've done that. There's challenges, there's roadblocks, there's things that don't go as smoothly as you'd like.

Jim Marous (21:01):

So, over the last three to four years, as you've implemented this brand new culture of innovation, transformation, of embracing the change that's happening and the challenges before you, what are a couple of the challenges you had in the process that maybe you weren't expecting that when we're talking to other financial institutions just may be able to lookout for?

Luis Cruz (21:23):

As we started looking into ourselves ... so, think of this as more introspective process. After we broaden in that new executive team who really wanted to change things for the better, to help us to digitally mature and transform, we started to look at our own organization and realized that we had a lot of deficiencies and a lot of challenges in our organization.

Luis Cruz (21:46):

We had platforms that were old and slow, they didn't scale because we felt that we had to customize everything. Why? I don't know, just for the sake of customizing it because we could.

Luis Cruz (21:58):

We insisted on hosting everything ourselves, even though we weren't the subject matter experts on all things.

Luis Cruz (22:04):

And so, there were a lot of manual processes in the back office that really limited our choices. And like I said, back then there was no data program to speak of, so we really didn't even know the extent of how wrong things were.

Luis Cruz (22:18):

And one of the things that actually came out of that process, Jim, was this it led to a five-year strategic plan. Which was needed because we had never really had a formal plan like that back then.

Luis Cruz (22:32):

But when you kind of think of it, it's kind of a joke because you make a five-year plan and by the time you get to the fifth year, much of it is already obsolete.

Jim Marous (22:40):

Now, you can get to the third month and it may be obsolete. Yeah, exactly.

Luis Cruz (22:44):

That's true. But at least what we are able to do was to pivot a little bit and say, "Okay, we're going to call this a rolling five-year plan. We're going to update it annually. And so, that allows us to pivot and shift as financial services and our member needs change and all that."

Jim Marous (23:00):

It's so interesting when you look at what you've done is that you've really changed the whole organization, even that however, can have its challenges.

Jim Marous (23:09):

When we've talked to other organizations, one of the challenges that they raised is the fact that you kind of have to tell your employees what's going on and keep them on the forefront of it to make them realize that despite the fact that we're changing from what we were to what we're going to become, you can be part of that change.

Jim Marous (23:26):

How have you embraced that? How have you made it so your employees aren't fearful of the change that you want to do and realize that as they do some of the things that you ask them to do, they'll be part of this digital future?

Jim Marous (23:40):

As opposed to as many people are thinking about, "I'm going to lose my job to AI, or I'm going to lose my job to digital, I'm going to lose my job to something else."

Jim Marous (23:47):

When the reality is that's usually not the case if people truly enthusiastically embrace a combination of the past and the future. So, how do you do that at EdFed?

Luis Cruz (23:59):

Communication is obviously very important in an organization. And keeping our employees apprised of what's going on and the changes that are coming down the pike, that is critical to gain their buy-in.

Luis Cruz (24:10):

I think that being able to communicate the benefits that are coming from this, the fact that most employees because they're working on their day-to-day, and they're doing that really well, they're not necessarily aware of all these higher level strategic objectives that we're trying to accomplish as an organization.

Luis Cruz (24:28):

They also, don't necessarily know what's going on in the industry or in the market. They don't necessarily know what's going on with our competitors and what they're doing.

Luis Cruz (24:37):

And so, it's critically important that we are able to understand and get that data and take our heads out of the sand and say, "Oh, this is going on in the world and we really need to pay attention and we really need to change so that we can compete and stay relevant in the world."

Luis Cruz (24:56):

Getting that message down to the employees is so important. And we did that in a structured and an unstructured way. So, a lot of executive team communicating the strategy. And that rolling down through management to every employee.

Luis Cruz (25:11):

But also, we came up with several more structured communication strategies. At first, we called them just in time communications where we wanted to roll out a platform and we didn't want to be slowed down by having to send everybody to training all over again.

Luis Cruz (25:26):

Because it takes time to schedule everybody and get everybody in the training room and it would take months.

Luis Cruz (25:31):

So, if we wanted to be more agile in how we rolled out these products, we would deliver these just in time communications or just in time trainings, and it would just basically be an email that we would shoot out to the employees, giving them exactly what they needed to know for rolling out a new products or service.

Luis Cruz (25:48):

And then the backend, the philosophy of that was delivered by the managers in a more conversational or in a meeting or something like that, where they were more face-to-face with employees.

Luis Cruz (25:57):

As we later became more and more organized then we developed the whole corporate communications program and department to facilitate that level of communication with the employees.

Jim Marous (26:10):

So, it's interesting, you're in south Florida. I'm in south Florida right now. There is no lack of competition. You're playing against a lot of big guys.

Jim Marous (26:20):

Heck, there's as many Midwestern financial institutions down here as I see up in Ohio. I mean, I can do bank with any of the companies I do bank with up north, with banks down here. So, you have competition that's both local and regional, and even national.

Jim Marous (26:35):

How do you look to be differentiated and how do you look to keep your competitive edge when everybody around you is so big?

