Secret sauce? Why credit unions really choose Aprio

Credit unions make up the largest market that Aprio serves. Every year our board portal is chosen by more and more credit unions, and we love it because we make a great fit.

Our own board members ask us about this trend. When there are many board portals out there that seem to promise similar things, why do so many credit unions choose Aprio? Is it a special feature? Is it pricing?

We started thinking about this question and considered what we hear from credit unions themselves. Despite the value of great features and affordable pricing, the answers we came up with seem to be bigger – and more about community-focused values – than the technology itself.

We have roots in the credit union community.

Our CEO, Ian Warner, came from Vancity and our founders, John Kidder and Federico de Giuli, established our mission to bring good governance to all, including the smallest credit unions, in the hardest to reach regions, with the worst weather. We’ve built on this foundation by partnering with CUES and other organizations that support credit unions.

We know small can be mighty.

We serve some of North America’s largest credit unions, but we also serve many of the smallest, right down to towns of less than 10,000. We’re small ourselves and we respect that an organization’s strength has nothing to do with the size of their office.

Our product mantra is to truly help the people we serve.

The point of our board management software is not the technology but the continual improvements in governance and efficiency that the product enables. When Amy Nelson of Point West Credit Union reports, “The biggest win with Aprio is how much we’ve improved pre-meeting engagement, which has led to more productive meetings and better attendance,” we know we’re doing our job.

We believe in the power of people.

From working with directors one-on-one to offering local support, we think there’s tremendous efficiency in live human interaction. We love automation that’s smart – we’re a technology company, after all – but we don’t see that as a replacement for old-fashioned talking.

Has your credit union chosen a board portal? Let us show you around Aprio and introduce you to some other credit unions who know us well.