In today’s fast-moving workplace, many employees are familiar with the surprise of a new software platform suddenly appearing on their screens—often with little to no prior warning or consultation. While well-intended, these abrupt technology rollouts can lead to unintended disruption, especially when key users are left out of the decision-making process.
According to ViClarity, this oversight represents a missed opportunity for IT leaders. Employees tend to support innovation, with a recent EY survey revealing that 89% of US workers see emerging technology as a positive force for their organisation. When tech implementations falter, it’s rarely because of resistance to change. More often, failures stem from a lack of employee involvement and a mismatch between the solution’s design and the team’s workflow.
For compliance professionals within credit unions, the stakes are even higher. In addition to adjusting to new tools, they must also ensure any new technology aligns with internal risk policies and regulatory expectations. As credit unions increasingly assemble complex ecosystems of FinTech partnerships, the burden of due diligence grows heavier—demanding that compliance teams keep pace with rapidly evolving risks.
One way to reduce this burden is through early collaboration between IT and compliance. Involving compliance professionals in the vendor selection process not only improves decision-making but helps avoid the regulatory pitfalls of poorly integrated solutions. These professionals bring a clear set of expectations to any new tech evaluation.
Top of the list is usability. According to a Freshworks survey, IT leaders say the greatest challenge in encouraging tech adoption is overly complex or unintuitive platforms. Compliance leaders worry that clunky systems will push employees to find workarounds, increasing the risk of shadow IT and potential regulatory breaches.
Next is whether the platform is up to date. More than half of senior executives—59%, according to research—believe new technologies are outdated by the time they are fully implemented. Legacy systems can be a nightmare for compliance due to cyber vulnerabilities and user abandonment caused by frustration.
Equally important is the cultural alignment between credit unions and their tech providers. Compliance teams expect FinTech vendors to reflect the same governance and risk principles, as regulators ultimately hold the credit union responsible for any violations—even those introduced by external partners.
Compliance teams will also look for executable controls within the platform. They want clarity on how a solution mitigates risks such as data breaches or system misuse. Pre-engagement risk assessments are essential for evaluating vulnerabilities and outlining control strategies.
Finally, ease of due diligence matters—especially for smaller credit unions where a single person might be responsible for vendor management. By adopting automated tools and centralised documentation, IT teams can simplify the compliance workload, making ongoing risk assessments more manageable.
For credit unions, successful tech adoption isn’t just about improving services for members. It’s also about ensuring internal users—from super users to compliance leads—are equipped and empowered to use the tools effectively. When the full team is engaged from the outset, innovation is far more likely to succeed.
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