Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

You should read this article by Bob Lefsetz. He writes about music and newspapers. But he could be writing about credit unions. 

Here's a snippet. 

The newspaper is a bad paradigm for the new world. It’s dependent upon advertisers, businesses and personal, which know their customers no longer read it. Classifieds moved to Craigslist. And we’re bombarded with targeted ads online, why would someone advertise in the newspaper? And the web is infinite and the paper is limited. If we want to go deeper the paper won’t let us. Turned out we wanted not only the outtakes, but the live versions too. All the stuff the labels used to keep in a vault customers wanted. But with the audience spread out over many verticals there was less money for so much, so costs were cut, the same computer tools that enabled file-trading enabled the cost of production to go way down. The truth is it’s never been cheaper to make music, it’s just become harder to get it heard, the same way it’s become harder for the truth in papers to spread and take hold. There’s just too much information. To believe that fake news will be eviscerated and the truth will be revealed is to believe that suing file-traders will get rid of piracy. The solution is to reach into the future and get ahead of the public, something that both print and television news refuse to do.

Lefsetz seems to argue that there's a revolution underway. 

• The frustration over not being able to share music or buy just one song led to Napster. And that tumbled mountains.
• The frustration over not being able to watch what you want, when you want, led to TIVO. Netflix. And the list goes on. And those changes are moving mountains. 

Changes in technology are loosening the controls that the elite had on production and distribution. Music. TV. Newspapers.  All three are neck deep in disruption.

What about credit unions and other financial institutions?

Look for the pain points. 

• Angry at paying money to get cash? Can someone solve that problem?
• Person to person payments should be easy. Are they?  I wonder if someone can solve that problem. 

I'm not sure there is a direct connection between Lefsetz's article and financial institutions, but don't count it out either. 

We're in a world where consumer demands are being met. Groceries are being delivered. We shop at Amazon. Cars are starting to drive themselves. Roofs are generating electricity like never before. We can reserve seats online for restaurants and movies theaters. 

What's next?  Perhaps we should be asking our members this: Wouldn't it be awesome if......?

Companies are finding the answers to those questions and making them a reality. And if that reality clashes with an existing business model, I feel bad for the existing business model. Because it will be disrupted.