How can a board with global members operate efficiently despite multiple time zones? UNFCU had outgrown its static board extranet and was looking for real-time board management tools.
United Nations Federal Credit Union (UNFCU) serves a global community of nearly 225,000 members including staff, families, and retirees of the UN system. Headquartered in Long Island City, New York, UNFCU has branches in New York and Washington, DC, and representative offices in Europe and Africa. The financial cooperative has $8.6 billion in assets under management, as of September 30, 2023.
See lessons learned from evaluating which board technology best provided time-saving tools and exemplary support to run UNFCU’s monthly board meetings. Download the full case study.
The challenge: better support a global board with improved meeting management and expense reporting
After using an in-house built extranet to provide access to board materials and commonly used files to the board, UNFCU saw the need to better support their diverse, 9-member board spanning multiple countries and time zones.
UNFCU wanted more self-serve features for board members to prepare for meetings. This would provide more automation of routine board tasks to save the board administrator team time and user-friendly technology that was cost-efficient and could be expanded to grow with the credit union.
The solution: Aprio’s easy-to-use online board portal
UNFCU evaluated six different board management technology vendors. Each provider was asked to detail how their technology and service team could be the right fit for the global UN board.
Aprio stood out as providing ease of use, essential capabilities, and training and service to support a global team.
“We looked at multiple vendors and Aprio had enough capabilities to save time without being complex. Even during the evaluation process, Aprio was curious and really wanted to understand our needs. They were willing to make improvements to the platform to help us derive great value,” explains Anna Bertacchi, Assistant Vice President.
The impact: efficient meeting preparation, faster director support and improved expense reporting
Now, with easy access to centralized and searchable board information, 24/7 support, expense reporting, and automated tools for meeting prep and management, UNFCU’s board has become even more efficient and productive.
Additionally, the move from their extranet to the new portal proved seamless as a result of Aprio’s assistance with set up and one-on-one training for all directors and administrators.
Key impacts of using Aprio’s board portal include:
All board information in one place: The UNFCU Board Executive Operations team no longer juggles posting board meeting materials to the extranet and answering board questions via email. With Aprio, board members have greater self-sufficiency with their board package, calendar information, contacts, and committee materials all in one intuitive view online with search capabilities.
Time savings to set up & manage meetings: Aprio offers next-level efficiency for automating the board package creation process for board admins. When the board package is complete, it can be instantly distributed to all board members with tools to streamline agenda building and minute taking as well.
Expense reporting: Aprio’s board portal provides expense reporting with expense submission, reviews and approvals done efficiently and securely online. With UNFCU volunteer board members residing worldwide, Aprio also added a quick link to a currency converter to ease expense submissions for receipts in Euros, USD, Kenyan Shillings and more.
Support for directors in any time zone: With board members on multiple continents, responsive user support was a critical requirement from UNFCU. Now board members can contact Aprio 24/7 via email or phone for help exactly when they need it.
“User friendliness and training are outstanding with Aprio. I couldn’t find any other platform that offers that caliber of ease of use plus tailored training and ongoing support from their team. Additionally, Aprio’s expense reporting has been a game changer for better supporting the frequent travel reality of our members. We’ve quickly adopted the core features of Aprio and gained efficiency. We see room to grow.” – Anna Bertacchi, Assistant Vice President, United Nations Federal Credit Union
Room to grow with Aprio board portal
The UNFCU board was deliberate in picking a board management platform simple enough for quick adoption with tools to assist now and potentially add on in the future.
They found that Aprio’s capabilities for online voting and approving resolutions electronically during a board meeting enable them to gain even greater efficiency.
Aprio Impact at United Nations Federal Credit Union – Download the full case study
See the full case study on how United Nations Credit Union made the shift from extranet to Aprio board portal for credit unions.
See other Aprio case studies:
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