What’s stopping you from improving the member experience? In our work with building societies and credit unions, the answer is usually rooted in technology and process: member data scattered across 3 or 4 systems, communications sent through disconnected channels, and processes that still end up with someone picking up the phone to sort things out manually.
The instinct is to assume you need to replace the core banking platform to fix these issues – which rightly comes with a healthy dose of risk aversion.
That’s a misconception I address in this article, which looks at how a journey orchestration platform gives you a more manageable approach to digital transformation.
Disconnection, not the core system, is the barrier
A member’s data lives in one place, their communication history in another, and their in-progress application is somewhere else. Members feel the impact of this disconnection. They have to repeat information they’ve already given, wait for updates that should be automatic, and pass between channels to resolve issues.
Every one of these moments is a disconnection problem. You don’t need a new core banking system to fix them, you just need a way to connect everything.
What changes when you connect
A journey orchestration platform sits alongside the systems you already have. It connects data, channels, and processes so that an interaction that starts on one channel can continue seamlessly by SMS, email, phone, WhatsApp, web, and more based on what’s most convenient for the member. Because journey orchestration lets you introduce automation and share data across siloes in a compliant way, members get faster support and employees can deliver more meaningful interactions. And there’s no need to touch the core system.
This relieves pressure from 2 different but important requirements:
- Routine, high-volume enquiries like PIN resets, payment reminders, and fraud alerts can be resolved with secure self-service, freeing contact centre staff for conversations that actually need a person.
- Longer, more complex journeys like mortgage applications or financial planning take weeks and move between web, adviser calls, and branch visits. With journey orchestration, the member’s context follows them, so nobody has to restart at the next touchpoint.
Payac: Journey orchestration in practice
Payac, a leading provider of payment services to credit unions in Ireland, is a working example of this. Rather than committing to a large-scale system replacement programme, they started with a targeted SMS solution and expanded into a fully connected customer engagement strategy with Engage Hub’s AI-powered platform.
Engage Hub now enables Payac to orchestrate secure member journeys across SMS, WhatsApp, voice, email, and web. Members can retrieve or reset PINs, manage digital credentials, receive fraud alerts, and get voice-assisted support – all layered on top of the infrastructure Payac already had. Nothing was ripped out to get there.
What this means for your digital transformation plan
The organisations getting member experience right aren’t measuring transformation by how many systems they’ve replaced, they’re measuring it by whether people notice the difference – fewer repeated conversations, faster resolutions, and more consistent support.
Payac’s starting point was a single channel, and the endpoint was a connected member experience across 5 channels. If your building society or credit union is facing these disconnection challenges, it’s worth looking at how far journey orchestration could take you. Get in touch to discuss your constraints and challenges.
