If you are operating a SACCO, you need to stay up to date with your members and technology trends.
Your SACCO members’ needs keep changing regularly so does technology.
So, if you are looking for the best way to operate a modern and profitable SACCO, check out the below pointers.
Make use of data.
Utilize your data to get to know your members, assess the state of your SACCO, and learn about market trends.
Because every business has its own seasons, reliable data can assist you determine where to focus your efforts and investments for the best results.
To accomplish this, you will undoubtedly require a reliable SACCO system that will support and assist you in making the most of your data. Simply put, I’m referring to a SACCO core banking system that includes business intelligence tools for improved reporting.
In SACCOs, where numbers really matter, data is more important.
There’s a reason why the term “data-driven” has become so popular. Because it works, and organizations that have made good use of their data have seen results.
Know your members
You can’t help people if you don’t know what their needs and goals are.
Different members have different goals, such as gaining access to credit, looking for savings alternatives, long-term investments, or a dependable financial partner for their businesses.
Knowing their pain points and putting measures in place to help them find solutions are the first steps toward providing excellent customer service.
You can learn about your SACCO members by conducting surveys, in-person interviews, and analyzing data to determine their trends, such as which of your products they request when and how frequently.
This is another case where data can be useful.
Your SACCO members have their needs and its your role to understand them. Its very unfortunate that most SACCOs assume that members are there just because they need loans.
Im sure there are some who have been members for more than 17 years and have never applied for a credit facility from the SACCO.
Here, a reliable system will help you better. Learn how Total SACCO improved their customer experience by 50%.
Embrace Mobile Banking
You can’t fight mobile domination.
In this era, you can only embrace it. There are reasons why SACCOs operating without a mobile banking system are losing revenues on a daily basis.
No member wants to queue for hours and fill a bunch of forms just to apply for loans or transact.
Actually, in our last survey, we found that most members consider convenience before they decide to join a SACCO. Convenience to them is easy access to your services from wherever at whatever time.
A good mobile banking system will help you increase revenues through member’s transactions, increase deposits and improve customer experience.
Make services quickly available to members
I’m guessing you and your SACCO members are both very busy.
Everyone values time and your SACCO members require quick and efficient services.
Use automation to improve the level of service you provide to your members. SACCOs that operate manually are losing money, members, and public trust.
The moment you delay an emergency loan by hours, it will lose relevance. It’s no longer an emergency loan.
For instance, if a member applies for an emergency loan, they expect the funds or some sort of response in the next five minutes.
You might be thinking that automation is expensive for your SACCO. Its actually cheaper than operating manually.
Make work easier for your staff
Your team is at the center stage of customer experience and overall growth of the SACCO.
They can only offer you better results if they are empowered with the right tools to help them work efficiently.
Consider the fact that they are humans, they are prone to errors. Automating your processes will help reduce small mistakes that may end up costing you a lot of money.
Automation will also help your staff save time and achieve a lot. For instance CoopMIS SACCO Management System comes with automated SASRA reporting, this will help your team save more time in preparing the reports and concentrate on other tasks.
Invest in Audit Trail
Audit trail is a step-by-step record by which accounting, trade details, or other financial data can be traced to their source.
A lot of SACCOs have been victims of fraud and this is not something that will end soon, especially for SACCOs with manual operations.
When proper audit trails are put in place, fraudsters can easily be traced and future cases can be prevented by far.
Setting up various approval rights and easier access of resources to authorized personnel will play a big role here.
Learn more about how you can reduce fraudulent activities in your SACCO
Invest in cybersecurity
Financial institutions are one of the most targeted industries by cyber criminals.
Of course, SACCOs makes a huge part of that.
Invest in secured systems that will help you prevent loss of funds and data through cyber-attacks.
At least start with a web based systems, train your internal teams on importance and best practices of cybersecurity then work with experts in the industry.
In most cases, your SACCO system vendors will most likely partner with experts in cybersecurity in order to offer you a more secure system. This is because their core business is providing you with a seamless solution to operate your SACCO. Partnering with a cybersecurity expert will add more value to the SACCO considering it strengthens the systems security.
