The start of a new year affords me two unique
opportunities—a chance to reflect in earnest on the successes and failures over
the course of the past year, and to affirm strategic goals and areas of focus moving
forward.
As easy as it is to get caught up in day-to-day
issues, it’s imperative that we, as a team, take a step back and look at the
big picture—to piece together the puzzle and appreciate where we stand today in
comparison to one year ago. With great confidence, I can say that, to me, 2015 represented
365 days of unprecedented forward movement, growth and visibility for EPL, its
customers and its industry partners.
2015 was the year that Dedagroup ICT network entered
the U.S. market and identified our company as its first partner by making a
multimillion dollar investment in our team. The effects of this have been
overwhelmingly positive, providing our team with technological and capital
resources that have propelled us from being a relatively small core solutions
provider to an industry disruptor that is part of a global brand generating
over $3 billion in gross revenue. EPL’s people have always been the driving
force behind the successes we’ve enjoyed, and now our team is equipped better than
ever to dominate the competition and capture significant new market share.
EPL’s reputation for exceptional service is rooted
in our brand’s identity—customers know it, and so do our competitors. That fact
that 2015 marked the return of a former long-time customer, North Alabama
Educators Credit Union (NAECU), speaks volumes about the incredible value we
create by delivering industry-leading service and solutions. Customers like
NAECU who have experienced the EPL difference find that big-box providers
simply aren’t equipped to provide the responsiveness and attention that we give
our customers every single day.
The warmth of the summer brought a contagious
momentum that perforated the room at our 2015 Customer Conference in Orlando,
Fla., where we introduced our Dedagroup partners and unveiled EPL’s new
direction. We gathered feedback, socialized and together looked toward the
future. As we reconvened in the fall at our Product Advisory Team meeting to
finalize our new product roadmap, it became clear to me that this palpable
momentum had not waivered, but instead gathered steam.
And gather steam we did! Soon after the Product
Advisory Team meeting, a strategic partnership with the National Federation of
Community Development Credit Unions was announced to develop CU Impact, a core banking platform designed to scale the
delivery of innovative products and services offered by credit unions operating
in low-income and underserved communities. Throughout 2015, our skilled team was
able to develop new proprietary
solutions and deliver 12 releases, including four major product releases for
i-POWER®, with areas of focus in accounts payable and lending, as well
compliance, security and technology enhancements.
Also, in the fall, our team was thrilled to
announce that EPL’s board approved a measure to eliminate the TRiP charge from
our customers’ invoices, saving the collective group approximately $1 million
per year. TRiP highlighted six specific areas of technology
development—security, client platform support, application architecture,
database and database architecture, integration services, and hardware and
operations—and many key milestones have already been reached. EPL’s continued focus
on technology development will ensure the long-term sustainability and
viability of i-POWER®.
Internally, we recalibrated our leadership
hierarchy, assigning new roles and responsibilities designed to increase growth
through an intensified concentration on product and business development. With
open arms, the EPL team welcomed our Dedagroup NA colleagues and their wealth
of expertise into our offices as additional resources to help us achieve the
strategic goals set forth by our Product Advisory Team. The progress we’ve made
thus far led us to a consensus that in 2016, in lieu of holding our annual
Customer Conference, we will double down on our Product Advisory Team meetings
and initiatives, incorporating regional meetings as requested.
Looking back over these tremendous
accomplishments, it would not be a stretch to say that perhaps 2015 was our
best year to-date. What I can say with certainty is that this past year was
only a glimmer of what is to come for our team and our partners at Dedagoup NA.
2016 will see the integration of a real-time
general ledger, a new in-house credit card module, improved batch credit card
interfaces, new relationship pricing functionality and a few other exciting surprises
for our loyal customers.
I’ll leave you with this—none of this would have
been possible without the hard work and dedication of our entire team.
EPL Staff
EPL, Inc.
