Most credit unions don’t fail at digital for lack of tools—they fail for lack of a clear, ongoing digital progression blueprint that keeps members at the center.
Most credit unions don’t fail at digital because of technology. They fail because they treat digital transformation like a one-time project instead of a progression.
That’s the core idea behind MeridianLink’s approach, and it lines up with what I’ve seen with AI for credit unions: the winners aren’t the ones who buy the flashiest tools, they’re the ones who build a clear, member-centric blueprint and improve it quarter after quarter.
In this post—part of our AI for Credit Unions: Member-Centric Banking series—we’ll unpack the “digital progression” concept that Wes Zauner, VP of Product at MeridianLink, shared on The CUInsight Network, and translate it into a practical roadmap for AI-powered credit unions.
You’ll see how to move from scattered projects to a cohesive digital strategy across five pillars: process automation, member experience, share of wallet, data centricity, and instant decisioning.
Why “Digital Progression” Beats One-Time Transformation
The most successful AI-driven credit unions treat digital as a continuous upgrade cycle, not a checkbox on a strategic plan.
“Our goal is to help credit unions advance in their digital technology journey.” – Wes Zauner, VP of Product, MeridianLink
Here’s the thing about big “digital transformation” initiatives: they burn a lot of time, energy, and political capital. A three-year project plan is already stale by the time the ink dries. Member expectations, fraud patterns, and AI capabilities are changing too quickly for that.
Digital progression is a different mindset:
- You define a digital blueprint based on where you are and where you want to go.
- You prioritize a small number of high-impact, member-facing changes each year.
- You measure, learn, and adjust continuously.
For AI in particular, progression matters because every step builds data, trust, and operational maturity:
- Start with AI-assisted decisioning in lending or fraud.
- Add member service automation with chat or secure messaging.
- Expand into personalized financial wellness tools based on behavioral data.
Each layer makes the next one smarter and more valuable. That compounding effect is where credit unions quietly outcompete larger institutions.
The Digital Blueprint: 5 Pillars Credit Unions Can Use
A good digital blueprint answers one question clearly: What exactly are we modernizing, and why? Wes Zauner frames this around five key areas. I’ll connect each to practical AI use cases for member-centric banking.
1. Process Automation: Free People to Do Member-Centric Work
Process automation is about removing friction from routine tasks so staff can focus on conversations that actually require judgment and empathy.
For credit unions, typical automation wins include:
- Online account opening with automatic KYC/AML checks
- Digital loan applications with status updates and document upload
- Automated collections workflows with segmented outreach
AI makes this much stronger:
- Intelligent routing: Use AI to route member inquiries to the right channel (self-service, chatbot, or human) based on intent and complexity.
- Document understanding: OCR and NLP can read pay stubs, tax returns, and IDs, extract key data, and flag inconsistencies.
- Predictive collections: Models can predict which members are likely to respond to a friendly reminder vs. needing a different strategy.
If you’re looking for a starting point in 2025, I’d pick one end-to-end process—like digital consumer lending—and map it from first click to funding. Then ask: where could automation speed this up without hurting the member experience? Those are your first sprints.
2. Member Experience: Consistent, Personal, and Always-On
Member experience isn’t just about pretty interfaces. It’s about consistency, personalization, and control across channels.
MeridianLink’s philosophy is that digital tools should enhance the member experience, not simply replicate branch processes on a screen. AI is the bridge here.
Practical examples:
- 24/7 member service automation: An AI assistant in mobile and online banking that can handle routine tasks—balance questions, card controls, password resets—without passing members through endless menus.
- Next-best action prompts: When a member logs in, the system can highlight exactly what’s most relevant: a pre-qualified auto loan, a savings goal reminder, or a fraud alert.
- Proactive notifications: Predictive analytics can trigger helpful nudges, like “You’re trending toward overdraft next week” or “You can save $35/month by consolidating these two loans.”
The credit unions that stand out are the ones that treat AI as a way to anticipate needs, not just answer questions. That’s what “member-centric banking” actually looks like in practice.
3. Share of Wallet Growth: Personalized Offers, Not Generic Cross-Sell
Growing share of wallet isn’t about sending more offers. It’s about sending fewer, smarter offers to the right members at the right time.
A digital blueprint that includes share of wallet will usually focus on three things:
- Understanding member financial lives: Income patterns, life events, product usage, and channel preferences.
- Scoring opportunity: Which members are most likely to need an auto loan, HELOC, credit card, or small business product in the next 90 days?
- Delivering offers in context: Inside mobile banking, during a branch interaction, or triggered by a life event like a new direct deposit.
AI is very good at spotting those patterns. For example:
- A member’s transaction data shows recurring rent payments and a rising savings balance. The model flags them as a strong candidate for a first-time homebuyer program.
- Another member consistently pays down high-rate external credit cards from your account. They get a targeted, pre-approved balance transfer offer.
