The idea is that the process is “with-
out fear” and to ensure that, unlike
previously, potential partners do not
feel pressure to present products that
are “fully polished”.
“What we’re doing with The Lab
is finding fintechs that offer niche
services that make sense for a small
portion of our membership. We try
them out in a small pilot for a couple of
months to experiment with and test it
from our business perspective, looking
at the ROI of what that relationship
could be,” adds Maxim.
It also acts as a training ground
for employees. “We have some of
our experts from IT, including our
development team. We have our UX
team that helps us build out the pro-
totypes, but then we pull in people
identified as forward-thinking in their
areas, those who are also looking for—
Ben Maxim,
Assistant Vice President of Digital
Strategy and Innovation at MSUFCU“ The Lab is a combination of years of
organic innovation formalized into a place
to experiment with different fintechs and
innovative companies and talk about
those experiments, and get our members
involved early on”148
FEBRUARY 2021MSU FEDERAL CREDIT UNION