Truliant Federal Credit Union A member-centric digital transformation
02
Truliant Federal Credit Union
A MEMBER-CENTRIC DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
03
w w w.t rul i a ntfcu . org
WE SPEAK TO CIO SANDEEP UTHRA ON A MEMBERCENTRIC GOAL OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION THAT IS ACCELERATING OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE AND BUSINESS GROWTH
T
ruliant Federal Credit Union, a 66-yearold financial institution, has a singular and important mission: to improve the lives
of its members. According to Sandeep Uthra, Truliant’s chief information officer, the credit union 04
focuses on helping members make decisions that improve and help manage their financial lives. Unlike for-profit financial institutions, Truliant stays away from pushing products on its members. “We are a different kind of company,” he says. Truliant has 230,000 members and assets in excess of $2.3bn and provides individuals and small businesses with products, services and guidance to reach their ‘life’s goals’, including checking accounts, online and app banking, auto buying, certificates and business/financial advice, and auto and home loans. According to Uthra, Truliant’s USP is its member-centric approach. “First and foremost, we are a not-for-profit organization,” Uthra said. “That’s the biggest difference between us and other banking institutions. But, more so, our goal is to improve each of our
05
w w w.t rul i a ntfcu . org
Hybrid IT Solutions
Colocation
Cloud
Connectivity
Managed Solutions
Professional Services
41 data center campuses. One dependable network. 888.552.FLEX
Flexential.com
07
“ OUR CEO AND PRESIDENT TRULY UNDERSTAND HOW TECHNOLOGY’S GOING TO REALLY HELP TAKE US FORWARD IN MEMBER SERVICE” — Sandeep Uthra CIO, Truliant Federal Credit Union
members’ lives, by working as trusted partner or provider of the right guidance to achieve their financial aims,” Uthra explains. “While traditional banking is more about rates and fees, all of our products and policies are consumer, not market, driven. We put people before profit. We are member-centric. We’re not just here to make money. This helps our members create financial security within their own aspirations. ”
IN THE BEGINNING Uthra joined Truliant in late 2016 as CIO. He was charged with helping shepherd the w w w.t rul i a ntfcu . org
08 E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E
Sandeep Uthra Sandeep has over 20 years of experience developing and executing information technology (IT) strategies, including serving in executive roles in the financial services space. A native of New Delhi, India, Mr. Uthra has served in global IT leadership roles in product, consulting and financial corporations in Asia, Africa and the United States. Most notably, Mr. Uthra was Senior Vice President, Business Solutions Technology Executive at Bank of America. He leads Truliant’s Enterprise Service Delivery, Enterprise Architecture, Application Development, Systems Operations, Technology Support Services, Infrastructure Services, Information Security, and Telecommunications teams.
09 strategic direction for Truliant’s overall
logical solutions to achieve those goals.
technology landscape and to help
We really tailor our offerings as per our
drive its technology transformation.
members’ needs to provide a top-notch
“As a trusted advisor in the company,
member service.” Truliant targets
I needed to get us to a point where
locations where they are needed most
we better understood business and
and still operates a traditional guidance-
members’ needs as per our company’s
based approach. “We’re very big on
objectives.”
face-to-face interactions. We don’t
Uthra’s highly strategic role was to
want to remove the humanity in front of
help develop a roadmap that would
us. We will always keep face-to-face
achieve Truliant’s business plans by
interactions.”
leveraging technology. “As part of the Chief Planning Team, I’ve worked hard
THE HUMAN TOUCH
to understand business needs as well
While human-centric guidance is at the
as those of our members with techno-
heart of Truliant’s approach, it is adopting w w w.t rul i a ntfcu . org
“ I HAVE OTHER COMPANIES LIKE MERIDIANLINK WHO SUPPORT US FROM A LENDING PLATFORM STANDPOINT AND THEN SECURITY PARTNERS SUCH AS FLEXENTIAL WHO PROVIDES HOSTING CAPABILITY” 10
— Sandeep Uthra CIO, Truliant Federal Credit Union
more technologically advanced processes to better prepare for the future of banking. “Members are changing the way they interact with financial institutions,” he explains. “I think we all know that these days people compare our sector with companies like Amazon, right? They want us to be simple and nimble – like shopping on Amazon. This demand is driving us to create a simpler, more nimble and innovative personalization for all members. The consumer experience is king.” “On the other hand, data is at the consumer’s fingertips from many external sources to compare product or services so they are well informed. It is in our best interest to know consumers’ personalized needs in a faster and agile way, to provide them with the best in-class experience. To make all this happen, we have focused on technology architecture, because speed is the new currency in financial institutions. These days, technology architecture must be simple enough to support integrated channels and with an alignment of data to understand or predict members’ needs. “Simplification and Personalization is the game here,” Uthra explains. “Financial institutions should work to simplify their technology landscape and leverage microservices or APIs (application programming
CLICK TO WATCH : USING THE TRU2GO APP 11 interfaces), to support faster and more
index of processes and technology,
nimble integration with cutting-edge
which gave Truliant a direction for
products and services.”
future investment to achieve its goal of simplification and optimization of the
DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS
members’ journeys/interactions. “Our
When Uthra joined Truliant Federal
vision is to enable consumers of our
Credit Union, he hired an enterprise
technology with a simple, faster and
architect to help build out business
personalized experience. “Our CEO
technology ecosystems to understand
and President truly understand how
dynamics around business units,
technology’s going to really help take
functions, processes and underlying
us forward in the personalized member
technology. He then sat with internal
service.
teams and critical partners to identify
“We know that it’s important to adapt
friction between those ecosystem
and evolve quickly in line with the
constructs. This resulted in a maturity
fast-paced changes in today’s financial w w w.t rul i a ntfcu . org
services landscape. Our goal is to create an impactful, best-in-class digital journey that is both dynamic and personal, and maintains an authentic human connection,” says Truliant President Todd Hall. The other important factor in Truliant’s technology transformation is partnership with fintechs and product companies for technology transformation. “Our strategic partners support us to achieve our vision. Companies like Fiserv who support our core banking platform perspective. MeridianLink provides lending capabilities and 12
Flexential provides hosting capability. Veristor enables us with virtualized environment, to aid better manageability and performance and security of infrastructure – because it’s not just about spending or investing in infra-
the near future: simpler, faster and
structure, it’s more about how to optimize
personalization. If I’m a member, and
that in terms of performance and security.
I need a home, normally I would reach
Palo Alto Network really helped us to
out to a realtor or a mortgage or lending
safeguard our technology and infra-
company. We reach out to the builder
structure and Secureworks provides
and to many other folks to achieve that
information security capabilities.”
goal for our family. But an ecosystem approach asks: ‘Why can’t we bring all
FUTURE TRENDS
these kinds of players into same
For Uthra, the future of the industry lies
ecosystem and make it happen? So, as
in ecosystem-driven personalization.
a customer or a member, I will just reach
“I see these three things happening in
out to a bank or financial institution like
34 Number of office locations
$2.3bn Approximate value of assets
1952
Year founded
Truliant and say, ‘I need a home.’”
really fortunate to feel that I’m part of
Uthra also sees increasing leverage
this high technology team that brings
of APIs for greater integration in sector
those kinds of innovations together.”
technology with many third-party or indirect product companies. I see artificial intelligence and data playing a big role. Data is going to provide integration value because it will predict and say what our customers or members are asking and at what point in time. “I take pride in leading this vision because of our people and culture. I’m w w w.t rul i a ntfcu . org
13
Truliant Federal Credit Union P.O. Box 26000, Winston-Salem, NC 27114-6000 T +31 20 240 1680 | www.adyen.com