Two CUSOs, Posh Technologies, and lluma Labs have been announced as the winners of NACUSO’s “Next Big Idea” award. The event, sponsored by NACUSO and Co-op Solutions, featured six worthy CUSO finalists with fresh ideas for digital banking, lending, financial health, analytics, and member experience. Each contestant had six minutes to present their solution followed by seven minutes of questions from the judges. The “Shark Tank” style competition, now in its tenth year, continues to showcase top innovation, collaboration, and new solutions for the credit union industry.

This Collaboration Is a Win for Everyone

Posh and Illuma are the first to co-develop and conceptualize the integration between voice authentication and conversational AI IVR with a focus on the needs and use cases prevalent in credit unions. While the development of the collaboration is not yet available in the market, the solution will be a focused effort that can result in a product that is right-sized for credit unions that need a quick, budget-friendly way to improve member experience, operational efficiency, and account security.

“Posh’s conversational AI and Illuma’s voice biometrics is a combination that makes sense. As we do our parts as CUSOs to bring transformative technology to the credit union market, our partnership will enhance member security for credit unions while offering a streamlined authentication experience for the caller – a win-win,” said Posh CEO and co-founder Karan Kashyap. “We look forward to a bright future with Illuma Labs.” 

This collaboration will support Posh’s mission of increasing member satisfaction while decreasing call center costs. 

“Being a FinTech specifically focused on solving problems for credit unions provides the opportunity to develop exceptionally strong partnerships with customers, investors, and collaborators, said Milind Borkar, Illuma Founder and CEO. “We appreciate NACUSO, Posh, and all the CUSOs that are part of this exceptional community committed to delivering the best service and experience for credit unions and their members.” 

About Illuma Labs

Illuma Labs is a credit union service organization headquartered in Plano, Texas. The company’s flagship product, Illuma Shield™, replaces traditional knowledge-based authentication practices with an effortless and secure real-time voice authentication solution to enhance member experience, improve operational efficiency, and prevent fraud. Illuma Labs is the exclusive provider for CUNA Strategic Services and has industry endorsements in 34 U.S. states. For more information, visit https://illuma.cx. 

About Posh Technologies

Posh was founded in 2018 by Karan Kashyap and Matt McEachern out of MIT with the vision to empower financial institutions through intuitive, conversational AI. The proprietary conversational AI fosters an enjoyable and efficient banking experience for users. Posh is rapidly growing, partnering with more than 50 financial institutions to deploy web-based and mobile-based digital agents in addition to voice assistants. Posh is headquartered in Boston. Learn more at https://www.posh.tech/.

About NACUSO

The National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations (NACUSO) was formed in 1985 to help credit unions explore the use of CUSOs and the delivery of non-traditional products and services. Over the years, NACUSO's focus has evolved to helping credit unions form multi-owned CUSOs and participate in collaboration and the cooperative business model. For more information, visit https://nacuso.org. 

‍