Open Solutions is a provider of integrated enabling technologies for financial institutions in the United States, Canada and other international markets. Greenwood Credit Union has $240 million in assets and approximately 42,000 members.

"We began our search for a new technology partner because it was becoming more and more difficult to adapt our previous data processing system to accommodate the new products and services that we needed to grow," said Jim Irving, CEO of Greenwood Credit Union. "We needed a system that could provide real-time information in an efficient, timely manner and we also wanted a system that was easy to navigate."

Irving added, "We selected Open Solutions after a thorough system evaluation. We wanted to work with a vendor that offered a flexible and fully featured outsourced data processing solution. Right now, the credit union management does not want data processing operations in-house; however, if we decide to bring our operations in-house, Open Solutions can accommodate our needs without our incurring any major changes to our business operations."

The Complete Credit Union Solution is built on a single, powerful Oracle® relational database and is designed to be an open environment application. Open Solutions' relational core platform allows a credit union to have a more centralized view of its specific relationships with individual as well as business-focused members. Open Solutions offers a fully featured strategic product platform, integrating core data processing with strategic applications such as Internet banking, business intelligence, financial accounting applications, electronic imaging, payment and interactive voice response solutions. To meet the needs of individual financial institutions, Open Solutions offers both an in-house and outsourced servicing options. The in-house structure allows financial institutions to specify and maintain their hardware configuration and operating system preferences. Outsourcing provides clients with access to the same system, hosted and maintained at one of Open Solutions' state-of-the-art data centers. Clients may also switch from outsourced to in-house processing, or vice versa, without the need to change systems.

In addition to The Complete Credit Union Solution, Greenwood Credit Union selected many of Open Solutions' complementary products including: Financial Accounting Suite (general ledger, accounts payable and fixed assets); Loan Participation; Mortgage Loan Origination; Investor Reporting; Credit Card Module; Safe Deposit Module; Real-time ATM/Debit; Premium Overdraft; Asset Collection Management System; Commercial Deposits; Commercial Lending; e-Commerce Banker(TM) (Internet banking and cash management); and Digital Document applications.

According to Irving, another reason for selecting Open Solutions was the ability to add new products to the system at any time, giving the credit union a competitive edge in the marketplace. "We can respond quickly and easily to our members' ever-changing needs. The Complete Credit Union Solution gives us the ability to easily implement product changes and will enable us to be very market responsive and highly competitive with our offerings," he said.

"Greenwood Credit Union is one of the largest indirect auto lenders in the country," Irving said. "We needed a solid processor that could handle our indirect lending and participation lending operations. The Open Solutions open architecture platform offers the functionality and the efficiencies to support this area of our business."

Louis Hernandez, Jr., Open Solutions chairman and CEO, said, "Open Solutions' main objective is to offer a complete enterprise-wide core and complementary technology solutions designed to allow credit unions to operate the way they want to, whether that is in-house or in an outsourced environment. Providing our clients with a solution that improves the level of service they give their members is mission-critical to Open Solutions. We designed our technology offering with an open architecture and flexibility so it would be easier for credit unions to reach their goals and remain competitive. We are pleased at the opportunity to assist and work with Greenwood Credit Union in achieving and surpassing their business goals."