Luis Cruz (26:46):

Jim, that's such a great question because at the end of the day, we're just a financial institution and we fulfill a need, but that need can be fulfilled by hundreds of other financial institutions that our members can choose from.

Luis Cruz (26:59):

And that's why it's critically important that we do something to differentiate ourselves from other financial institutions. We need to stand out. We need to stand for something that our members can believe in.

Luis Cruz (27:11):

And that's exactly what we've done at EdFed. We've created a movement, and that movement is something that our members want to get behind and support.

Luis Cruz (27:21):

Because you know what, it's a wonderful thing if we can provide these crucial financial services to our members and do that well, but it's something completely different if we can also, bring happiness and fulfillment to their lives.

Luis Cruz (27:34):

And, hey, you know what, you're right, south Florida, it's indeed a competitive and extremely diverse region, but those same attributes make it a vibrant and rewarding market to work with.

Luis Cruz (27:46):

And realistically, the use of data and analytics is an essential strategy in any market and everyone should have implemented some form of a data program by now. If not, you might have some catching up to do.

Luis Cruz (27:57):

But the key focus for EdFed is to build relationships with the education community, and especially teach students financial literacy. We make an enormous effort to give back, to help others learn. And that goes back to our roots of being an educational credit union.

Luis Cruz (28:15):

EdFed has a strong relationship throughout the community, and there are numerous initiatives that we put into place to empower students and our members with financial knowledge that's critical for success.

Luis Cruz (28:26):

But it's not just about running a community program. You got to have your heart in it. You got to be authentic, and you have to care. And we're constantly implementing new initiatives to help our members.

Luis Cruz (28:38):

And those initiatives might be run by our credit union, but we have hundreds of volunteers in the community who join forces with us so that we can make a difference in the lives of young people and their family. We pour our heart and soul into that, and that sets us apart from everyone else.

Jim Marous (28:55):

It's interesting, you go back to your roots. So, you talked about this in one of the first questions I asked was, you want to make sure that you kept what you knew was good about your organization while moving forward in the way you delivered those things.

Jim Marous (29:10):

And I've read about some of your educational programs, and one of them is an educational program you do at the high school level that is actually around, I think if not mistaken, a mobile banking unit that actually is designed to teach youth about banking and financial literacy, but also reach out for those students who want a future in finance.

Jim Marous (29:32):

Can you explain a little bit about this program?

Luis Cruz (29:35):

Of course, yeah. So, I will touch on the mobile branch now, because that is definitely part of our strategy. But EdFed is dedicated to supporting the financial success of educators, students, and families throughout the educational community.

Luis Cruz (29:50):

And we have this program that we implemented called the CUPED Program, and CUPED stands for Credit Union Professional & Educational Development.

Luis Cruz (29:59):

And it's a program that we offer to 12 partner high schools, and it provides a full curriculum that we designed and we deliver to the students.

Luis Cruz (30:09):

And it really helps students to acquire professional job skills. And it even gets them certified in personal finance. And so, that initiative really is one of the critical aspects of our engagement with the students.

Luis Cruz (30:25):

We partner with the Academy of Finance at the schools, and every year about a hundred students complete this program and they learn how to basically market and operate a credit union.

Luis Cruz (30:36):

And some of the other things that they're learning in this program are fundamentals of personal finance. We teach them about compliance. We teach them how to protect themselves from cyber threats.

Luis Cruz (30:46):

And as I mentioned, they get certified at the end. So, that really helps them to stand out as a prepare to enter college and the workforce.

Luis Cruz (30:54):

And you mentioned our mobile branch. That was actually a recent enhancement that we launched this year. And it allows students to take their training to the next level because it lets them do transactional services like deposits and withdrawals and other services.

Luis Cruz (31:11):

And that part of the experience that they get really takes them, like I said, to the next level.

Luis Cruz (31:17):

I remember the first time that we took the mobile branch out to the school, it was extremely well received. We had the superintendent of the school show up, there were several news stations that showed up, and one of them even featured us on the evening news.

Luis Cruz (31:29):

So, now, we take that mobile branch to schools that participate in that program and students really love it.

Luis Cruz (31:37):

And, Jim, I can't really have this conversation with you about financial literacy programs that we have and not talk about the financial reality fair that we run. This is a really engaging all day workshop that we deliver. And it's actually quite fun.

Luis Cruz (31:51):

The students, they participate in this simulated adult life. We give them a pretend job, we give them salaries, everybody gets a different job and different salaries. But then the simulation begins and it's very interactive and they learn to go through this experience.

Luis Cruz (32:08):

They have to go through all the day-to-day expenses that their parents might have to deal with. They learn how to manage their finances, and then they have life events that come up like, "Oh, you got to purchase a home, you got to purchase a car. Oh, your car breaks down. Or someone had to go to the hospital and you have all these medical bills."

Luis Cruz (32:24):

So, they learned to deal with those things through proper budgeting and planning. And it's just so amazing to be able to teach these things to students because for many of them, no one else is doing it.

