Innovation Award Winners

Award Winners

The annual Innovation Awards competition features outstanding innovations that help credit unions grow and prosper. An Innovation Award is the highest distinction offered to a NAFCU Services Preferred Partner.

Since their inception, the Innovation Awards have honored partners that consistently demonstrate their commitment to bringing new, unique, and valued products to the credit union market. An Innovation Award is the highest distinction offered to a NAFCU Services Preferred Partner.

The 2017 award-winning solutions are:

DDJ Myers for the Transformative Change Model (TCM)

DDJ Myers developed TCM to facilitate change with board members to strategically add the value required for a high-performing board. The changing board phenomena necessitated a new mindset that modeled the change credit union boards wanted.

Q2 for Q2 SMART

Q2 SMART is a behavior-driven recommendation engine. Real growth in an age of digital growth means better understanding and engagement with members to deliver the right products at the right time. Q2 SMART helps FI marketers target banner ads based on user behavior, and easily manage multiple customized promotional campaigns in online banking.

Vantiv for OmniShield

Card fraud in the U.S. is a $7.5 billion a year problem and is forecasted to reach $9 billion by 2020. Vantiv's OmniShield solution manages and mitigates card fraud. While the average U.S. debit card portfolio averages 12.53 basis points in gross fraud losses, credit unions protected by OmniShield average 7.34 basis points, a 41% reduction.

“Each year our partners exhibit extraordinary creativity and commitment to solve challenges specific to credit unions,” said NAFCU Services President, Randy Salser. “These innovative solutions provide credit unions with tools to better serve their members, which in turn elevates our industry. We are very grateful to all of the 13 finalists, and congratulate these three winners for their service to credit unions.”

The winners were chosen by a committee of judges who evaluated the solutions based on the degree of innovation and the impact on credit union success.

Past winners

  • The 2014 Innovation Award winners are Preferred Partners Allied Solutions, BitSight, Daon, and Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

    Allied Solutions for its SmartVideo New Loan Onboarding & Insurance Verification

    Allied Solutions' SmartVideo New Loan Onboarding & Insurance Verification is now a standard part of Allied's CPI program. Released in May of 2015, this innovative program offers financial institutions a comprehensive and efficient solution for onboarding new loans and insurance verification. Loan growth is an essential part of a financial institution's ability to remain competitive. This solution provides credit unions with the ability to offer each borrower a personalized introduction and specific details about their new loan. Additionally, this digital technology is data-driven and provides the credit union with reporting analytics which helps them learn more about their members.  Allied Solutions is the only organization serving financial institutions with the SmartVideo solution.

    BitSight for its Security Ratings Platform

    The BitSight Security Ratings Platform gathers terabytes of data on security outcomes from sensors deployed across the globe. From the data, BitSight sees indicators of compromise, infected machines, improper configuration, poor security hygiene and potentially harmful user behaviors. Credit Unions are using these ratings for managing third party vendor risk and benchmarking their cyber security performance to industry averages and peers. By implementing this solution to monitor the risk of vendors, credit unions can cost effectively monitor third party risks in a continuous, automated and effective manner.

    Daon for its IdentityX® Platform

    IdentityX® Platform empowers individuals to securely establish their identity by capturing and fusing together a combination of authentication factors--- biometrics (fingerprint/voice/face etc.), hardware token possession (their mobile device), encryption, PIN entry, and location-based technology. Multi-factor fusion provides the greatest authentication fidelity available. The required combination of authentication methods is flexible and driven by risk-based policies determined by the credit union. IdentityX® helps to address the challenges arising from current authentication methods that are largely outdated, non-secure, and/or inconvenient to the user. Now instead of having to remember complicated usernames and passwords, credit union members can just take a selfie, speak a passphrase, or use their fingerprint.

    Wolters Kluwer Financial Services for its CASH Suite™

    CASH Suite™ is a commercial lending software solution that helps credit unions and banks increase profits and grow top line revenue by achieving straight-through-processing across every step of the commercial loan lifecycle.  CASH Suite™ provides lending professionals access to nine integrated financial analysis and credit risk management modules. The modules help reduce the complexity of evaluating commercial loan applications by streamlining tasks, including business development, financial analysis, risk management and pricing, credit communications and approvals, covenant compliance tracking, portfolio management, stress testing and in depth reporting. By providing an integrated solution, CASH Suite™ simplifies the task of managing disparate business processes, helping commercial lenders achieve their broader business goals, while reducing operational risk and enhancing long-term profitability.

  • The 2015 Innovation Award winners are Preferred Partners Insuritas, MasterCard, and Q2.

    Insuritas for EasySTREET

    EasySTREET is the first technology solution of its kind. It extracts data from a credit union’s core, its loan origination system, any credit union CRM or CIF platforms, and supplemental data from TransUnion or Lexis Nexis. It compiles a master auto or home insurance policy application on behalf of the member without ever bothering the member with questions. The technology then automatically solicits bids for auto and home insurance coverages from multiple insurance carriers in under 2 minutes. These prices are then compiled in a personalized email that is sent to the member. The member sees up to four bids from A-rated carriers, ranked by cost. For the first time, the credit union can actually do the insurance shopping for the member without ever bothering the member. For more information about Insuritas’ products and services, visit www.nafcu.org/Insuritas.

    MasterCard for Identify Theft Resolution

    The Identity Theft Resolution Benefit solution provides credit union members with the ability to monitor the “dark web” and receive tailored alerts about their personal information. Additionally, MasterCard offers free identity remediation services to members who are victims of identity theft. This service will provide more peace of mind to members and will help credit unions reduce cardholder attrition due to security concerns. MasterCard is the only payment network that provides a service like this to all U.S. cardholders. For more information about MasterCard’s products and services, visit www.nafcu.org/MasterCard.

