Episode 97:  The Value of the Cloud From COVID-19 to Information Capture—An Interview With Steve Comer


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Aug 20 2020 28 mins   1
“The cloud brings a lot to the table when it comes to what you can offer your members,” Steve Comer says in this show. That’s a key reason that credit unions are embracing the use of the cloud these days, explains Comer, director of financial services & insurance sales at Hyland Software Inc. Hyland OnBase is a CUESolutions provider for enterprise information systems and the sponsor of episode 97. Another key reason that credit unions are increasingly using the cloud is that the technology has matured and been proven over the years. To clarify what is meant by the buzzword “cloud,” Comer provides a very succinct definition: It’s “somebody else’s computer.” “You’re referring to servers, databases applications that are housed somewhere and accessed over the internet,” he explains, “so it’s just relieving an institution of the burden of carrying all that infrastructure in house.” Credit unions are adopting the cloud in many applications now, he says, because “they are very strategic in their thinking” and the cloud can help them make strategic moves. For example, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused many credit unions to send their staff members home to work, credit unions that already were using the cloud found themselves with an advantage. “Credit unions had to learn to operate with the remote workforce,” Comer explains in the show. “The ability to keep work processes going was suddenly reliant on mutual accessibility points that didn’t exist if you had a completely on-premise infrastructure. “You have to be able to work with your co-workers” even when you’re working from home, Comer adds. “You have to be able to communicate with your members. You have to be able to share information. And, because of COVID, people were everywhere.” This show also gets into: How cloud-based applications helped credit unions, especially those that were ready with cloud technology, participate in Paycheck Protection Program lending—by allowing them to share and access application materials, evaluate and distribute loans, and manage compliance requirements How cloud-based applications help with compliance monitoring and execution on new rules not just for PPP but in general How the cloud can help a credit union capture information that’s coming in and make its data processes more efficient What’s next for the cloud, which Comer says is likely to be part of practically every new technology