fiVI Blog
New ACCOUNTworks Feature – The Dashboard
0Recently we added a new feature we think is pretty cool in the ACCOUNTworks 2G platform. We call it ‘The Dashboard’.
The purposes is to give users more information about what is happening in their organization with account applications – how many are coming in? being approved? how much funding is involved? When we sat down to figure out the best way to help people get that information we reached two important design decisions. First, depending on what you do in the organization you might be interested in different things. Second, pictures are better than numbers.
So, today we are telling you about the dashboard. Here’s an example widget (chart) that is already available to you.
There are several initial widgets to choose from (we say ‘initial’ because we know you’ll want more soon!). To learn more about how to set up your Dashboard – go to the help site for ACCOUNTworks and read more about it! (easiest way is to type ‘Dashboard’ in the search box there …) Have fun!
Pause … and Refresh your Head
1A couple of weeks ago I grabbed a stack of unread trade rags and headed over to the local Starbucks to sit down and catch up on some reading with a cup of coffee. By the size of the stack I apparently had not done this in a while.
While browsing through the articles and reading the interesting items, I found myself wondering how many of these ‘headshot’ photos of the people associated with the articles are up to date? I also made a mental note to refresh mine because it is definitely a few years old now!
It could have been the quiet time away from the computer/tablet/smartphone … or it could have been whatever addictive ingredient is placed in the coffee … but my mind started to open up and some new thoughts and ideas and questions began to form. It was in that moment that I realized that I needed to do this more often.
In today’s world so much of what we see and read happens in little tiny snippets. Blogs, email newsletters (you probably just read the headlines, don’t you?), twitter, you-name-it … and we jump from topic to topic as a new email or phone call or meeting happens. The one thing that is missing, at least for me, is some dedicated time to just sit and think. (more…)
Getting Out of No Man’s Land
0The trends and demographics surrounding Online Account Opening as a delivery channel pose a real dilemma for Small CUs
di·lem·ma [dih-lem-uh] –noun
1. a situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives.
2. any difficult or perplexing situation or problem.
Several weeks ago a couple of statistics crossed my radar screen. At the time I didn’t really put them together in my own mind … but as we were working with a $60 million credit union at the time to see if our ACCOUNTworks solution could work for them I began to realize that smallish CUs are facing a real dilemma over the next few short years. (more…)
Buyers Buy
0Can service-oriented staff really sell?
In the few years that I’ve been involved in fiVISION we have been interested in helping our credit union clients get better at cross selling. We even have some products that address this goal specifically … but, I have to say that there are some really different philosophical approaches to selling out there. Most of these discussions rotate around having staff – who are traditionally service oriented – become super sellers. Does it work?
The prevailing wisdom in the industry is that we need to provide sales training … to foster a sales culture … to position staff to be able to engage customers in a conversation that results in a sale of a new account or an expanded service. In other words, teaching staff to sell … because as we all know, sellers sell, right?
Hogwash. (more…)
Is Real-time Really Real-time?
0Quite often in the technology end of the financial services world we refer to so-called ‘real-time’ data communications and systems. Usually we are talking about some system-to-system interface whereby an action on one system automatically updates or causes action on another system in a relatively short time span (usually measured in seconds or less).
Last Saturday I got the chance to wander the pits during qualifications for this year’s Indy 500 and I couldn’t help but notice that what they call real-time is a lot more real than our real-time. You see, at Indy there are systems that track each car around the 2.5 mile race course at all times – including when sitting in the pits or on entrance and exit lanes to the track. (more…)
Do you really want your icing without the cake?
0If you’ve been reading some of my writing, you already know that I’m big into old ‘adages’ and ‘clichés’. This one is pretty obvious – the adage being ‘the icing on the cake’. A quick investigation into the meaning and background of this phrase confirms what we all think it to mean, something along the lines of: ‘An additional benefit to something that is already good’.
As a side note, I’m not quite sure why I rely on these old phrases except that I do find them generally to be pretty darn accurate. Usually offered up by older wiser, more experienced folks in various life situations, they tend to be based on a collective body of experience that is truthful, honest and sometimes all too direct.
For example, while writing this article another vision about a similar adage (it involves cake too) comes to mind. I can still see my grandmother saying while sternly looking over her glasses and down her nose at me: “Michael, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” I really have no idea what that means … guess I’ll need to investigate it a bit further.
But let’s get back to the icing on the cake … or rather … the question of having your icing without the cake. (more…)
Of Cadillacs and Chevrolets …
0Over the years I’ve heard something like this said many times: “Well, they want a Cadillac but they really only need a Chevrolet!” This colloquialism obviously goes back to the days when GM was really a dominating auto manufacturer … but I don’t think it really has as much to do with cars as it does with human nature.
The Difference between ‘Musts’ and ‘Wants’
Most everyone I know likes nice things. We like to see them, have them, use them. Anybody who doesn’t like nice things we sometimes label as ‘out there’ or ‘different’.
Even so, there are a lot of nice things that … well … just are not really necessary. Or even useful. C’mon, think about it. You bought that fancy stereo system last year. Before doing so you really dug into the research to make sure that the one you bought was the absolute best there is, right? (more…)
Merry Christmas Everyone! Count your blessings this past year …
0Wow. What a year. I suppose we should have known that 2009 was going to be very ‘unique’ (
) as we headed into it because of the downfall of the stock market and near financial collapse of the fourth quarter of 2008. That said, I don’t think we really thought that it would affect the credit union industry all that much. After all, the collapse was about ‘big banks’ and ‘Wall Street’ right? – those faceless, nameless giant blocks underpinning the country’s financial system. (more…)
To print, or not to print: That is the question!
0When I began my professional career - now many moons ago - we were just on the verge of applying technology across a broad base of business functions. Word processing systems had just come of age - and there was this new piece of software called Lotus 1-2-3 that gave you all sorts of tools to manipulate and analyze numbers and statistics. It even allowed you to easily generate charts. The future would be PAPERLESS! Holy cow!! We had arrived!!!
Nowadays you can’t find a typewriter and most employees don’t even recognize White Out as anything other than some kind of blizzard condition while you are driving. People absolutely HATE filling out forms. Today, we truly have so much computing horsepower at our fingertips that we can’t possibly use but a percentage of what is actually there. (more…)