Let’s rewind to 1992. The internet was expanding, and companies were beginning to realize the potential of this new, powerful tool. As a young engineer, I sought out thought leadership in this area as I worked to develop my own ideas and strategies.

While conducting research, I found a book written by Ray Grenier called Working Together Apart. Even back in 1992, Grenier envisioned how working in a networked environment could help cut cycle times and enable cost savings. This notion struck a chord with me in that he explored the productive use of networking rather than focusing only on the technology and intricacies of the new tools. Grenier surmised that workers and systems could use networking and techniques to communicate, analyze, access and share information in a near real-time environment. Thanks to this new technology, workers no longer needed to be physically near each other, which also enabled companies to build high performance, geographically diverse teams. This book became the foundation for many of the strategies I have developed in the years since.

Fast-forward to today. While the promise of Grenier’s vision is still maturing and growing, the scope has expanded significantly. The original focus was to leverage engineering and production processes. Realistically, the scope now includes end users and customers. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the financial services sector.

Basic consumer expectations in the financial services sector have not really changed over the years, except for the addition of a strong expectation for institutions to protect their information. Today’s consumers expect institutions to keep their information safe while also delivering accurate information in the format in which they want it whenever they want it. A decade ago, these expectations were primarily (and successfully) met through monthly statements delivered via email or basic lookup functions such as account balance. Today, those basic requirements have expanded and now require us to leverage new and emerging technologies and processes.

The expectation that institutions will keep their information safe continues to offer challenges. Criminals will continue to mature their tools and look at new ways to compromise the perimeters of organizations. The expectation for accurate information means more than just a monthly statement. Consumers make real-time decisions and expect real-time data. Accessing their information when they want it has also taken on new life. It often means accessing information when they need it most, such as finding an operational branch or ATM during a natural disaster like a flood, storm or wildfire, all of which we saw more than our fair share of last year. Finally, consumers want information in the right format, which now includes a variety of phones, tablets and voice products.

This is by no means bad news. Working in the credit union industry, I have seen firsthand the challenges it brings when it comes to developing new secure and innovative tools to meet member demand. One of the primary keys to the success of the industry is maintaining the public trust in credit unions. Trust is built by meeting the consumer demands of security, accuracy, anytime access (uptime) and device-agnostic access to information. With enhanced trust and satisfaction comes growth for individual credit unions and the industry as a whole.

Relevance is a key concern for businesses long term, and the quickest path to losing relevance is failing to understand how your customers want to communicate with you. Organizations must recognize the importance of leveraging emerging systems to remain relevant in the ever-changing business world. How do businesses leverage advances in networking and communication to remain relevant? Here are a couple of time-tested tips: