ITCU Strategy

Credit Union Mergers – Mitigate Technical Risk

From my point of view a credit union merger is a ‘non-trivial’ event, however I am excited about the opportunity that this provides both entities from a technology perspective. A small credit union can come out of a merger stronger, leaner, and more efficient than before. This is an opportunity to streamline, achieve economies of scale, and combine the best of each entity while discarding the unworkable elements. The following are a list of good questions to ponder with your teams. Here is a short list of what I would consider to be the ‘tough stuff’ from a voting and discussion perspective between teams.

Technical Systems Integration Planning Steps

• What is the plan for the coexistence of two (separate) LAN and WAN networks and what is the end state goal?
  • IP Scheme – bridged/ routed network
  • Are the Credit Unions using disparate core systems? Different Versions? Do they have conflicting IP Scheme requirement?
• What are the deadlines that need to be hit so that they details can be coordinated?
  • IP Scheme
  • Printing (Sharing, Services, Drivers)
  • Bandwidth
  • Routers
• What is the plan for the convergence of credit union peripheral hardware convergence
  • Signature pads
  • Receipt Printers
  • Scanners
  • Check printers
• How will imaging be merged, including the old that may need to be kept for 7 years? What is the plan for current and historical images? What is the final imaging goal?
• How will old core system records be kept (Core historicals, etc.)?

Internal Questions

• What is the end network design?
  • WAN Architecture
  • Integration
  • POP Diversity
  • Redundancy
  • Encryption
  • QoS – quality of services to protect VoIP integrity
• Can the credit unions use each other for DR?
• What services will be shared?
  • Active Directory
  • Email
  • Files
  • SQL Databases
  • Domain Controller Authority
  • Imaging
  • Domain Trust
    • Is Microsoft SBS involved? If yes, there are important trust planning considerations.
• Will Microsoft licensing be audited to take advantage of consolidation? Use a merger to negotiate and consolidate licensing.
• What is the plan for enterprise back-ups long term?
• How will the phone system be consolidated and converged?

So here is the summary of my merger material. I have collaborated with a couple of team mates to put this 2 part series together for everyone. I hope you like it and that it was useful to you.