2025 Tekkie Award Winner for Increased Efficiency: Centris Federal Credit Union

By John San Filippo 

In an era where digital transformation is paramount, Omaha, Neb.-based Centris Federal Credit Union (Centris) ($1.3 billion assets, 140,000 members) has been honored with the 2025 Finopotamus Tekkie Award for Increased Efficiency. This recognition highlights Centris’s innovative approach to overhauling its member dispute process, a project undertaken in collaboration with DaLand CUSO. The initiative has not only significantly streamlined internal operations, but has also drastically improved the member experience by leveraging existing core functionality and strategic technological enhancements.

The Genesis of a Necessary Overhaul

Before this ambitious undertaking, Centris faced challenges with its dispute management system. The existing process was inconvenient for members, as it lacked self-service options and required substantial follow-up to gather the necessary details for dispute resolution. Centris Payments Manager Kris Schuler described the situation as “not ideal” for members, emphasizing the inability for members to self-service or contact the credit union outside of business hours to report an issue.

Internally, the process was equally cumbersome. Staff were burdened with “double work,” needing to fill out forms in their Corelation KeyStone core system and then duplicate efforts by completing separate forms for submission to Visa or to generate a Written Statement of Unauthorized Debit (WSUD) for Nacha purposes, Schuler explained. This manual duplication introduced significant risks, including accidental errors in general ledger entries and missed regulatory timeframes.

Centris had already made strides in efficiency since converting to the KeyStone platform in 2019, which offered a built-in disputes management module. This initial move from a spreadsheet and email-based system resulted in a 40% efficiency gain in managing dispute volume. However, the KeyStone module was primarily back-office focused, with limited front-office capabilities and no direct integration with online banking platforms. As Schuler noted, “There was still work to be done. We’d taken the system as far as we felt we could with the tools we had at our disposal. But, more importantly, that actual experience for the member was not meeting our standards.”

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these issues, leading to a “skyrocketing” increase in dispute volumes across the industry. This surge in disputes, driven by both fraud and an increase in “too good to be true” schemes, underscored the urgent need for Centris to offer a more robust and efficient system for its members.

More to the Core

Instead of opting for one of the many available off-the-shelf solutions, Centris chose to build upon its existing strong foundation within KeyStone, driven by a desire for greater control and a philosophy of “more to the core.” The existing visibility of disputes within KeyStone for frontline staff and the contact center was a critical factor, as it allowed representatives to view real-time information and provide immediate updates to members without needing to contact other departments.

This led Centris to partner with DaLand CUSO. The idea for the enhanced dispute system originated from an informal conversation between Schuler and a DaLand representative at a conference. This initial “wild and crazy idea,” Schuler said, blossomed into a collaborative development process.

Centris provided DaLand with detailed workflow requirements, outlining the desired flow for both in-branch users and self-initiating members. DaLand, in turn, not only met these requirements but “made it even better,” resulting in several iterations before the final solution was achieved, noted Randy Ralston, partner strategy analyst at DaLand CUSO. He explained that the goal was to incorporate Centris’s needs into their “core optimized digital experiences” (CODE) engine, avoiding a one-off custom solution that would require separate maintenance.

A key aspect of the solution’s design was its agnosticism regarding online banking systems. Schuler emphasized that while the solution integrates with their current online banking platform (Q2), it was intentionally not specifically for that platform, allowing for broader reusability by other DaLand clients. The system leverages single sign-on (SSO) for seamless integration, with the flexibility to support direct API integration as well. This design enables a “true standalone solution” that incorporates a disputes engine as part of the CODE engine.

Measurable Results and Transformative Impact

The project was implemented in two phases, yielding significant and measurable improvements in efficiency and enhanced member service.

Phase 1: Staff Portal Implementation (October 2023)

The first phase focused on streamlining interactions between member-facing staff and members during the dispute intake process, leading to “downstream” operational efficiencies for the payments department.

• Reduced Handling Times: Average handling times for dispute initiation calls or branch visits dropped by 2 to 2.5 minutes, representing a 33% reduction per call. This was achieved by scripting the interaction flow, ensuring consistent questioning and data capture.

• Faster Dispute Investigations: The payments department realized an average of 2 minutes saved per dispute investigation. By enforcing specific response types (e.g., requiring a date for a date field instead of free-form text), the quality of initial data improved, reducing the need for follow-up and making it faster to ascertain the situation or work the dispute immediately.

• Improved Forms Management: The elimination of double data entry—where staff previously had to fill out both an internal online form and a separate form for the member—was a “huge perceived win” for branch staff. This single-action process, combined with automated form routing directly into Centris’s optical storage solution, saved the payments department an additional 2 to 3 hours of work per week. Ralston highlighted that this time savings eliminated “the most tedious, frustrating, morale-killing work.”

Phase 2: Member Self-Service Portal (March 2024)

The second phase introduced the online dispute submission process for members. Notably, this was initially deployed without any marketing or “push” to members to use the new feature.

• Significant Shift to Online Channel: As of the end of first quarter 2025, 30.21% of all submitted disputes during the quarter were self-serviced by members through the online channel (totaling 488 self-serviced disputes). This represents a considerable shift in dispute volume from traditional channels.

• Reduced Call and Branch Workload: If these 488 self-serviced disputes had gone through the contact center, it would have required an additional 40.67 hours of call time. If the branch network had handled them, it would have demanded an extra 122 hours of staff time.

• 24/7 Accessibility: Approximately 33% of online dispute submissions occur outside of business hours, truly embodying Centris’s commitment to being “where you are” for their members. This round-the-clock availability enables members to report issues as soon as they are discovered, thereby enhancing convenience and service quality.

Looking Ahead: Continuous Improvement

While the core installation of the CODE solution was complete as of June 2025, Schuler believes in continuous improvement. The flexibility built into the system allows Centris to configure and adjust steps within the dispute flow directly within the CODE engine, eliminating the need to engage DaLand for every minor change. This configurability ensures that the system remains responsive to evolving needs and regulatory requirements.

The project involved five major systems, integrating them to create a seamless experience for both members and staff. The result is a user-friendly interface that dynamically guides members through the dispute process, asking only relevant questions based on the nature of the transaction (e.g., distinguishing between a purchase dispute and a fraud scenario). This streamlined UI-driven experience automatically generates required forms, routes them for e-signature or to a signature pad in-branch, and automates back-end routing, significantly reducing manual effort and potential for error.

The success of this project is a testament to the power of thoughtful collaboration and strategic technology deployment, Schuler said. By transforming a previously “fractured experience” into a seamless, efficient, and member-centric process, she added that Centris has not only earned a prestigious award but has also set a new standard for operational excellence and member satisfaction in the credit union industry.