With its previous digital banking provider, Freedom Credit Union was restricted by limited functionality and bare administrative capabilities. They could no longer effectively support their 70,000+ members. To keep up with a growing member base and ever-evolving needs, Freedom needed a partner who could make mobile-first digital banking a central focus of its strategy.
Narmi’s extensive experience with Symitar Episys core integrations and mobile-first design helped Freedom Credit Union deliver a robust digital banking experience that strengthened both existing and new member relationships.
To ensure a smooth transition to a new digital banking platform, Freedom Credit Union needed a partner with extensive integration experience with Jack Henry’s Symitar Episys core. A best-in-class integration was critical to ensure the best member experience possible while keeping back office processes seamless.
Narmi integrated with the Episys core using Symitar’s latest open API platform, SymXchange, over the legacy platform SymConnect. Leveraging this modern API architecture allowed Freedom Credit Union to account for Symitar downtime and nightly processing, and avoid any member-facing downtime when the core was down.
1. 78% increase in Account-to-Account (A2A) transfers with real-time posting to the Symitar core and configurable A2A limits for member segments.
2. All records written in real-time to SymXchange, allowing an approved applicant to instantly access their account
3. Provided members with a comprehensive view of all their primary and joint accounts, comparable to the "Episys 360 View."
4. Narmi integrated Freedom’s external loan records so members could access their loan information within online and mobile banking.
With Freedom’s previous digital banking provider, features available through the online experience were either hidden or unavailable within mobile banking. Members became increasingly frustrated with this disjointed mobile and online banking experience – frustrations that grew as they found themselves needing more digital-first banking functionality. Unable to keep up with member needs, Freedom risked losing long-term account holders to fierce competition.
Freedom Credit Union needed a digital provider with an open platform that could deliver consistent omnichannel user experiences, and allow them to integrate and build the custom functionality their members expect, both now and in the future.
Freedom Credit Union chose Narmi to deliver a seamless, omnichannel digital banking experience focused on mobile and custom functionality. With Narmi’s deep understanding of user-centric design and extensive experience with iOS and Android app development, Freedom was given the confidence to deliver a digital banking experience rich in functionality with complete feature parity across platforms and devices.
1. Intuitive and discoverable mobile banking for members, surfacing previously hidden functionality
2. Ability to promote new services and security features such as biometrics and two-factor authentication
3. API-powered integration with Twilio to enable Freedom Credit Union to send SMS and email notifications to members
4. With the Narmi Application Framework (NAF), Freedom was able to integrate and deploy new functionality within days allowing members to easily view their loan application status and FICO credit score
Freedom's support center did not have the proper permissions to effectively serve members without continuous involvement from their previous digital provider. This lack of autonomy resulted in an increase in support call volume and higher-than-usual wait times to resolve member requests. Members were growing frustrated having to be put on hold, and support agents on the other end of the line were becoming overburdened with the increasing number of requests.
Through Narmi's intuitive admin platform, Freedom gained the ability to create and manage role-based access – ensuring support center employees had the proper permissions needed to control the digital banking platform, generate reports, and support members autonomously. Along with greater institutional controls, the Narmi admin platform improved Freedom’s ability to quickly serve members with native secure messaging, user emulation, and a 360-degree view of member activity through comprehensive activity logs.
By eliminating reliance on Narmi for these controls, call center volume was significantly reduced, and member questions were resolved entirely digitally in real-time.
1. Implementing native messaging capabilities ensured Freedom employees could quickly and efficiently respond to member requests
2. Improved ability to assign messages to specific departments
3. Real-time emulation implemented to give support employees more transparency into what members see and experience
As member expectations for digital-first solutions started rapidly evolving, Freedom Credit Union realized its existing online account opening experience could not keep up. Their existing account opening process was outdated and cumbersome, resulting in high abandonment rates and struggles to gain new members. Freedom needed a provider that could modernize and streamline its lengthy digital account opening process – all while ensuring the highest level of compliance and risk mitigation.
With Narmi’s digital account opening platform, Freedom applicants could now be decisioned, fully-funded, and booked to the Episys core in 2 minutes and 13 seconds. By identifying the friction points that led to abandonment, Narmi was able to optimize each step of the account opening process to maximize conversion rates.
1. Enabled customizable account selection – presenting new members with recommended products, the ability to customize their own product selection, and the ability to open multiple accounts at once.
2. Added the ability for new Freedom CU members to initially fund with a debit/credit card or transfer from an external bank account, resulting in 100% account funding for new accounts
3. Helped Freedom successfully transition to a non-document based verification process
To grow and maintain its member base, Freedom — like most financial institutions — had limited options. It could have spent large amounts of money on social, print, web, and physical advertising, but was not confident this would result in a high return on investment. Freedom needed a digital banking provider that could help drive organic growth with a cost-effective member acquisition strategy.
By understanding existing members are the most effective advocates and trusted channels for acquiring new ones, Narmi partnered with Freedom to launch sophisticated and fully automated refer-a-member functionality which took less than three minutes from member-to-member. Leveraging both Narmi’s digital banking and digital account opening platforms, Freedom was able to use referral marketing to drive organic member growth, all included within the platform.
1. A combination of member segmentation and real-time posting to Symitar Episys enabled Freedom to offer immediate availability of funds to less risky members.
2. Added the ability to manage and adjust RDC deposit limits by member segments.
3. With configurable Account-to-Account (A2A) transfer limits for member segments, Freedom saw a 78% increase in A2A transfers.
