Tara and District Credit Union

Tara and District Credit Union (TDCU) is a community-based operation, providing savings products and loans to residents in its common bond in County Meath, Ireland. Based in the village of Kilmessan, TDCU serves 3,500 active members, holding total assets of around €17.5 million.

Despite its size, TDCU was struggling with an inefficient, paper-based system for managing its board meetings. Thankfully, the organisation turned to iBabs for the ideal solution to streamlining its processes.

The challenge

The credit union had undertaken a recent reshuffle in the boardroom with fresh blood brought in as long-standing members stood down from their duties. This led to a board composed of individuals from a range of relevant professional backgrounds, but with varying levels of technological competence.

The end-to-end process for Board meetings was traditionally handled manually, involving mountains of paperwork which was scanned, often in suboptimal quality, and distributed to Board & Board Oversight Committee members.

According to Dominic Lumsden, Chair of the Board of Directors, this inefficient system was burdening the office staff, making it difficult to ensure all board members had access to the right version of the documents at the same time, and slowing down the decision-making process. The use of so much paper was also an environmental concern for the organisation.

Something needed to change.

Dominic said:

"We needed to find a way to simplify the overall process and ensure the Board was focussed on the most up to date papers and reports."

The solution

Recognising the need for a technological solution that could streamline and standardise their board operations, TDCU turned to iBabs. Despite an initial learning curve, the iBabs board portal quickly proved to be a game-changer.

Dominic explains:

“It has already begun the process of reducing the turnaround time to get a board pack together. By reducing the administrative workload from the office staff, the branch manager, for example, can focus on growing the business.”

Benefits and Results

With iBabs, the board found a simple, easy-to-use solution that automated the process of setting up meetings, taking minutes, updating action points and structuring the way the board works through agendas. It also provided a central location to disseminate information across the board, improving communication and collaboration.

“It's providing a simple interface for doing the type of standard administration type things that a board needs to do," Dominic noted. That's what iBabs brought to the equation.”

The newfound efficiency was evident right away: less time spent on administrative tasks; more time available to focus on their main mission – serving the community. The benefits of iBabs even extended beyond the boardroom. The software's in-built video conferencing tool promised an additional opportunity to keep all functions within one app.

In addition, Dominic and the board saw iBabs as providing excellent value for money, offering extensive functionalities at an affordable price. Dominic praised the cost-effectiveness of iBabs, describing it as "unbelievably cheap per seat."

And the ease of use was a selling point for Dominic:

“They're very simple facilities. They're intuitively pulled together in such a manner that I suspect it was developed by experienced subject matter experts such as a company secretary and experienced Board Directors. The iBabs User Interface presents a set of tools for use by a board of directors who may well not be competent in the use of technology but can easily adapt to its user friendly interface.”