2013 Business Plan
August 2012
Visionaries, Challengers, & Game Changers
EARNING A REPUTATION FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXPERTISE
Visionaries, Challengers & Game Changers
2

Someday when people look back on CU*Answers, what do we
want them to say?
“CU*Answers was a team of visionaries, game
changers, and challengers...
cuasterisk.com was a network of those kinds of
people, and inspired generations of credit
unions to adopt those same goals.”
Building Business Development Expertise
3
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Business Development (according to Wikipedia):
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“Comprises a number of tasks and processes generally aiming at
developing and implementing growth opportunities.”
We’ve planted our flag on the idea that we use our products
and services to build businesses...
We’re a network that can generate growth opportunities
So in 2013, we’re focusing more than ever on business
development as a route to earn us the reputation
as Visionaries, Challengers & Game Changers
Will your team be the first to lay
claim to one of these monikers?
Reviewing Our Approach
An Ongoing Foundation For How We Plan, Every
Year
(1) Differentiating Our Network Approach
Old Game/New Game
5
Old Game
(Standalone CU Model)
1
2
3
People Who Need Leaders
The Ultimate Client
(CU boards/volunteers with a charter)
(CU boards looking to field a team to lead their organization)

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People Who Lead and Need Processes
to Run a Business
9
(CU CEOs)
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People Who Design Processes for People
to Use Tools
(Organizations designed to consult and outsource process oversight and design)

5
Professional Management Vendors
10
(Organizations designed to lead networks of credit unions
or operational clusters)
(CU management teams)
4
New Game
(Collaborative/Networked CU Model)
People Who Use Tools
Professional Service Vendors
8

Shared Employee Service Businesses
7
(CU staff members)
(Organizations designed to execute on behalf of the CU’s business plan through
shared teams and personnel offerings)

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Tools
Tool Providers
(CU*Answers solutions, old game)
(CU*Answers solutions, old game)
6
(2) Attacking Our Marketplace with a
Layered Design
6
LAYER 1: CU*A TOOL PROVIDER/CLASSIC CORE PROCESSING
1.
2.
3.
4.
Packaged revenue expectations
Diverse and general approaches
Responding to operational models and configurations
Leveraging an active audience upstream to conceptual models, and their evolution
LAYER 2: CU*ANSWERS MANAGEMENT SERVICES
5.
6.
7.
8.
A la carte service revenue expectations
Specialty services and expert approaches
Driving conceptual models and change into credit union configurations
Leveraging expertise downstream for core processing depth and expertise
LAYER 3: CUASTERISK.COM NETWORK CONFIGURATIONS
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Wholesale and alliance-based revenue expectations
Franchise-like business expansion (cuasterisk operations)
Alliance-based alternative business expansion (non-CU*BASE leverage)
Shared infrastructure projects
Leveraging expertise across shared commonalities
(3) Goals for Expanding our Client Base
7
1. Work with more diverse and complex CUs who have dedicated
and specialized teams.
2. Increase our solutions’ viability for larger CUs and match up
better with a wider set of CU decision-makers.
3. Broaden our geographic marketplace and build additional
regional intensity to expand where we are doing business.
4. Leverage our capabilities, talents, and software copyrights to
expand into other businesses, both inside and outside the credit
union industry.
Where We’ll Focus in 2013
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as Visionaries
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as Challengers
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as Game Changers
Projects and Efforts That Focus
Us as Visionaries
9
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Back to Wikipedia again:
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Visionaries: “Prophets, Thinkers, Futurists, Dreamers”
Not hocus pocus...think “thought leaders” and “thought
leadership”
An organization becomes what it studies...to be successful, an
organization needs to study opportunities with more zest than
problems
Technical teams are great at studying and earning
certifications for their careers...can we find a new way to study
together as an organization to yield new results for our
business development goals?
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as Visionaries
Taking Our Business Plan Viral
10
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We have some projects for helping
our clients take their business plans
“viral” to their members and
community
What about our own business plan?
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Shared with cuasterisk.com partners
Posted on Portal for employees
What about www.cuanswers.com?
I’ll be soliciting “20 Commentators” to read and commend on
our Plan (non-Board credit union CEOs, industry stakeholders)
Let’s see if we can encourage others to become
visionaries, challengers, and game changers
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as Visionaries
Taking Our Business Plan Viral
11
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Check out a new
segment on
score.cuanswers.com
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as Visionaries
Taking Our Business Plan Viral
12

Check out a new
segment on
score.cuanswers.com
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as Visionaries
Taking Our Business Plan Viral
13