Luis Cruz (32:34):

And one of the primary reasons that we run these financial literacy programs and the CUPED Program in addition to teaching the students all these life critical skills but we want to inspire these students to become ambassadors for the credit union movement's mission of people helping people.

Luis Cruz (32:53):

That's why I think we've been so successful at building this affinity and growing our membership with the students. I really think that philosophy of people helping people seems to resonate with our young people today more than ever before.

Jim Marous (33:09):

Well, you know what, it's interesting because we rely as a culture on the educational system to educate our kids. There are so many things that the traditional educational systems can't do.

Jim Marous (33:24):

It is just overwhelming just to do the basics. And learning about financial literacy, learning about the arts, learning about these different things, need partnerships.

Jim Marous (33:33):

And what better partner for educational in the finance area than EdFed? I mean, it's in your name, it's part of your overall branding.

Jim Marous (33:41):

And it's interesting because you fill a need in the school system as well as with the students and their parents. But at the same time, the school system provides a distribution outlet for you to get out there and show what your brand, but just as importantly what the credit union movement means.

Jim Marous (33:57):

So, it's interesting how you've aligned the transformation process, the being future ready, the new use of data and analytics to drive your mission forward as a company, your branding and the way you built new acquisition and engagement programs in the community.

Jim Marous (34:15):

And still and we rely on this, sometimes we forget about it, while you're leaping into the future, part of your foot is still in the past into your legacy, which is so important because it's that bridge that people can buy into and doing it with enthusiasm.

Jim Marous (34:32):

So, last question, Luis, if you were to look in the future and what's on your to-do list, what do you hope to achieve in the next one to two years? And I can't go beyond that because the reality is, yeah, you can have your five-year plan, but so much can happen in one to two years.

Jim Marous (34:47):

What do you see as being on the horizon that you really want to be able to have happen at EdFed?

Luis Cruz (34:53):

I mean, you can't ask me that question and not expect me to say AI, right?

Jim Marous (34:58):

Yep.

Luis Cruz (34:58):

Our goal is to always be aware of what's going on with emerging technologies. We want to try them out. We want to see if it's going to work for us and our members.

Luis Cruz (35:07):

Today, that means that we're looking at AI technology and how to utilize that in financial services.

Luis Cruz (35:13):

And I sincerely believe that AI is a revolutionary technology, the likes of which the world has not seen since we were able to harness the power of electricity. It's that profound.

Luis Cruz (35:23):

And we haven't even seen what's possible yet. Just wait until multiple emerging technologies start to converge with AI, it's truly going to change the world, and we're either going to let it happen to us or we're going to be a part of that.

Luis Cruz (35:35):

So, there are multiple use cases for financial institutions. And we've been using the machine learning version of AI at EdFed quite successfully for a while in cybersecurity, and fighting fraud, and lending use cases and all that.

Luis Cruz (35:50):

But when it comes to generative AI and the uses around that certainly we can use it for the same use cases that we've been doing with machine learning, but there are whole new possibilities around operational efficiency, and productivity, and marketing.

Luis Cruz (36:06):

And then there's using generative AI for powering hyper personalized services. And I'm looking at this from the point of view of a technologist. And I actually studied machine learning and understand some of the basic math and programming behind this.

Luis Cruz (36:25):

But when it comes to actually implementing this in the real world at our institutions, I think that more of us than care to admit are in a scramble. We're just trying to understand what it all means and where this is going to end up.

Luis Cruz (36:41):

And then you have vendors, bless their heart, some of them have very innovative solutions. And I don't know where we'd be today without our amazing partners, because they do some of the things that we can't do.

Luis Cruz (36:53):

But it really seems like almost every company out there is in a rush to slap an AI label on all their products and solutions. And so, the marketing of AI aspect of it, it's just not making it any easier for us to demystify AI.

Luis Cruz (37:09):

And if there's a community bank or credit union out there who really is taking generative AI to the next level of their institutions, hey, I'd like to talk to you because I'd love to hear that success and understand it because you've cracked that code early and you really have some talented people that are working for you.

Jim Marous (37:27):

Luis, it has been a pleasure. Your enthusiasm just jumps off the screen, jumps off the audio version. There's no lack of passion for what you do, and no lack of passion for what your organization is doing.

Jim Marous (37:41):

And it's a joy to visit with firms like yours that are really taking on the big challenges and saying, "You know what, we can do this."

Jim Marous (37:50):

And sometimes, as you found out, and as many organizations found out, it sometimes takes a change in management, or at least a change of thinking that allows the culture of the overall organization move forward.

Jim Marous (38:02):

Again, Luis, thank you so much. I hope I'm going to be able to see you at Colab in a little while and be able to meet you in person, but it's been great to speak with you today.

Luis Cruz (38:12):

Thank you, Jim. It's been a pleasure and I've really enjoyed our conversation.

Jim Marous (38:15):

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

Jim Marous (38:23):

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

Jim Marous (38:34):

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

Jim Marous (38:43):

I'm your host, Jim Marous. Until next time, remember, moving forward in the digital transformation process does not mean you have to let go of your past legacy. In fact, your existing culture is what can propel you forward with new ideas and new deliverables.