Unlocking Innovation through Integrations
Masako Long, VP of Sales at Janusea, stopped by the Studio Lounge to share her CU Intersect takeaways, Janusea success stories, and a preview of her conference panel on “The Intersection of IT and Risk in the Battle Against Fraud.”
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Masako Long, VP of Sales at Janusea, connecting fintech solutions with core integration, and James Chemplavil, Founder/CEO at Salus, an automated digital underwriting platform, joined us in the Studio Lounge to discuss their organization’s partnership.
This partnership leverages each of their technologies to enhance credit unions’ efficiency, removing unnecessary costs and barriers to real-time microlending and giving them the tools to meet each of their members’ unique needs — enhancing financial inclusion.
Datava’s Founder/CEO, Gordon Flammer and Janusea’s Co-founder/CEO, Kyle Stutzman, and VP of Sales, Masako Long, all joined CU Broadcast to share the news about Datava joining the Janusea platform. This partnership will deliver real-time integration in Datava’s member relationship management and business intelligence solutions for credit unions.
In this discussion, we talked about who Datava is, how they help credit unions, and why the Janusea and Datava partnership makes sense — not only from the two organizations’ perspective but also for credit unions.
Gordon, Masako, and Kyle also discussed how the two technologies work together to enhance credit unions’ value and goals and/or achievements they would like to accomplish for credit unions as their business relationship grows.
Check it out and let us know your thoughts. And be sure to watch the entire episode below for all the details.
Houston, TX – March 16, 2023 – Datava, a leading platform for member relationship management and business intelligence tools has partnered with Janusea, a leading fintech company focused on integrations that connect credit unions and community banks with today’s innovative fintech solutions. Datava joining Janusea’s core-connector platform allows them to deliver their real-time integration in member relationship management and business intelligence solutions for credit unions.
According to Janusea CEO Kyle Stutzman, this partnership allows credit unions to remain inside Datava’s toolset (data sets or workflows) without having to flip back and forth from one screen to another – which is a huge time saver in member services. Janusea’s connector enables Datava’s technology to be more active, efficient, and, ultimately, help the member in an extremely timely manner.
“We’re very excited to part of what Datava is doing, as they already have incredible technology and a very exciting roadmap,” Stutzman says. “In addition, the culture of their company fits perfectly with credit unions and we look forward to making these worlds connect more efficiently all in real time – and adding value to what Datava already provides.”
According to Datava’s Founder/CEO Gordon Flammer, credit unions are currently balancing Datava’s tools with their core systems, which is inherently inefficient – literally jumping between screens/systems to serve members. Janusea provides the vital connector with a credit union’s core to effectively and efficiently use Datava’s toolset to do everything in their real-time member dashboard environment: one system.
“We’re super excited about the enhanced value that we can provide our clients now working with Janusea and what their ‘connector’ technology allows us to do for our clients,” Flammer says. “With Janusea, our clients can connect the two systems so credit union staff only have to work in one system – not two – which is way more efficient and equates to much better member service.”
A typical use case would be within a credit union’s call center: A member calls into a call center and the MSR verifies the member, Datava’s system kicks in with that member’s real-time info in a dashboard format. With Janusea, its connector rails will allow Datava to retieve that member’s information much quicker in real time, which, again, results in better, faster member service – especially in a call center environment where every second counts.
“It fits so well with what we’re doing,” Flammer adds. “It allows us to be that true front end for our clients – and enables credit unions to be data driven and member focused. Super excited to work with an organization like Janusea that has the same attitude and drive as Datava.”
“We’re more than happy to add value to Datava’s toolset – which also adds value to Janusea’s platform offerings,” Stutzman says. “Now other credit unions using Janusea can have access to Datava’s technology without any significant implementation, allowing all parties to win.”
About Datava
About DatavaDatava combines data integration, curation and analysis with relationship management, data visualization, and workflow tools to provide a suite of Member Relationship Management (MRM) and Business Intelligence solutions, built specifically for credit unions. Datava enables credit unions to deepen member satisfaction, grow revenue, reduce manual processes, and increase employee productivity without requiring any internal management, and at half the cost of any other solution on the market. Datava’s modules include Relationship Management, Goals and Incentive Tracking, Onboarding Manager, Campaign Success Management, Referral Management, Indirect Lending, Business Intelligence, Loan Application Pipeline, SEG (Select Employer Group) Management, Outbound Prospecting, Predictive Analytics, Problem Resolution/Compliance, Learning Management Data Warehouse and more. On average, Datava’s clients achieve an impressive 20% increase in new loan dollars and 50% increase in cross-sell. Learn more at www.datava.com.
