Challenge:
The credit union’s traditional approach to data was no longer adequate to support its massive growth. 

Solution:
Thanks to Domo, the company has complete visibility into approximately 30 data sources comprising 1,700 data sets across the organization. 

Impact:
The credit union was able to deliver a better member experience while growing from $650 million to nearly $3 billion in assets in just five years.

Consumers Credit Union generates greater member value with Domo. 

As one of the largest credit unions in Illinois, Consumers Credit Union (CCU) is a not-for-profit financial institution with a mission to provide as much value as possible to its 190,000 members. Branches are a familiar sight throughout the suburbs between Chicago and the Wisconsin border, and with a history that goes back more than ninety years, the CCU name is synonymous with banking for several generations of savers.

In the last five years, the credit union has grown from $650 million in assets to nearly $3 billion as it began to expand into new markets and offer new products. “We used to be an organization filled with mainframe reports, spreadsheets, and dual entry of data,” said Sean Rathjen, CEO at Consumers Credit Union. “With our growth, it got too complicated and inefficient to use data the same way we did in the past.”

“Before Domo, it could take us weeks to create one report. And if a user wanted a different view or layout, we would have to go back and literally redesign the report,” said Russ Moore, VP of Data Analytics and Business Intelligence at CCU. “With Domo, we are able to create one core view with lots of filters on the page so people can create whatever report they want. It’s all the same data, just sliced to the particular business need.”

CCU uses Domo to manage nearly 6.5 billion rows of data across approximately 30 data sources creating 1,700 datasets ranging from its core banking systems to marketing analytics, customer service analytics, and even weather data. Thanks to Domo, CCU has the visibility it needs to operate efficiently so it can better serve its members. Rathjen says that Domo has also enabled CCU to create a culture of data curiosity across the organization that allows users to identify opportunities to improve performance.

“I use Domo on a daily basis to manage my direct reports, along with measuring the success of the business,” Rathjen said. “Domo brings all the data together and visualizes the risk points, so we don’t have to spend an inordinate amount of time going into tons of spreadsheets. At the end of the day, I’m probably spending less time looking at data, but I’m getting more out of it.”

Using data to overcome uncertainty.

While the credit union has survived economic depressions, periods of war, the 2008 housing crisis, and other eras of instability, the pandemic had the most significant impact by far to its operations. Executives relied on Domo to understand what types of banking services people still needed so it could adequately staff its drive-thru branches, ensure its online banking services were up to the task, and adequately staff its call center during its busiest hours.

“It was a very stressful time for everyone, so the ability to use data in a very neat, organized way to build out very specific operational reports made it possible to be open as much as we could,” Moore said.

In addition to helping the credit union manage its initial pandemic response, CCU used Domo to identify and prevent fraud in the wake of a spike in unemployment claims. “We had visibility into 100% of our unemployment transactions each day,” said Mary Fran Callahan, Chief Risk Officer at CCU. “Our fraud analysts could then take a deep forensic dive, which allowed us to catch dozens of unemployment fraudsters and return a substantial amount of money back to state unemployment authorities.”

Improving performance by improving the member experience.

Because the credit union has members, not customers, the experience it delivers is something CCU prizes above all else. Everything they do – from deciding where to open a new branch, what financial products to offer, and how to staff call centers – revolves around creating the most value for the most members possible.  

CCU uses Domo to help audit and score member phone interactions. Prior to Domo the call audit process was incredibly manual and tracked in excel spreadsheets. Now with Domo, the whole process is automated and every interaction by employee and channel is scored. Whenever an employee gets a substandard score, an alert is triggered so that a manager can quickly rectify the issue with the employee and provide immediate feedback to the employee while it’s still fresh in their minds. At the same time, an alert is also triggered when an employee gets a perfect score so that they can be acknowledged for their good work in the moment instead of weeks later or not at all. 

“The manager immediately gets an alert, and all you have to do is make two drag and drops. The whole process from listening to the call to coaching the associate is automated,” Moore said. 

By using data from across the organization to create and deliver a winning member experience, CCU is able to better compete with for-profit banks and up-and-coming fintechs. “Domo is a competitive advantage because it gives us so much insight across our business that our leadership and managers can access,” Callahan said.