Dedicated to the Core
'My approach is empowering employees by giving them the tools to do their jobs.'
WHILE MOST PEOPLE kick back for Fourth of July picnics, parades, and fireworks next year, Jeff Levesque will spend that weekend sweating the final details of a seismic change in the way Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union does business.
That’s when the $370 million asset credit union in Rocky Hill, Conn., will flip a switch and enter a new era of digital service.
The changeover to a new core processing system—overseen by Levesque—will improve online services and shift a significant number of Nutmeg’s teller-based transactions to remote-teller or teller-less exchanges.
That, in turn, will free up resources the credit union can use elsewhere to improve the member experience.
“In our business, teller transaction costs are high, with no return in income,” says Levesque, the credit union’s executive vice president and chief operations officer. “We expect to see an immediate benefit in providing an upgraded member experience with an amazing jump in efficiency.”
Levesque, who joined Nutmeg a little more than a year ago after working at several other Connecticut credit unions, says the strategy “allows us to free up space in brick-and-mortar locations with added space to serve members in lending, new-account opening, and investments, and put employees in relationship-building positions,” he says.
Also, retiring the current core processing system—the foundations of which are close to 20 years old—will enable Nutmeg to create efficiencies in its back-office processes and provide better member service, according to Levesque.
“Our current system limitations are felt in the member experience, but we make up for that with outstanding relationship building and elbow grease,” he says.
Members will notice a better digital experience, from improved ATM service to the ability to execute transactions from smart watches.
Nutmeg has a younger member demographic than many of its peers, as well as a young staff, according to Levesque, which “helps give us the open-mindedness to pursue this strategy.”
The move requires an emphasis on change management. But the credit union’s management and staff have a progressive culture, and a willingness to embrace that change, according to Levesque.
“My approach is empowering employees by giving them the tools to do their job,” he says.