About Janusea
Janusea, Inc. fills a technology gap in the community financial institution space, connecting credit unions and community banks with today’s innovative fintech solutions. Many fintechs cannot communicate with a financial institution’s legacy core system. Janusea is the connection between these two worlds via a fully-hosted platform delivered securely using the cloud. Ultimately, Janusea provides community financial institutions with speed to market, free choices to work with the best solutions, and sustainable API integration. For more information, visit janusea.com.
Kyle Stutzman, CEO of Janusea, joined the CU Broadcast Studio Lounge at GAC to discuss a very timely tech topic
Janusea, a leading fintech company focused on integrations, has launched a new API Cloud Platform to connect financial institutions’ legacy cores with today’s growing population of fintechs. Janusea’s integration platform works by providing a common message set, developed with the community financial institution industry, that enables one message set to be translated to legacy messaging.
According to Janusea CEO Kyle Stutzman, fintechs don’t have to write to multiple legacy systems anymore, and credit unions and community banks don’t have to re-implement legacy connections for new fintech solutions. Janusea’s API connection can be used for all fintech solutions, connecting these two worlds and allowing more financial institutions to benefit from the latest fintech solutions.
“To put it plainly, Janusea provides the solution, not just a tool,” explains Tina Baker, Janusea Chief Product Officer. “We fully host, integrate, support, and maintain all connectivity. We solve the problem and enable innovation by connecting two separate worlds, bringing value to both.”
Baker says the lack of core integrations limits and confuses FIs who need to know if systems can integrate. Integration limitations and ongoing maintenance impede fintechs’ ability to implement and scale their solutions with community FIs.
Stutzman adds that many credit unions and community banks have limited resources and experience with their integrations and data sets. “They need a turn-key integration solution and someone to help guide them through a quick and successful implementation, secure connections, and ongoing maintenance and support of the connections,” he says.
According to Terry McMullen, Janusea Chief Operations Officer, the technology firm took parts of the Kiva Group and Pure IT Credit Union Services to create this new Janusea solution. This solution brings over 20 years of core data integrations, credit union, community bank, and fintech experience and connections.
“The combination of technology, people, and experience is powerful to connect these two worlds for a better future,” he says. “For added clarity, both Kiva Group and Pure IT continue forward with their missions and services but have contributed all key assets, people, and resources related to APIs into this new organization to transform integrations for community financial institutions.”
“Janusea is not the next single-focused fintech application. It is not the next digital bank or credit union app,” Jack Smith, Janusea Chief Revenue Officer, says. “Janusea is the catalyst that will take what is currently smoldering and blow it up into a transformation explosion, leveling the playing field so that all fintech solutions and financial institutions can work together without barriers.”
When an FI talks with a fintech or software vendor, the question is often: Do you work with my core or systems? That is the start of the questions, not the end. It would be best if you kept asking questions. Here is one: Is the integration Real-time or Batch?
Batch Integrations: These are point-in-time extracts of data that moved from one system to another system. They often focus on large quantities of data. The data available in the software or fintech providers application is static based on the batch’s point in time of the extract.
Advantage(s): Large quantities of data can be moved with one or a series of files. Processes of data can happen when systems are less busy to reduce the impact on other vital transactions or operations.
Disadvantage(s): These are often one-way data movements. The data can become outdated and old quickly. You have historical information but no access to current balances or member/consumer data.
Example(s): Data Warehouse, Positive balance files for debit/atm used in off-line situations, MCIF or marketing systems.
Real-time Integrations: These are active integrations, often through API (Application Programming Interface), that read and write data in real-time processing. Data is current and consistent between systems.
Advantage(s): Consumer/member data is available and live. Data changes can be written between systems to update data fields, process transactions, disperse loans, etc.
Disadvantage(s): Large data movement can stress systems. Historically real-time integrations have been difficult and costly. This is changing with new approaches like Janusea’s platform and others working on integration frameworks and toolsets.
