YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY

Springfield, MO

Log in Subscribe

THINK VERTICAL: The next step for the Invo Solutions team, James Dennis, on screen, and from left, Derek Williams, Jake Martin and Gary Kirk, is to implement their software in banks across the country. They also plan to develop software for insurance companies.
SBJ photo by Jessica Rosa
THINK VERTICAL: The next step for the Invo Solutions team, James Dennis, on screen, and from left, Derek Williams, Jake Martin and Gary Kirk, is to implement their software in banks across the country. They also plan to develop software for insurance companies.

Business Spotlight: Video-activated

Invo Solutions’ video banking software aims to shorten wait times and increase efficiencies

Posted online

Invo Solutions LLC is changing the way high-value, cashless banking is performed.

Imagine shorter wait times to meet with a mortgage officer or conducting business from the comfort of home. With Invo Video Banking, that’s becoming a reality.

Founded by Derek Williams and Gary Kirk in 2012, Invo Solutions has made their video banking software available for the last 18 months, and they’ve had significant interest from credit unions across the country.

“We’re truly putting time back into the member or customer’s day, and that’s what excites me,” says Williams.

To date, the software has been deployed in over 80 branches of credit unions across the United States, serving about 400,000 customers, Chief Operations Officer Jake Martin says. The team also has seen recent interest from financial institutions in Puerto Rico and Canada.

Williams and Kirk got their start in the credit union industry – both are executives at BluCurrent Credit Union – so naturally they began targeting peer institutions in other markets. Some of their bigger clients include MobilOil Credit Union in Texas and Kansas-based Heartland Credit Union.

The software can be used for mortgages, loans and setting up new accounts.

At a click of a button, customers are able to speak in real-time with financial professionals from any location, whether they’re using an in-branch kiosk or working on their laptop or smartphone from home. The employees can answer calls from any location, too, whether they’re in a different branch or at home.

Williams and Kirk say they’re seeing a shift in curiosity of the product. At first, credit unions were considering if they could implement the software, but now, it’s more of a question of when.

“Video adoption in general is really growing, so we feel like we’ve landed in an area that’s going to grow and continue to grow,” Kirk says.

The conception
Kirk and Williams saw a need for increased efficiency eight years ago at their local branches. Kirk, BluCurrent’s executive vice president, says since BluCurrent is a smaller institution without a branch on every corner, the team was left wondering how it could extend services outside of physical locations.

That sparked an idea for the duo’s Invo Solutions work. For years, they had built e-commerce websites. But if they could develop a way to handle financial transactions through video, it would be a game changer, they thought.

Kirk says they tried looking for other companies that had designed similar software for inspiration, but they couldn’t find any. Now, their closest competition is POPio out of Salt Lake City.

They say they were blessed to have the opportunity to test the product within BluCurrent.

“We started with one station at one branch, and before we knew it, we had it at all of our branch locations,” says Williams, BluCurrent’s chief operations officer.

Through the prior website-building projects, Williams and Kirk say they reinvested that revenue into developing the video banking software. Kirk says they each personally put in $500 as startup costs in 2012.

Over the last few years, the team has made adjustments to the product. BluCurrent is still the only financial institution that utilizes the software in Springfield; another nearby is Azura Credit Union in Kansas.

“We’re not just a technology provider,” Kirk says. “We live this out every day, so we understand what it looks like in a financial institution to implement this.”

The software is offered a la carte – for kiosk, web or mobile use.

“We want to be a solution for the smallest institution to the largest institution, so we need to make sure we’re affordable for everyone,” Kirk says.

The product cost, which officials declined to disclose, is dependent on such factors as the number of users, kiosks and locations, and if the institution opts for Invo Solutions’ web and mobile services.

“It allows a lot of financial institutions to adopt this and then scale that technology, so it’s not a significant investment up front. And it can grow as their needs require that,” Martin says.

Banking next
The Invo Solutions office, subleased on the second floor of Classy Llama’s building in Chesterfield Village, has a laidback, yet energetic, vibe. Nerf guns and “Star Wars” memorabilia are sprinkled throughout, and Martin says each new employee is given their own Nerf gun upon hiring.

The company employs eight – two who specialize in business development and six in software development, maintenance and implementation – and they’re growing, Martin says. One of the company’s lead programmers recently joined the team from France.

Sales are on pace to triple in 2019, Martin says, though officials declined to disclose 2018 revenue. They’ve started marketing the product to banks, as well.

Martin says the company gave 30 demos in the first three months of the year. But in the last six weeks, team members have led 180.

“I think that’s indicative of the industry accepting this technology,” Martin says.

Williams says Invo Solution’s future video services will be targeted to other industries, citing attorneys and insurance agents as examples.

BluCurrent’s newest location at 3216 S. Glenstone Ave. was designed around the software. The branch has a smaller square footage and fewer on-floor employees with the technology, Williams says. Kaitlyn Peoples, manager of the branch, says BluCurrent members have received the technology well and noted the quicker interactions.

Kirk says they were at first concerned by how the older generations would react to the new software, but he says they’ve had a 97% positive response rate from all demographics through the software’s reporting and survey analytics.

“We try to make sure people know they’re talking to a real-life person, not a computer,” Peoples says. “Once people realize it’s so user-friendly, they enjoy it and come back.”

Comments

No comments on this story |
Please log in to add your comment
Editors' Pick
From the Ground Up: Republic Intermediate School

The Republic School District is on track to open its Intermediate School for fifth- and sixth-grade students for the 2025-26 academic year.

Most Read
Update cookies preferences