Listserv Update for April-June, 2005

CUNA Technology Council
June 23, 2005

The Listserv is a centralized list of e-mail addresses that is used for group discussions by members of the CUNA Technology Council. Posting a question on the Listserv is a great way to get immediate feedback from other tech officers on just about any question. In case you don’t check the Listserv regularly at http://www.cunatechnologycouncil.org/listserv/idx_listserv.html,

here are some recent subjects that have generated discussion.

I am looking at purchasing a new phone system that will act as a PBX,
ACD/Call Center, and voice mail. I am looking at the following systems:
Interactive Intelligence, ShoreTel, and Vertical Systems. Please let me know about any strengths or weaknesses you have observed about these systems.

Antivirus Product

I’m currently evaluating antivirus products, especially NAI, Symantec,
Sophos, and Trend Micro. I am focusing on the ability to centrally manage. Anyone using a product they really like?

Satellite Internet Services

We've hired an outside mortgage/sales originator and our plan is to have this person hooked up to the Internet during his travels. The idea is to have him hooked up at any location, whether he's in or out of town. Has anybody implemented anything like this or researched this before? Are there limitations? What are the costs involved? Who are the reputable vendors?

I'm trying to get a feel for how other credit unions staff their IT departments relative to the size in assets, members, and total employees. In my case, we have $250 million in total assets, 28,000 members, 56 full-time and 7 part-time employees. Our IT department has 3 full-time employees (including myself).

Web-surfing Access Control

Please share what systems you may have deployed in your organizations to monitor/control/restrict Internet access and web-surfing. There are lots of "solutions" out on the market (Symantec, SurfControl, GFI, firewall controls, others) and I’d like to hear from others about what has or has not worked.

Symitar Discussions

1. We are in the process of choosing a new software vendor. We have narrowed the search down to Users, Ultradata, and Symitar. If you are currently on one of these systems, please let me know what you like and what you don’t like about these systems.

2. Over the last couple of weeks I saw several e-mails about credit unions
leaving Symitar for other data processors. If you fall in this category, please share your experiences.

3. Our ISP is AT&T and over the past three weeks we have lost service three times for a couple of hours at a time. During these periods home banking and some other in-house services were unavailable. Just wanting to know what other credit unions are doing to prevent this. If it makes a difference, we are on Symitar.

Instant Messaging

I am considering setting up an Instant Messenging server for our employees. I would like for our employees to be able to quickly contact each other when needed. But I want the employees to ONLY talk to other employees and not be able to talk to anyone outside the credit union. Is anyone doing this and if so, what are the pros and cons and what software package are you using?

PIN Select

We are evaluating equipment, software, and suppliers that will allow us to provide our members card PIN number selection and change services internally today, with a longer-term objective of moving to "instant issue" for cards. A few questions: Do you have the ability in-house to "re-PIN" cards? Do you have the ability to allow members to select their own PIN on new cards? If you do, what equipment and/or vendors are you using to accomplish this? Are you doing or considering "instant issue" of cards?

E-Statement Features

Does anyone have a list of features you compared when evaluating e-statements? Do you have a link to access to your e-statements on your website or inside home banking and why? Do you e-mail members each month when statements are ready to view and provide an imbedded link in the e-mail, or do you put a message on your website or inside home banking with the link there? Also do you notify the member by mail if the e-mail notice is returned? Is anyone currently charging for paper statements? Do you make e-statements a requirement of specific products? Also does anyone have any comments (pro or con) on utilizing the same vendor for both e- and paper statements? Thank you!