by Hannah Barrett, on September 12, 2023
Abound Credit Union was seeking a single source of truth, and removal of manual processes. They sought a partner to help them build and implement a data strategy in order to achieve this, and went through a data strategy assessment process.
Why was Abound Credit Union Seeking a Data Analytics Partner?
Established in Kentucky in 1950, Abound Credit Union is a leader in financial education with 17 locations and over 130,000 members. They had been struggling with their many data siloes, and the high volume of data spread across different systems. Creating reports and modeling was quite a conundrum. They needed better data consistency, governance, and data accuracy. The Abound team first found Arkatechture back in 2020 during their search for credit union-specific solutions for a data hub. They had been told by their rep at Tableau that Arkatechture had been a great resource for other credit unions, leading them to assess Arkatechture more seriously.
When it was clear that Arkatechture was leading across the board on their potential vendor pros and cons list, They knew that Arkatechture was the right partner to ensure they had future success in the analytics environment. The platform and software were right on target for what they needed. They loved the culture of the team and how well Arkatechture understands the needs of the credit union industry. After seeing what Arkatechture had helped other credit unions achieve, and how collaborative it was, they knew Arkatechture could grow and change with them as a partner.
We were looking for someone who was not only going to come in and set us up then leave us out to dry, but more so a partner for a long-term solution, where they would be there to ensure that we are growing and successful in the utilization of the solution.” commented Abigail McGraw, Data Analytics Manager at Abound.
Abound Credit Union's goals for the partnership
The Abound team is looking forward to becoming part of the Arkatechture community of credit unions that they can collaborate with. A goal of theirs is continual growth of their internal data culture, and help from Arkatechture to help that flourish internally. They want a higher level of data integrity for their team members, as well as high accessibility to data for their team, and removal of manual processes for time savings.
They intend to utilize Arkatechture models such as Next Best Product or Member Attrition to help them better understand their own membership, as well as create their own modeling around financial well-being to know or understand when members are in the beginning stages of financial hardship before it’s too late. Financial education initiatives are really important to Abound, so they can better risk rate members and offer them financial education before it may be asked for.
Energized and excited are a couple of words that come to mind about working with the Abound team. During our onsite visit we had the opportunity to meet and work closely with their expanded team. The energy, collaboration and teamwork amongst this group was on display and set the table for a great working session. This is a group that will be moving lightning fast once their blockers and barriers are removed. We are so thrilled to be selected as their partner and are excited to help them through their journey!" commented CEO and founder of Arkatechture, Jamie Jackson.
See how Arkatechture can help your Credit Union become more data-driven.
