The following is the last part of my article What is Service Anticipation? Read Cultivating a Team for Service Anticipation for the second installment.
After being in business for over 35 years, we know we need to keep paying attention to our clients and our industry. We service credit unions of all sizes. Whether they have $1 billion in assets or $50 million in assets, at the end of the day, they all need to service their members. They are looking for solutions to a lot of the same problems. If we are paying attention, we can see what we use for one credit union and solve similar problems for another credit union.
The bigger credit unions will ask questions and have certain needs or wants pertaining to new services and technologies. While it may take a little longer, our other credit union clients will eventually need these same things, even if they aren’t aware of it yet. As we come up with the answers and solutions, we create a library or knowledge base that allows us to know what each credit union will need - this is service anticipation. We are always ready to provide services to credit unions, even services they don’t even know they need.
At United Solutions Company, we’re also constantly doing research to stay current on new technology. We look to Gartner, Inc. to understand the changing technology landscape. We talk to our clients, read the trade publications, and associate with other technical groups and think tanks. As a credit union technology company, we are the credit union advocate. We see ourselves as information brokers that can help our clients make the best decisions. The more we understand about new technologies and available products and services, the better we can anticipate what our credit unions will or might want in the future.
“As a credit union technology company, we are the credit union advocate.”
Personally, I hate to hear credit unions say that they are going to sit and wait to see what develops. I am not advocating blindly jumping in to new technology or methodology with both feet. We appreciate and anticipate the conservative credit union approach. Instead, let’s test the waters together and see what works best for our credit union and our members. We do our best to break down the technology, scrutinize our vendors and discard those that do not measure up, and make useful recommendations for our credit unions. I consider this service anticipation. We know which clients are going to be early adopters and which will want hang back. Ultimately, all of our credit unions will have the knowledge they need, well ahead of time, to make an informed decision. If our credit unions are not offering products and services their members want, then these same members will eventually go someplace else. We have to make sure our credit unions offer products and services members want to use.
Service anticipation is all about raising the bar a little higher. It’s making sure our staff knows that we will be doing a little more of the work moving forward. It isn’t enough to drop ship software and feel that we doing our jobs. We need to get more entwined with our clients and their projects. We all want a better result. The more we understand our clients and the nuances that make each different, the more we can anticipate their future needs and feel proud of the service we provide.