Example(s): Digital banking platforms, ATMs and Advanced Kiosks, Teller and Workflow solutions, call center applications that can do teller functions, etc
Both: Applications and business cases may need batch updates and real-time calls.
Example: CRM for banks and credit unions often do nightly batch pulls and real-time updates for consumer/member screens, workflow’s final writes of addresses and demographic changes, transfers, loan payments, etc.
Hybrid: We define hybrid as real-time calls that kick off batch processing or data movement outside the API stream. This is particularly useful when systems’ API options are limited or need to be expanded.
Example: Loan Application and Processing Systems are a good example. They may use real-item APIs for automating applications with pre-filled applications and underwriting systems, for adding a member/consumer to a core system, and for booking and dispersing a loan. But then use an API call to trigger the SFTP movement of all loan document PDFs outside of the API stream to a folder for e-document system processing. They may also use an API call to trigger a nightly reporting or loan queue process creating point-in-time information and reports sent to loan officers and executives.
As consumer/member expectations have increased and fintech options to meet those needs have grown, real-time APIs have become more critical. For your credit union or bank, the best approach is to match the capabilities of the integration to your business case and needs.
You probably already know about bad data if you’ve done any data projects lately. A simple example is demographic information such as addresses, phone numbers, or email addresses that are not formatted correctly or have odd characters. We often get questions when testing an integration on why data isn’t returned and an error is received instead. That is often the best case and desired outcome for integration testing when there is bad data. Some standards and checks ensure that data conforms to the desired type. Integrations with 3rd parties that encounter bad data can show data to members or consumers that are unintended, create broken underwriting or automated processes, fail to send alerts or mailings, or completely block access to critical services for members or consumers.
So, what do you do? If things are working, you probably don’t know about your data quality issues. You may even have systems or processes continuing to expand the problems. You can proactively use data tools to validate that all your data conforms to the expected data types. Many FIs don’t prioritize that type of project until they get into a significant data initiative.
Short of that larger project, you can build a data quality check into your processes for new solutions and integrations. Understand your data model and requirements, or work with someone who can help. Make sure new solutions and processes don’t introduce new data issues. Use the data fields or use cases for your project to validate the key data in your systems as part of your planning and preparation for the new solution. The data cleanup is worth it. Data cleaning isn’t fun but necessary and much better to address before issues and errors arise.
Kyle Stutzman, CEO and Tim Lukomski, CFO of Great Lakes Credit Union’s (GLCU) joined Mike Lawson at CU Broadcast to share the news of investment and partnership.
Check it out and be sure the watch the entire video for all the details.
Janusea, a leading fintech company focused on integrations that connect credit unions and community banks with today’s innovative fintech solutions, has received a $2.4 million investment from Great Lakes Credit Union to help fund the organization’s infrastructure, as it continues to grow and meet the increasing demand of its “universal connector” technology. In addition to the investment, Great Lakes will be partnering with Janusea to implement its platform as needs arise – which will allow future fintech partners to seamlessly connect to its core for quicker, smoother products and services delivery to members.
According to Janusea CEO Kyle Stutzman, this investment will ensure Janusea has all the right resources in place to grow and deliver its “universal core translator” technology that will, ultimately, empower credit unions not only to work with fintechs but with other credit unions, as well.
“We’re obviously very grateful and excited about what Great Lakes’ investment and partnership means to us and our future,” Stutzman adds. “We’re also excited from the credit union perspective how our technology will help empower their internal developers, allowing them to help other credit unions with our platform – which breaks down barriers and fosters another level of credit union collaboration.”
“We see it as a match made in heaven,” Great Lakes CFO Tim Lukomski states. “It’s a unique technology offering that fills a void for us, speeding up integration time to bring our products to market much faster — which results in a huge advantage against the big banks that we are competing with out there.”
Another application Lukomski shared involves small credit unions that have challenges attracting top talent. They could use this technology for specialized projects, such as an accounting service that a bigger credit union could offer smaller credit unions. Janusea’s technology could be used to connect the data between credit unions in this area – as well as many others.
“It definitely has broad applicability,” he says. “We have to be flexible and adaptable in today’s fast-paced business environment and this technology allows us to achieve that and more.”
