DN Intersect 2019: TwinStar can finally innovate with new cloud solution
After enduring long waiting times and persistent bottle-necking from previous providers, credit unions across North America are finally feeling the trickle-down effect of new cloud-based marketplace, Constellation.
Although its launch is still a way off into 2021, TwinStar Credit Union’s payment manager Shanna Palmer can already feel the benefits of this new solution to mobile banking.
Each fintech service constitutes a separate tile
Constellation, a product of investment from TwinStar and five other credit unions, now vets fintechs for the wider credit union community after announcing its partnership with Members Development Company (MDC) last month.
Speaking to FinTech Futures at Intersect 2019, Palmer shares how she and her boss “were looking for a different type of mobile banking” before they stumbled upon Constellation.
She continues: “Because of the long wait times imposed on us by our provider at the time, it made it hard for us to innovate. We had to adhere to their timelines instead of our own for everything.”
Now, Palmer explains, credit unions can work within a tile framework, where each fintech service constitutes a separate tile and is accessible through a portal.
This way not only can credit unions pick and choose their vendors, but they can also be more agile as a result, using experts who work within faster-moving time frames.
The new provider also helps with digital integration. Palmer gives the example of OneDot, which offers cardless ATM transactions.
Before, this product would require members to download a separate app. But with Constellation you can integrate this service into the credit union’s main banking app.
Now credit unions are in the process of hiring project managers to test the solution and get it ready for member consumption in the next two years.
Looking forward, Palmer is excited to see how the new technology will enable TwinStar to personalise its offerings to different age groups, something the union has never before been able to do.
