NORTHERN INLAND CREDIT UNION 

Northern Inland Credit Union is a member-owned mutual financial institution focused on finding smarter ways for members to manage their money. As Natasha explains, the credit union is locally-owned with 15,000 members across four branches, 50 employees and a head office in Tamworth. “We’re a community-owned organisation, and as such, we don’t have shareholders to pay dividends to,” she says. “Instead, we’re owned by local people, which makes us much more responsive and community-focused, so we can carefully tailor our products towards the people that actually bank with us.”

Why use a SMART Whiteboard?

Natasha says the Whiteboard offered the perfect opportunity to help Northern Inland deliver the very best services for their Members. “It’s part of our mission to keep up with technology and invest in the services our Members want, so that we remain competitive and appealing to new Members – and we also want to retain our loyal Members who’ve been with us for many years. This new whiteboard seemed to fit perfectly with that requirement, enabling us to modernise our existing equipment and helping us to deliver cutting-edge services and presentations for our Members.”

Northern Inland previously invested in technology to enable them to conduct video conferencing between branches, which had proved to be quite expensive. “As video conferencing technology has advanced, the value of our previous investment had diminished,” Natasha says. “Additionally, we needed to upgrade so we could use video conferencing not only to communicate between branches, but also with the other stakeholders, third parties and suppliers we need to communicate with on a daily basis, as well as helping us to quickly and easily share content, connect with people on the road and so on.”

Northern Inland’s previous relationship with Inland Technology gave them the confidence to trust the company’s recommendations. “Inland Technology had already supplied photocopiers and other office equipment to us,” Natasha says. “I saw a social media post from one of their customers who’d just purchased a whiteboard, so we asked for some more information and a demo, and it all went from there.”

The Whiteboard in action

Since purchasing the SMART Whiteboard around four months ago, the bank has already very successfully used it to do everything from conducting video meetings to sharing content, presentations and results across multiple locations. Natasha describes how “it’s not only helped us to be more of a close-knit team, but we’ve also been able to integrate it into events like seminars for our members, where a third party came in to present on mobile EFTPOS solutions. It made the whole process incredibly easy, it looked really slick and impressive, and it also delivered a real ‘wow’ factor during the presentation.”

Northern Inland plans to embark on a new digital project in the next few months, and Natasha says the whiteboard will act as the ‘hub’ for that, as well as helping them to actually implement the new technology – making its presence even more valuable.

In the short time since its purchase, both Natasha and the entire team have already been hugely impressed by the board’s capabilities. “It’s made our regular meetings so much easier to set up and saved us a massive amount of time struggling with older, more ‘clunky’ technology,” she says. “Our team members comment on how easy it is to use, and it’s really lifted the quality of our communications, both internally and for our clients and members.”

“Whatever your business, I would very much recommend these boards. They’re an incredible means of facilitating communication and for showcasing business strengths. I can’t imagine how we managed for so long without one!”