HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Redstone Federal Credit Union, a $3 billion credit union based in Huntsville, Ala., has turned its internal development team into a profit center through Open Solutions’ revolutionary solutions, DNAcreator and DNAappstore. Redstone was quick to become a certified DNAapp developer following Open Solutions’ May 2011 launch of the DNAappstore (www.dnaappstore.com), the first online marketplace to advance global collaboration and innovation for the financial services industry, and DNAcreator, a powerful suite of tools for creating applications. Since launch, Redstone has actively used DNAcreator to develop custom applications that increase organizational efficiency and improve their members’ experience with the credit union. Through the DNAappstore, the credit union is able to share these enhancements with a global network of banks and credit unions, creating a one-of-a-kind collaborative environment across the financial services industry.
“As an early adopter, our approach has always been to use DNAcreator to develop solutions for Redstone. Since then, we’ve learned what works for Redstone can benefit financial institutions around the world,” offered Harry Gunsallus, a Senior Vice-President at the credit union.
In addition to empowering financial institutions to become developers and customize applications to fit their core processing needs, DNAappstore offers banks and credit unions the opportunity to reach a global marketplace.
“Not only are we building solutions for Redstone, we are selling our DNAappstore applications to other financial institutions,” Gunsallus explains. “For the first time ever, the IT department can be a revenue generator instead of just a cost center. And, having sold over 140 licensed apps, we have a proven business model here.”
More than half of Redstone’s sales have come from community banks, embodying the collaborative nature Open Solutions envisioned with DNAappstore.
The DNAappstore launched May 2, and has grown to include 95 DNAapps with 41 institutions registered as certified DNAapp developers, and the online platform has seen visitors from 38 countries, showing its true global reach.
“I want to congratulate the Redstone team on their remarkable accomplishment in such a short time,” stated Louis Hernandez, Jr., chairman and CEO of Open Solutions. “The DNA platform is empowering banks, credit unions, our partners and the developer community to share ideas around the world, and Redstone’s tremendous success on the DNAappstore is proof.”
“Our most popular DNAapp was designed to reduce the amount of time required to research Overdraft questions from 20 minutes to 5 minutes,” noted Brad Donham, manager of the software development team at Redstone. “This sort of tool will increase productivity for the institutions that buy it, but equally important, it will benefit consumers all over the world as the DNAapp is rolled out by other institutions. The DNAappstore has really changed the way our developers think about creating software at the credit union; they are motivated to see the value they create be judged in an open marketplace, and the end product is ultimately better for our credit union’s members.”
As Redstone has discovered, DNAappstore allows the opportunity to serve an exponential number of consumers through a global financial services community of both banks and credit unions.
“Open Solutions has hundreds of clients on the DNA platform, and we all have different priorities,” Gunsallus states. “DNAcreator gives us the ability to set our own development priorities. Now, when we solve a business problem for Redstone, we have the ability to share the solution with the industry. We are proud of what we have created and brought to market so far, and we’re looking forward to buying apps from other institutions that will improve Redstone’s operations.”
“This is such a pivotal time for the financial services industry – community banks and credit unions need to collaborate to gain a competitive advantage,” said David Mitchell, executive vice president and chief marketing officer in charge of Open Solutions’ product strategy. “DNAcreator gives our client community the tools to create flexible solutions that will help them better compete in their markets, but it’s really the sharing of these solutions on the DNAappstore that will create the much needed disruptive change.”
Open Solutions Inc.
Open Solutions Inc.® offers a fully-featured strategic information management product platform that integrates core processing applications built on a single centralized Oracle relational database, with Internet banking, cash management, CRM/business intelligence, financial accounting and management tools, profitability tools, wealth management, imaging, digital documents, interactive voice response, technology services, HSAs, payments and loan origination solutions. Open Solutions’ full suite of products and services allows banks, thrifts, credit unions and financial services providers in the United States, Canada and internationally to better compete in today’s aggressive financial services marketplace, and expand and tap their trusted financial relationships, client affinity, community presence and personalized service.
For more information about Open Solutions, visit Open Solutions at www.opensolutions.com. Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/opensolutionsinc and via Twitter @OpenSolutionsCC.
Open Solutions Inc. is a registered trademark of Open Solutions Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright 2011 Open Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.
Redstone Federal Credit Union
Redstone Federal Credit Union is a federally chartered credit union headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama and is regulated and insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). With nearly 350,000 members and more than $3 billion in assets, Redstone is the largest credit union in Alabama and among the 25 largest credit unions in the nation.
On November 28, 1951, the United States Government granted RFCU its charter. Eleven individuals with assets totaling $55 started membership at RFCU. The original $55 was saved in a shoebox and the first office was located on Redstone Arsenal. The original charter served employees of Redstone Arsenal only. Today, RFCU members are located all over the world and the original $5 deposit is still all that constitutes members' ownership in the credit union.