Credit Unions Now Face Innovate-or-Else Member Crisis

Innovating is often easier said than done.

But in today’s digital age, where a seamless and convenient experience across various touchpoints has become table stakes, particularly within financial services, prioritizing innovation has never been more mission-critical to long-term success.

So, what’s holding financial institutions like credit unions back from innovating new products and services to help win new members and better serve their current members?

For the latest research in “Credit Union Innovation: The Race to Meet Consumer Demand,” a PYMNTS and PSCU collaboration, PYMNTS surveyed 6,483 U.S. account holders and 151 credit union executives. The top two challenges that credit unions face when innovating include integrating various systems at once and being unable to bring innovations to market quickly enough, according to the study.

Challenges in innovationAdditionally, 28% of credit unions remain concerned about focusing their efforts in the wrong area, which could be why 34% reported getting bogged down in complex internal decision-making and review processes.

Prioritizing innovation can allow credit unions to better meet customer expectations by offering personalized experiences that build trust and loyalty, gain a competitive advantage by accessing new markets, and improve their own operational efficiency.

That’s because staying relevant is frequently the best way to stay in business. The financial services landscape is highly competitive, so effective innovations can give firms a winning edge in the market.

Still, 56% of third-party FinTech vendors providing credit unions with digital products said credit unions are taking too long to adopt new technology.

In a crowded and rapidly evolving environment, this spells trouble.

Innovation can open doors to previously untapped markets. For example, younger generations are often more tech-savvy and inclined toward digital banking. By offering innovative solutions that cater to their preferences, credit unions can attract these potential customers who may not have considered traditional banking options before.

Product and service innovations can also result in cost savings, improved productivity and faster response times for credit unions.

When these firms operate more efficiently, they can pass on these benefits to customers in the form of better services and competitive rates. This helps accelerate customer happiness and satisfaction, which is the backbone of sustainable success and long-term member relationships.

The study found that half of credit union members said they value product innovation, and nearly one-quarter said they would take their business to another financial institution to find innovative products and services.


Upwork: Demand for AI Talent Drove Record Revenue in 2024

Work marketplace Upwork earned record revenue in 2024 and attributed its gains in part to artificial intelligence (AI).

In an earnings release and other materials issued Wednesday (Feb. 12), the company highlighted AI innovations it added to its marketplace platform and AI talent the platform connects with its clients.

“We’ve rapidly unlocked demand for AI-related work on our platform,” Upwork President and CEO Hayden Brown said in prepared remarks for the company’s quarterly earnings call.

Upwork reported full-year revenue of $769.3 million, which marked a 12% year-over-year gain and an all-time high, according to the earnings release.

The company achieved this gain during a year in which the broader staffing industry saw a 9% decline in revenue, Brown said in her prepared remarks.

During the year, the gross services volume (GSV) from AI-related work grew 60% and the number of clients engaging in AI-related projects grew 42%.

In addition, in 2024, the hourly earnings of freelancers engaged in AI-related work were 44% higher than those of other freelancers, per the release.

AI has been the fastest growing major category on the Upwork platform for several quarters, with clients seeking talent in prompt engineering, AI integration, generative AI modeling, and data labeling and annotation, according to an investor presentation released Wednesday.

During the Q&A portion of the earnings call, Brown said Upwork has grown and “shape-shifted” to meet the emerging demand for AI talent just as it did in the past, when there was newly created demand for social media managers and mobile developers.

“We are also leveraging AI on our platform to underpin the evolution of predictive and delightful conversational customer experiences,” Brown said in her prepared remarks.

Upwork enhanced its platform in April by adding an AI assistant called Uma that performs tasks like creating tailored proposal drafts for freelancers, evaluating candidates for clients, and scoping projects and designing optimal teams of experts for larger clients, according to the earnings release and the presentation.

The firm also acquired AI-native search-as-a-service company Objective, a move it said allowed Upwork to enhance the search and match performance of its platform, strengthen the company’s AI and machine learning teams, and continue to develop new capabilities for Uma.

“As the AI work tide builds, organizations of all sizes are seeking out more flexible talent models that match their needs for new and emerging skills, with partners who integrate cutting edge AI technology and valued human workers seamlessly and at scale to rapidly deliver on their priorities,” Brown said in her remarks.

“At the same time, professionals across geographies, specialties and industries want digitally powered ways of working that give them easy access to more autonomy, flexibility and earning power.”