The reality? Members are tired of generic cross-sell. But they respond to relevant, well-timed recommendations that clearly improve their financial wellness. AI makes that level of personalization actually manageable for credit unions of all sizes.
4. Data Centricity: From Core-Data Chaos to Usable Insight
Most credit unions sit on a gold mine of data scattered across the core, LOS, CRM, card processor, and digital banking systems. Data centricity means turning that sprawl into a single view of the member you can actually use.
Digital progression here looks like this:
- Integrate key systems so you can see products, behaviors, and interactions in one place.
- Standardize and clean data so AI models and analytics are actually reliable.
- Build repeatable analytics and dashboards for fraud, lending, and member engagement.
For AI in credit unions, data quality is non-negotiable:
- Fraud detection models need high-quality, labeled transaction data.
- Loan decisioning models need historical approvals, declines, performance, and outcomes.
- Member service models need transcripts and intent labels to improve over time.
I strongly recommend designating data owners and data stewards early in your progression. If no one owns data quality, every AI initiative will stall or underperform.
5. Instant Decisioning: Faster Answers, Smarter Risk
Members expect fast answers. Not “we’ll get back to you in three business days.”
Wes Zauner highlights instant decisioning as a core pillar for MeridianLink’s digital blueprint, and it’s a natural fit for AI in lending and fraud.
Examples of instant decisioning in a member-centric way:
- Real-time loan approvals: Use AI-driven credit models to auto-approve clean applications in seconds while routing edge cases to human underwriters.
- Dynamic pricing and terms: Adjust rates, limits, and terms based on risk, relationship depth, and product mix.
- Fraud decisioning: Approve, decline, or step-up authenticate transactions in real time based on behavioral and device data.
The risk team’s concern is always the same: “Will AI loosen our standards?” The answer is no—if you design it correctly. Well-governed models tighten risk control by:
- Applying consistent criteria across all applications
- Catching subtle patterns humans can’t see in real time
- Providing explainable outputs (e.g., the top factors that drove the decision)
Instant decisioning is one of the quickest ways to improve both member satisfaction and operational efficiency—two levers every CEO and CFO care about going into 2026.
Turning the Blueprint into Action: How to Start in 2025
A digital blueprint is useless if it lives in a slide deck. The credit unions that actually progress share a few common habits.
1. Anchor Everything in Member Journeys
Start with real member journeys, not org charts:
- How does a member open an account today, step-by-step?
- What’s their path for a first auto loan or debt consolidation?
- How do they get help on a suspicious transaction at 10 p.m.?
Map the friction points and ask: where would AI or automation make this faster, simpler, or more reassuring for the member? Those answers feed directly into your digital progression backlog.
2. Set Clear, Measurable Goals
Vague aspirations like “improve digital experience” don’t help anyone.
Much better:
- Reduce average consumer loan decision time from 24 hours to 5 minutes.
- Shift 30% of routine service inquiries to AI-powered self-service within 12 months.
- Increase cross-sell conversion on targeted offers by 20%.
When you combine these types of KPIs with the five pillars, prioritization becomes straightforward.
3. Build a Cross-Functional Digital Council
Digital progression can’t be “the IT project” or “the lending project.” The strongest credit unions form a cross-functional digital council that includes:
- Lending and collections
- Retail / member experience
- Risk and compliance
- Marketing / growth
- Technology and data
This group owns the digital blueprint, reviews results quarterly, and adjusts priorities. It also helps ensure AI initiatives are aligned with compliance and brand values from day one.
4. Partner Strategically, Don’t Rebuild Everything
Vendors like MeridianLink exist for a reason: you don’t need to reinvent LOS, decisioning engines, or data orchestration yourself.
The smarter move is usually:
- Choose a platform that fits your size and complexity.
- Integrate AI solutions for specific use cases (fraud, lending, member service).
- Keep your internal team focused on strategy, configuration, and governance, not building everything from scratch.
Most credit unions are pleasantly surprised by how much they can achieve in 12–18 months with the right partners and a focused blueprint.
Digital Progression as the Engine of Member-Centric AI
Digital progression gives AI a real job: serving members better, not just checking a “innovation” box.
When you structure your AI strategy around the five pillars—process automation, member experience, share of wallet growth, data centricity, and instant decisioning—you get a roadmap that’s both ambitious and practical.
For this AI for Credit Unions: Member-Centric Banking series, that’s the core message: you don’t need to be the biggest institution to offer smart, personalized, AI-powered service. You need a clear blueprint, a mindset of progression, and partners who understand credit unions.
If your team is still treating digital transformation as a project with an end date, it’s time to reframe the conversation. The credit unions that thrive over the next few years will be the ones that treat digital—and AI in particular—as an ongoing journey toward deeper member relationships.
The real question is simple: what’s the next, concrete step in your digital progression, and when will you take it?