    Q2 Holdings for the Q2platform

    The Q2platform gives credit unions the ability to serve their members’ online and mobile banking needs via a single, secure virtual banking solution. While the Q2platform in and of itself is an innovation, perhaps the single most innovative attribute of the platform is its integrated, patent pending security component, RFA (Risk Fraud Analytics). By having a holistic view of end users’ activity, the behavioral profiling algorithms that undergird Q2’s RFA solution are able to build a comprehensive picture of a member’s virtual banking habits. This vital feature makes it far easier to detect anomalous behaviors that typically precede fraud and to stop suspect transactions in real-time—before any funds have been compromised. For more information about Q2’s products and services, visit www.nafcu.org/Q2.

  • The 2014 Innovation Award winners are Preferred Partners Insuritas, DDJ Myers, Burns-Fazzi, Brock, and Allied Solutions.

    Insuritas for InsureNOW™

    The InsureNOW™ product was designed for credit unions with large member bases, big data CIF/CRM capabilities, and high member affinity levels. InsureNOW™ allows credit unions to provide highly customized, concierge-level insurance offers to their indirect borrowers at the very moment when the member intends to shop for insurance. The most innovative part of InsureNOW™ identifies insurance policy renewal dates for each member and generates targeted, automated pre-populated e-engagement communication to these indirect borrowers 30 days before their insurance policy renews.

    DDJ Myers for the Board Performance Assessment

    The Board Performance Assessment was developed to meet the need to support credit union boards. The assessment is designed to guide boards in reaching their highest level of performance, and create a high standard of excellence between board and CEO, one of the most critical interactions within the credit union. The innovation lies in the assessment’s ability to make boards more cohesive and pinpoint critical areas where improvements could be made.

    Burns-Fazzi, Brock for their Executive Benefits Learning Series

    The Executive Benefits Learning Series helps credit unions understand effective methods for executive compensation and benefits to help recruit, retain, and reward their executive team. Complex topics in executive benefits and compensation are broken down into tax, accounting, legal, regulatory compliance, funding, and administrative concepts allowing credit unions to increase their knowledge and gain free practical advice. The innovative series consists of monthly, free live webinars which are recorded and archived for future reference.

    Allied Solutions for UniTrac

    UniTrac is a proprietary insurance tracking system that benefits credit unions by reducing the risk associated with collateralized loan portfolios. The tracking solution is completely workable online for credit unions through their client portal: CenterPoint. CenterPoint offers clients full access to insurance history and document images, letter notifications, customer service call notes, and claims. Lenders are able to view, work, print and download reports, submit claims, update required data fields and chat online with Allied representatives.

     

  • The 2013 Innovation Award winners are Preferred Partners Insuritas, Genworth, Securian, DDJ Myers, and iSolutions (with Allied Solutions).

    Insuritas  for its SmartCART Technology℠

    A product that provides a robust insurance buying experience for members via the credit union's own website. Members click a single link and see the credit union's suite of insurance and related products to protect themselves, their families and their businesses. Products such as ID theft, travel protection, legal and warranty can all be shopped, compared and purchased in a one-stop, single payment checkout shopping experience. Members can select customizable coverage options, assign dependents and beneficiaries per product, and enjoy complete pricing transparency. SmartCART Technologysmallows them to buy with one payment, and store all of their product purchases in a new member online insurance account (including policy documents, ID cards, disclosures and welcome kits, etc.) while never leaving the credit union's web environment. Think of an Amazon.com-like shopping experience for members-right on the credit union's web portal. This product can generate significant income for the credit union via revenue share, without the usual administrative challenges in running an insurance operation.

    Genworth for The Genworth Mortgage Insurance Learning Series (GMILS)

    A monthly series of webinars offered free to credit union executives, provides a comprehensive look at critical topics related to mortgage origination. GMILS covers key subjects selected to help credit unions increase their efficiency and productivity while better serving their members. The series is designed to augment a credit union's in-house training for mortgage professionals, whether experienced or new to the industry. There have been five webinars to date in 2013. More than 392 credit union professionals attended the webinars live and more than 1,078 have listened to the recorded versions of the webinars.

    Securian for Debt Protection Auto Expense

    Which provides credit union members with additional security in the event of a major unexpected auto expense. The auto insurance deductible benefit cancels one loan payment up to $500 in the event of an accident where a deductible payment is made. This coverage allows the borrower to use dollars that would have been used for a loan payment instead for the auto expense, keeping a loan current in a circumstance where there might otherwise be an issue. In addition, the solution also generates revenue for the credit union. The coverage is available for both new and used automobiles.    

    DDJ Myers for the Emerging Leaders Program

    A unique, educational experience designed to support aspiring credit union professionals to learn new leadership skills. The program teaches emerging leaders to take effective action, build the practices of an authentic leader and to reach their full leadership potential. This program includes course work, one-to-one leadership coaching, a leadership project, relevant articles and books, and embodied leadership practices. Each participant receives six executive/leadership coaching sessions throughout the program in support of their personal learning style and objectives.

    iSolutions (with Allied Solutions) for its Interactive Marketing Platform

    A marketing solution that integrates disparate silos of marketing and communications focused on the member base, improving the performance of marketing campaigns via email, mobile, social and print. It starts with solicitation and capture of member preference management, where the member is asked about topics they'd like to hear about, the frequency in which they'd like to hear them, and the preferred channel from which they want the message delivered. iSolutions coordinates all of these to deliver one-to-one messaging to members. In addition, iSolutions makes it easy for credit unions to offset the expense of marketing campaigns by finding sponsors, if desired, transforming a cost center into a profit center.