Jack Henry Connect: Executives Talk Tech

By John San Filippo

The annual Jack Henry Connect user conference was held in San Diego Sept. 8-11, 2025. Finopotamus was onsite and had the opportunity to speak separately with two key executives: Shanon McLachlan, Jack Henry’s COO; and Brynn Ammon, president of Credit Union Solutions.

The primary takeaway from both conversations: Jack Henry’s strategy for credit unions centers on its new cloud-native platform, which is designed to extend the capabilities of its existing core systems like Symitar without forcing credit unions into a full core conversion.

The Jack Henry Platform and Legacy Cores

Both McLachlan and Ammon emphasized that the company’s legacy cores, including Symitar, aren’t going away. Instead, they are being extended by the new Jack Henry platform, which is designed to layer over existing cores, providing new capabilities through an API-first approach. This means credit unions can selectively add new services—like a new wires platform or the Tap2Local solution—without needing to replace their entire core system.

According to McLachlan, this strategy gives Jack Henry a unique advantage in the industry. He said, "We’re the only vendor at this point that’s gone through a cloud transformation, with multiple products in various stages of production and more being deployed at a strong cadence.” He explained that the new platform natively handles things that would require a massive effort for a traditional core, such as the six decimal positions of precision needed for digital currencies like stablecoins. “Natively, we’ve already done that in the digital core.”

Ammon likened this layered approach to a hand with fingers extending from it. The hand is the core application, and the platform components are the fingers. This visual illustrates how a credit union can choose to extend its capabilities with different “pieces” of the platform as needed, without needing to convert their entire core. “Maybe I don’t need this ring finger piece, I just need this pinky piece,” she noted, adding that this optionality is key, as it allows credit unions to modernize at their own pace and maintain the stability of their existing systems.

New Products and Opportunities

At the Connect conference, two key products, running in closed beta, were highlighted: Rapid Transfers and Tap2Local. 

Shanon McLachlan

• Rapid Transfers: This feature, a partnership with Visa and Mastercard, allows users to link external accounts to their Banno digital baking app and move money in real time to or from other financial institutions. It is an application programming interface (API)-driven solution that will eventually be available to customers on other digital banking platforms.

• Tap2Local: This product turns a credit union into a merchant acquirer, allowing small businesses and gig workers to accept card payments via tap-to-pay on their phone. It integrates with QuickBooks to automate reconciliation, a task that can consume several hours a week for micro-businesses. McLachlan said, “We’ve thought there has to be a better way to do this.” This feature is particularly valuable for the significant percentage of a credit unions membership – estimated at 30-35% – who run a sole proprietorship through a personal account.

Ammon believes that the payments side of the platform, like Tap2Local, can be a game-changer for credit unions by helping them attract new business members beyond traditional commercial lending. She said, “The mindset is, when you think of business, you think of big, giant, commercial banks lending on commercial real estate and that kind of thing.” However, she stressed that the real opportunity lies with small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and gig workers who are currently “buried in the database at the credit union.”

Cloud, Data, and The Future

Brynn Ammon

The new Jack Henry platform is a cloud-native solution, and both executives touched on the advantages of this model. McLachlan pointed out that the cost to run in a cloud environment continues to decrease, and that the money invested in security by major cloud providers like  Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) is difficult for individual businesses to match.

Another important component of the platform is the Data Hub, which is the “plumbing” for disparate data sources within the company’s ecosystem, explained Ammon. It pulls in data from the core, Banno, and payments, all living in Google Cloud Platform and built on Google’s BigQuery for AI-enabled, cloud-native data access. Ammon explained that while the Data Hub itself is for clients who know how to use and leverage data, the long-term strategy is to build an intelligence platform around it for those who simply want a ready-to-use solution. She emphasized that having a clear data strategy is critical, stating, “If you don’t understand what you want to do with the data, all you have is a bucket of data.”

When Finopotamus asked about the reception from Symitar clients, Ammon acknowledged a lot of unfounded “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” in the market. She said, “The chatter is that we’re going to force credit unions to move to a new core.” However, she insisted that this isn’t the case and that Jack Henry will continue to invest in and support the Symitar platform for clients who aren’t ready to adopt Jack Henry platform components. She explained that new, agile development will happen on the platform, and clients can choose to adopt it at their own pace. As an example, she offered the company’s new wires platform. “Some credit unions that are very active in wires are eager to adopt it,” she noted. “Others may never see the need.”

In the final analysis, she said, “We’re not going to force anybody to go to the platform.”