Last May, RATIO principal, Chris Pollard was interviewed by Canadian Credit Union Association’s Enterprise magazine for his thoughts on future-proofing credit union branch design.
Chris offers three key considerations required for future-proofing location and design decisions:
- scalability
- member insights
- community understanding
“For credit unions, the branch of the future meets financial service expectations through a hub-and-spoke model,” he says. “Branches are scaled to meet service requirements. The branch of the future plays a role in the community, providing flexible space to community groups, small business owners and group meetings or educational seminars. Branch design may reflect a network brand but offer a local feel. It’s all about the customer, from delivering the kind of service they want, how they want it, seamlessly from online to branch, where the physical branch is an inviting environment for one to one high-value transactions.”
Pollard also believes that meeting future needs requires a commitment to staying connected with members, something credit unions already do well. “By staying connected to their customers, credit unions will understand why people still want to come into branches. When a client comes to us and says, ‘we’ve leased a new space and we want to do a renovation’, or ‘can you help us find a new space?’ we take a step back and look at where they want to be in five or 10 years. Because the decisions you’re making now have a massive effect on what you’re able to do in the future.”
Chris Pollard, RATIO principal as quoted in Enterprise Magazine, May/June issue, written by Lisa Manfield
RATIO has delivered strategic design solutions for credit union and retail financial service clients for over 50 years. See a sampling of our clients and projects here.
Stay connected with RATIO: Sign up for RATIO news > Twitter > LinkedIn
