text: Xtend, Inc., a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based multi-owned cooperative CUSO, recently hosted a back office best practices meeting to discuss a cross-network approach to servicing the needs of its credit union owners and clients. The meeting was attended by four CUSOs: Xtend, Spokane, Washington-based CU*Northwest, Inc., Mobile, Alabama-based CU*SOUTH, Inc., and Portland, Oregon-based CUByDesign, and took place on September 23rd and 24th.
  Each of the CUSOs in attendance performs back office services for credit unions, but since each provides a different scope, they felt a significant opportunity existed for the group as a whole to benefit from a brainstorming of peers. Moreover, each of the CUSOs could leverage a common set of tools since each utilizes the CU*BASE core data processing suite from CU*Answers, Inc. Topics of discussion included the standardization of product offerings, sharing workflow best practices, and identifying new a la carte service opportunities including back office consulting. According to Xtend President Scott Collins, this meeting was in the works for almost a year. “Each of these partners participates in or around the cuasterisk.com extended enterprise, so it was a natural fit for us to leverage each others’ skill sets and operational effectiveness,” says Collins. “This summer, Greg, Leo and I (referring to Greg Smith, CEO of CU*Northwest and Leo Vaulin, CEO of CU*SOUTH) began talking seriously about how we could control costs and provide cross network coverage, and our teams jumped on this due diligence process. Having CUByDesign in attendance helped give us the perspective of both a customer and a partner.”
  Collins also noted that credit unions who do not use CUSO services for the back office would still benefit, since an additional benefit to the meeting was to identify new software enhancements to CU*BASE.