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The future of business in 2021 will include major cost transformations. Changing consumer behavior and impacted finances means structural cost reduction will become a priority for credit unions. Digitizing traditionally manual processes as well as adopting digital tools, intelligent automation and advanced analytics may create operating efficiencies and reduce cost. The goal is to ultimately move past the current crisis response mode and make the transition to recovery mode as quickly as possible.

Changing customer behavior in the past year has seen the fastest acceleration yet toward a truly cashless society. Consumers are now more open than ever to embracing cashless options and merchants are welcoming this shift to reduce the risk of virus transmission to employees. The early days of the pandemic saw banks in China sterilizing bank notes and even the United Nations promoted cashless payments to preserve public health. While there is no medical evidence that cash is a transmitter of the deadly virus, these early measures sent us down a path of online shopping, telehealth appointments and work from home confinement.

As more consumers increase digital banking adoption and other forms of ecommerce, financial institutions need to adapt their strategic model to meet this changing demand. This will require special attention to in-house technology infrastructure design, implementing a robust digital banking support team as well as adding digital banking functionality that creates a digital experience to meet their evolving needs. The pandemic has provided valuable insight about how consumers will settle into a new pattern of spending, saving and investing online. Predictive analytics will provide your credit union with insights to monitor these changing patterns and identify/promote products and features in your digital channel to support those users’ insights.

2020 was a year like no other. At a macro level, there were the societal, global, and economic challenges created by the COVID-19 virus. While those are important issues, the personal issues for many Americans were employment and personal income. The ramifications of that aspect of the COVID virus created a ripple effect through the American economy, from businesses that could not survive, to restaurants that were forced to close, small companies struggling due to no internet presence and the decimation of the travel and entertainment industries.

If you have read any marketing articles or listened to any webinars based on generational segments, the Millennial generation is always mentioned as the segment that businesses should target. Why? Because the prediction is that the Millennial generation will see a huge transfer of wealth over the next five years. A 2019 article in Forbes magazine stated: "A study shows that Millennials will hold five times as much wealth as they have today, and the group is anticipated to inherit over $68 trillion from their Baby Boomer parents by the year 2030." With astounding statistics like that, financial firms have every reason to target the Millennials.

Regardless of what news source you follow, the cliché created from the COVID-19 outbreak is “the new normal.” Was a society that was freely offering virtually unrestricted cultural opportunities (travel, dining, shopping, investing, etc.) the “old normal”?

These past couple months seem like a different reality (as in Twilight Zone different) which requires significant adaptation for all of us. The Coronavirus has put many business models to the test and greatly accelerated future industry predictions. One such prediction is the demise of the traditional branch model. In this issue, we’ll take a deep dive and examine the value of the digital channel when compared to the traditional branch model.

GonzoBanker recently released its list of Top 20 Banking Realities for 2020. While many of the items on this Top 20 list were carryovers from 2019, such as consolidation of financial institutions, slowing revenue growth, and the shortage of talent to replace outgoing management at financial institutions, several items on the list relate directly to the value of the digital channel. Below is an in-depth analysis of Reality #8.

As our thoughts turn to the end of the year holidays, we can’t but help to think of the beginning of 2020. Undoubtedly, your Credit Union has been churning away at budgets and financial forecasts for next year. The 800-pound gorilla in the room is the predicted recession. Economists cannot seem to agree on whether a recession will occur in 2020, but your Credit Union’s financial forecasts have probably factored in some degree of economic downturn.

There was a time when online banking was all the rage. The first iteration of the online banking space was in 1997. Back then, the internet was just getting started, and online banking was financial institutions' entrance into the digital channel. Fast forward 22 years and the digital landscape has forever changed with the creation of the mobile app. Today consumers have their mobile device with them everywhere they go.

According to a recent article in Credit Union Journal, Amazon has said that more than 100 million Alexa devices were sold within the first three years of availability. Also, a 2019 Smart Audio report found that 69% of consumers use their voice devices daily.

It’s not just the Fintech startups that are attempting to enter the financial services space. Telecom companies continue to strive to enter the financial services business as well. T-Mobile, in a partnership with Bankmobile, is offering its mobile customers a mobile app-based checking account. The T-Mobile account comes with a Mastercard debit card, money management (PFM), remote deposit capture, P2P, and the ability to use mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.