If you’re not growing, you’re dying.
As a young businessman, this concept was hammered into me by
my mentor. It’s a credo that I live and breathe in my role as CEO at EPL, Inc.,
and something that drives me daily. I wonder, what can EPL accomplish that
others haven’t even thought of? Where does need exist and how can we step up to
deliver solutions? How can EPL better serve the credit union industry as a
whole, and in turn, grow the company in the process?
Asking myself and our team these questions on a daily basis
helps keep EPL’s trajectory pointed upward, and as a result, we’ve recently
identified a market segment in dire need of a solution – a solution EPL is
perfectly poised to provide.
If you’ve paid attention to the news lately, you may have
noticed we had a pretty exciting announcement hit the press earlier this month
(see HERE,
HERE
or HERE
for reference). In a nutshell, we’ve finalized a new partnership with the National Federation of Community Development
Credit Unions to create CU Impact, a shared core banking platform. Now, when
we say it’s exciting, we aren’t exaggerating – our cumulative efforts can have
an enormous impact on CDCUs and the communities in which they operate.
As a credit union service organization, EPL does just that—we
provide high-level service to our credit union customers. Similarly, credit
unions who operate in low-income and undeserved communities provide that same
level of service to their members. However, many CDCUs struggle because of a
frustrating commonality: a lack of technological resources available to a member
base with limited financial resources to contribute. Needless to say, this
creates a negative feedback loop which requires something truly innovative in
order to break. CU Impact is that something.
Since its inception, the Federation has worked to identify
systemic weaknesses among CDCUs and in turn design action plans to rectify
these issues when possible. EPL is an ideal partner for the Federation to help
address the technological component because of the sheer versatility of its
core solution, i-POWER®. As a core provider, we know we can provide an
alternative to CDCU’s to assist those whose current systems make it extremely
difficult to integrate new products, ranging from money management tools to
remote access capabilities. We can improve their data and performance reporting
abilities where their current providers are lacking and far too expensive.
Additionally, we can help them reduce processing costs to bundle key
applications and enable them to leverage the power of resource-sharing.
We are committed to ensuring CDCU’s have the ability to
access technology solutions that enable them to deliver the first-rate customer
service our industry is best known for. Improving the overall credit union
experience for CDCU members is a high priority for both the Federation and EPL.
Therefore, we know that our joint solution must deliver a cultural shift
alongside a technological one.
CU Impact will be designed to do both.
What’s most exciting about this partnership and endeavor is
that CU Impact will allow CDCUs to scale up to meet consumer demand. As
membership in this specific market segment continues to increase, the access,
service and technology requirements will subsequently increase as well. This evolving
shared core platform will square the supply with the demand, allowing for true
growth. And why does that matter?
Because if you’re not growing, you’re dying.
EPL, Inc.
