Change is hard and many SCU members experienced that adage this week.

On Tuesday, May 18th the Steinbach Credit Union started a move to a new digital platform for their online banking.

Members received communication over the last few months that change was coming but many struggled with the new system as it became a reality for them.

CEO Glenn Friesen explained what a huge undertaking this change was, ‘We've got about 60% of our members who are using digital banking and with COVID everyone seems to be going more and more digital. So, we've researched this for over two years, and we planned this and on Tuesday we finally did the conversion.’

Photo credit: Scu.mb.ca

In the first two days, 25 per cent of SCU members converted to the new system. While some users found the switchover frustrating, it was a necessary change.

‘Our other platform was end of life, and digital isn't going away. So we knew we had to do something. As people start using it more, they'll get more comfortable, and they'll realize, wow, this is a much nicer system, and that's what we're looking forward to. We're looking 3-4 weeks down the road, and I think we'll get some positive results.’

Friesen says they’ve added staff, reassigned some staff and have hired an outside company to help with the transition.

‘Calls are really high. We knew they would be high. The calls are taking longer because it's not just straight, you know transferring some money or something. It is unfortunate. We do apologize to all of our members for the delays that we're having. It is temporary and we will get through this and we beg for your patience and your understanding.’

Friesen adds the new digital platform sets the Steinbach Credit Union up for future growth including portfolio trends, budget calculators and other functionality.