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One of the many benefits of a partnership with Elan Credit Card is our investment in technology. Adam Field, Director of Market Intelligence at Elan, answers a few questions about our technology roadmap, creative ways partners are leveraging APIs, and how our technology delivers the best experience for credit unions and cardmembers.

1. Which technology trends do you believe will have the most impact on credit unions and the member experience?
The biggest technology trend I’m following right now isn’t a specific capability or use case, but rather an adoption of technology across the credit card industry, internally at Elan, and of course, by our partners. Capabilities like data files, single sign on (SSO), and application programming interface (APIs) have been around for a while, but we’re seeing increased interest in technology uptake across the industry.

Elan, like many of our partners, is in the process of updating our capabilities by moving to cloud platforms, modernizing our core, launching new native apps, and developing innovative APIs to deepen our integration offering. As our partners complete similar initiatives, their upgraded technology stacks create opportunities for them to integrate credit cards into their cardmembers’ experiences in ways that simply weren’t possible just 2-3 years ago.

I expect acceleration of this trend, with more partners leveraging their new capabilities to better integrate credit cards alongside other products, creating truly seamless experiences for their cardmembers.

2. From a technology perspective, can you describe the onboarding process for Elan partners?
Following a multi-year focus on accelerating partner technology, Elan has developed a very strong technology practice that is delivering results for our partners.

When onboarding our technology, we collaborate every step of the way with partners beginning with solution design through implementation. From helping partners leverage our single sign-on, APIs, and other integrations, to developing custom applicant and cardmember experiences across the credit union environments, we work in tandem to engage cardmembers in branches, call centers, and digital properties.

These capabilities deliver industry-leading user experiences for applicants and cardmembers, whether the member is engaging with our platforms or our partner’s environments.

3. What types of APIs are available for Elan partners?
APIs are most commonly leveraged in our partner’s digital environments and mobile applications by delivering credit card information alongside all of the other products and services offered by our partners.

Elan has developed a suite of over 20 APIs that help our partners service existing accounts and attract new cardmembers. To date, our focus has largely been on APIs that share information, enabling credit card to become a more seamlessly integrated product across our partners’ touchpoints. We’re now progressing with APIs that enable account management, such as making payments, redeeming rewards, and managing alerts.

Partners are also using this new technology to creatively enhance old-school processes. For example, a partner recently integrated APIs into their call center IVR, enabling members who prefer calling to receive real-time information about their credit cards.

These APIs also enhance in-branch servicing for applicants and cardmembers. For example, our Application Status API delivers real-time application status information to the systems used by Member Service Representatives, enabling them to track their progress in the same systems they already use to monitor new accounts activities.

In total, our API suite enables partners to truly integrate credit card across their environments, connecting cards across the entire user experience.

4. What’s next for Elan?
Though we’ve made incredible progress in the last few years, we’re not done yet! In the next year and beyond, Elan will bring to life a new cloud-based enhanced Apply platform, launch a new iOS and Android native mobile app, introduce new and improved APIs, and additional capabilities within our enhanced servicing platform, including our on-card Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) capability, Card Extend Pay.

These ongoing initiatives will continue, as Elan considers technology enhancements to be critical for both our partners and cardmembers. The partner and user experience is top of mind for Elan as we continue to plan and prepare for the future.

To learn more about current Elan features and technology enhancements coming this year, complete the form below.