Check out a new
segment on
score.cuanswers.com
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as
Challengers
14
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Rethinking CU*BASE trademarks and marketing to inspire
new efforts within our network
CU*BASE “Editions”
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GOLD
Servicer Edition (SE)
Cloud (or, more likely, “Evolution”)
Operations
...and what about smaller “modules” like
groups of menus (ERM) or other segments?
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as
Challengers
15
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Challenging the way our teams have grown
CU*Answers
5 Year Growth
10/1/2008 through 9/30/2013
Department
10/1/2008
Administration/Facilities
5
Adminsitration: Xtend
1
Client Services
13
Conversions
4
CU*Answers Management Services
11
CU*Answers Network Services
15
Finance
5
Item Processing
14
Operations
9
Organizational Resource Development
3
PR and Marketing
1
Programming
19
Quality Control
4
Sales
4
Technical Resources
1
Writing Team
3
CU*Answers Total
112
10/1/2009
6
1
14
5
15
17
6
6
9
3
2
21
5
5
1
3
Change in # of
Employees
2009
1
0
1
1
4
2
1
(8)
0
0
1
2
1
1
0
0
10/1/2010
6
1
14
4
20
20
7
6
10
5
1
27
4
5
1
3
119
7
134
Projected
Projected
Projected
Budgeted
Anticipated
Change in # of
Change in # 9/30/2012 from Change in # of 9/30/2013 from Change in # of Change in # of
Employees
of Employees
the Midyear
Employees
the Annual
Employees Employees over 5 Year
2010
10/1/2011
2011
budget
2012
budget
2013
5 years
Growth %
0
6
0
7
1
7
0
2
40.0%
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0.0%
0
15
1
16
1
16
0
3
23.1%
(1)
4
0
4
0
4
0
0
0.0%
5
28
8
31
3
32
1
21
190.9%
3
27
7
31
4
33
2
18
120.0%
1
8
1
9
1
9
0
4
80.0%
0
6
0
5
(1)
5
0
(9)
-64.3%
1
11
1
12
1
11
(1)
2
22.2%
2
5
0
5
0
5
0
2
66.7%
(1)
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0.0%
6
33
6
35
2
38
3
19
100.0%
(1)
6
2
8
2
8
0
4
100.0%
0
4
(1)
5
1
5
0
1
25.0%
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0.0%
0
4
1
4
0
5
1
2
66.7%
15
160
26
175
15
181
6
69
61.6%
58.3%
100.0%
68.8%
Leased Employees: Xtend
Leased Employees: Xtension
12
4
12
3
0
(1)
12
3
0
0
15
4
3
1
19
8
4
4
19
8
0
0
0
7
4
Xtend Leased Total
16
15
(1)
15
0
19
4
27
8
27
0
11
-100.0%
-100.0%
Leased Employees: eDoc
3
1
(2)
0
(1)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
(3)
eDOC Leased Total
3
1
(2)
0
(1)
0
0
0
0
0
0
(3)
131
135
4
149
14
179
30
202
23
208
6
77
0
Grand Total
Things to consider:
* the table above does not include any of the part time staff that works directly for Xtend (they currently have approximately 10 and they share cubes)
* as of 7/31/12 we had a total of 194 employees on payroll
58.8%
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as
Challengers
16
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Challenging the way we earn our money from growth
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Avoid incremental and momentum based thinking
Avoid investment without harvesting
Avoid compensating business developers to the point where their goals
control the growth more than the goals of the organization
Working with CMS to review the 3 areas where business grow:
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Growth from new CU*BASE GOLD sales – their role and how they earn
Growth from existing CU*BASE GOLD clients – how they turn support
into new annual revenues
Growth from new markets and taking their brand outside the network –
can we move from moonlighting to more traditional business
development and investment?
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as
Challengers
17
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Challenging our pricing and competitive practices
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Marketing concessions are signaling a shift in how we sell CU*BASE
GOLD
Challenging our industry’s status quo: building challengers
among our clients and partners
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Cooperative Score (part 1) – the Cooperative Score Self Assessment
Viral Business Plan – Add “Read our business plan” link to It’s Me 247
Use “Vote Now” to get real results from surveys
What else?
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as
Game Changers
18
“Why should I
invite CU*Answers
to be part of my
agenda?”
“Because we’re
game changers. We
may be the missing
ingredient that will
help you succeed.”
A reputation that our network, our firm, and our
team members need in order to be successful
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as
Game Changers
19
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What will it take for CU*Answers to build a network
with the reputation of being game changers?
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Is this a marketing problem?
Is this an opportunity issue? Can we find areas where we can make a
real difference and be known for this?
Is this an issue of influence? Can we really influence our industry, our
clients, and our partners to merit the reputation as game changers?
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as
Game Changers
20
Is this a marketing problem?
 Build brands and raise the awareness ... tell the marketplace
we believe we are game changers
 Evolve our website persona and leverage content in a new
way
Is this an opportunity issue?
 Create opportunity to be seen as game changers: get into the
right rooms

