AWS Public Sector Blog

Transforming your credit union’s processes by leveraging the cloud

Every credit union strives to deliver value to its members. Increasingly, credit union members have high expectations of banking services, such as the flexibility to make digital transactions from anywhere, anytime.

To meet the needs of today’s credit union members, credit unions are investing in technologies that improve the member experience. Credit union leaders are thinking about how processes and practices can be made more efficient and effective. A major component of this technological shift involves migrating workloads to the cloud.

But the transformative process of innovating in the cloud is not a small task. In this post, learn why credit unions can benefit from a cloud transformation journey, as well as resources that you can use to improve and accelerate the process of moving your vital workloads to the cloud.

How credit unions benefit from the cloud flywheel

We often use the flywheel metaphor when discussing how Amazon Web Services (AWS) services can create transformative experiences for our customers. In a machine, a flywheel is a heavy wheel that often smooths out the power output from fluctuating amounts of energy going into the machine. Because a flywheel is so heavy, it requires a lot of energy to start rotating from a standstill. However, once the flywheel starts rotating, its momentum can efficiently store and distribute energy.

The metaphorical flywheel operates similarly. It requires effort to start the flywheel spinning. However, once the flywheel starts spinning, its momentum benefits the entire system. The following diagram shows how a cloud-centered technology foundation can create a flywheel for credit unions.

Figure 1. To accelerate growth for your credit union, start with a digital transformation strategy, which builds a common cloud foundation, which leads into shared management of AWS approved partners, which supports accelerated capabilities to generate more value for members—all enhancing growth. This growth can then lead to cost optimization, which fuels continued innovation on behalf of members, which helps reinforce the digital transformation strategy – and so on.

Figure 1. The credit union flywheel for growth with cloud technology.

In this case, the flywheel is the growth of your credit union. Like spinning a heavy flywheel, growth is difficult to achieve and maintain. But once the flywheel starts moving, it can provide energy to the entire system.

When your credit union defines and implements its plans to migrate workloads to the cloud through a digital transformation strategy, it can result in additional features and capabilities for your members.

Deploying new capabilities to your members can lead to increased membership and improved member retention. This growth brings several benefits. For example, freeing your credit union staff from managing legacy systems and data centers provides more time to innovate and deliver value-added solutions to members. Moreover, with most AWS services, as you use more features or resources, your cost-per-unit of usage decreases. By optimizing your costs, you shift funds away from cloud expenses and toward building innovative solutions for your members. Then, as you continue to innovate, the growth flywheel spins faster, creating a virtuous cycle for your members and your organization.

Accelerating the cloud migration process with AWS Partners

Moving your workloads to the cloud requires investments in time, people, and processes that can seem daunting. This is where the AWS Partner Network can help. The AWS Partner Network has more than 100,000 Partners that can help support your digital transformation journey in the AWS Cloud. AWS works with several Credit Union Services Organizations (CUSOs) that have specific expertise developing solutions for credit unions.

Working with a member of the AWS Partner Network can help start the flywheel spinning for credit unions that may not currently have the time or staff to implement a cloud transformation strategy. AWS Partners specialize in getting your new initiatives off the ground, which results in your credit union releasing new capabilities in your applications.

Pre-built solutions from AWS and AWS Partners

As the flywheel accelerates further, credit unions may start building accelerated capabilities to increase member value and support continued innovation for their members. The AWS Nonprofits team recently launched pages in the AWS Solutions Library and the AWS Marketplace that contain solutions designed to meet the specific needs of credit unions. The AWS Solutions Library offers ready-to-deploy solutions, architectural guidance, and partner solutions that help organizations rapidly solve business challenges. The AWS Marketplace helps organizations find, test, buy, and deploy specialized software that runs on AWS.

These resources can be valuable to credit unions that want to build their own workflows in the cloud instead of contracting with an AWS Partner to help build them. For example, the AWS Solutions Library contains guidance for building a credit decisioning architecture on AWS. This guidance is helpful for organizations that have technical teams who can build the architecture, and who want to do so in a way that has been vetted by AWS experts, and that aligns with best practices. On the other hand, the AWS Marketplace contains pre-built solutions from Experian and Quantiphi that you can integrate into your credit decisioning processes. The right solution to use depends on your organization’s needs, structure, and time commitments—organizations can also benefit from blending elements from both of these resources.

Moving forward

Developing a digital transformation strategy in the cloud can help credit unions deliver more value to their members. The flywheel model for credit unions shows how using the cloud can help accelerate growth and more.

One AWS customer, the People’s Credit Union, enhanced their member and employee experience by building new applications in the AWS Cloud. Hear their story and learn more from AWS credit union specialists in this video:

Developing a strategy for moving credit union workloads to the cloud can improve your member satisfaction and retention. Whether your credit union is just beginning its cloud transformation journey, or is looking to expand its cloud operations, AWS is here to support you. Discover how credit unions can use the AWS Cloud to digitally transform in the eBook Delivering great digital experiences for members.

Find out more about how credit unions around the world use AWS to modernize their infrastructure, innovate for their members, and drive growth at the AWS for Credit Unions main page.

Read more about AWS for nonprofits:

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Adam Foldenauer

Adam Foldenauer

Adam manages credit union customer relationships at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and is involved in growing alliances across the industry with AWS technology partners. With 20 years of experience across the financial services value chain, Adam is a trusted advisor to customers seeking business value from cloud technologies.

Brent Meyer

Brent Meyer

Brent Meyer is a senior technical writer on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Nonprofits team. He is interested in customer engagement, workflow automation, and solving problems with code. Outside of work, he enjoys working in the garden, baking, and playing games with his family.