Everyone is strategizing for 2013. Whatever you're looking at, whether it's the housing market, new regulations, branch dynamics, shifts in customer behavior or any of the myriad strategic concerns affecting the nation's credit unions, most of you will be doing so without the benefit of a senior technologist in the room. I'd like to suggest that you resolve to change that dynamic for the future, starting in 2013.

Resolve to make technology strategic.

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A quick Google search of the term "customer-centric banking" will yield a wealth of whitepapers, dedicated websites, case-studies, research and plenty of marketing material all designed to leverage an industry in flux.  Much of the rhetoric sounds the same, with similar conclusions.  But all of it is predicated on a need for the banking industry to start focusing on customer service again – but unlike ever before.

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IBM announced this week that it is retiring its Lotus brand.  OK, your organization may not be affected by the demise of this famous marque.  Your leadership may not be suddenly considering the complicated, costly options for its replacement.  In fact, everyone has seen this coming for years. But the discontinuation of a brand, once so dominant, should serve to remind us that in the world of software, nothing is forever.

You may not be losing any sleep.  But, if IBM's flagship products are vulnerable to the vagaries of a constantly changing, constantly challenging environment, what about the software products you're running on now?  How confident are you that they'll be around tomorrow?

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