Chip’s challenge: “What expertise does your team have that can get
you to national events? What outlets do you have? What capabilities do
you have?”
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as
Game Changers
21
Is this an influence issue?
 Become a reference as an organization where e-document
strategies have made a difference
 Influencing through investing in other firms and their
initiatives, partnered with ours
 Influencing the outcome of projects through participating in
industry initiatives
It’s a delicate balance tactically to want to be
invited and then, once there, to do the right thing
Projects and Efforts That Focus Us as
Game Changers
22
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Building game changers among our
clients and partners
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A “Grand Opening State of Mind”
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Tweak our processes (Product Team)
Develop marketing and sales support services focused
on re-launches (CIMT/Xtend)
Rethink the Peer Analysis/Learn From a Peer
Develop marketing and sales support for launching directly to credit union
members (GOK)
Cooperative Score (part 2) – showing that customer-owner participation
can be a game changer for a cooperative.
CUSO Financial Services, Inc. (CFS)
Changing the game for our
cuasterisk.com partners
Delivering on Our Promises
Every year our clients, the marketplace, and our
teams anticipate the next step in our day-to-day
evolution
Here’s where we will focus in 2013...
Improving Our Solutions
(What We Sell)
24
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Improving Our Competitive Position
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Accounting Top 10
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Lender*VP Top 10
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Not taking a quiet audience for granted
Improving our reference with CFOs, accountants and bookkeepers
The next step in what we learn from Xtend SRS
Continuing to deliver on the promises made to stick with lending until we get it
right and until our credit unions are maximizing our toolkit and network
potential
File Expansion Project (FEP) and Improved Next Generation (ING)
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Laying the foundation for the inevitable
Gaining the confidence of your clients that you can execute change
Improving Our Solutions
(What We Sell)
25
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Improving Our Competitive Position
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Establishing Mobile App Integrations and Support
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It’s the craze...the whole world is moving to mobile!
What are we doing? Answering our clients’ challenge not to be left behind
Balancing the need to study where all this is going against the investment into
proofs of concept
...and don’t forget
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Teller Platform – delivering on the Currently Serving foundation
Aggregation – building a stronger relationship with MoneyDesktop
CU*BASE GOLD Look and Feel (ING) – will deliver on 2012 goals
EFT – anyone remember what a C2B2B model means?
Improving Our Solutions
(What We Sell)
26
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Where We’re In the Lead
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It’s Me 247 Nav-01: Launching January 2013!
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Tiered Services next phase
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Getting credit unions to see Tiered Services as more than just a relationship
management tool
Still valuing it for its unique ability to automate relationship management all
the way to the point of sale
Analytics: Actionable Analytical Approach (AAA)
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Using pretty pictures to keep our audience engaged, while changing the
foundation to ensure this product can evolve dozens of new capabilities
It could take a couple of years of a grand opening mindset to really make a
difference with credit unions, beyond the initial wow factor
...and don’t forget
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Compliance tools
Online and mobile
Improving Our Solutions
(What We Sell)
27
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Our Clients Under Pressure
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Responding to credit union investments in ancillary products that require
core integration
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Helping new and larger clients who have made an investment in third-party
products
(Verifin, Meridian Link, Marquis, SageWorks, etc.)
Avoiding the trap of relying in integration revenues: we’ll do these as
investments in learning, more than a way to earn a quick buck
Improving Our Business
(Supporting What We Sell)
28
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DR/BR: Capitalizing on a New Mindset
Release Management and the Speed to Market
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Paying for beta-test
Paying for product certifications
Building Processes for Across-the-board Reinvestment
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RFPs (i3 & AnswerBook, no change; online education moving to CU
Training 11/30/12)
F&E procedure
Meet & greets for new employees, Sales Planning meeting,
cuasterisk.com administrating meeting
Improving the Collaborative Environment
(CU Business Models, Infrastructure, and Non-CU Partners)
29
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Driving cuasterisk.com
CU*Answers Connected to the World
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Connecting Networks for CU Income Opportunities
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Lender*Hub
SSO connections
CFS, Ross Blair, denied loan exchange?
CU*BASE SE (the CU*BASE Servicer Edition)
Conclusion
“What are your expectations when you
publish a business plan?”
I don’t mean what’s in it, I mean what do you
hope to accomplish by publishing it?
If we take this thing viral, what does that mean
to our future, our opportunities and our success?