This significant population increase led to substantial lending growth in the credit union. Many of Dakota West’s members are involved with oil, agriculture, large equipment and land management, which means larger-than-average balances.

The combination of increased agricultural lending and larger commercial loans pushed the limits of the credit union’s core processor, which Meyer said was much

more suited to traditional consumer retail. In addition, Dakota West employees were using spreadsheets to track things manually, and the dramatic growth in
a short amount of time increased their workloads exponentially.

“We had problems hiring people, training them and getting them to stay,” said Meyer, who joined Dakota West in 2015. “I knew as soon as our core contract was up, we would look to undergo a core conversion.”

In addition to a new core, Dakota West needed an ECM solution that would work with the new core, integrate with their online banking solution, house all of their information in a single place, and provide an enhanced user experience for tellers, lenders, etc.

Arriba Helps “Identifi” the Perfect Partner

Arriba researched and evaluated core providers for Dakota West and assessed other ancillary systems, like internet banking and ECM. Meyer said it was important to have a comprehensive ECM system that brought all of the credit union’s data together in one place.

“Having everything in one place meant our staff only had to know one system to be able to retrieve anything, including reports statements, signature cards and loan documents,” said Meyer.

It was also imperative that the information Dakota West had on disparate systems could migrate to the new ECM system so they wouldn’t have to retain multiple legacy systems, such as DDS, just to house data.

Since Identifi has vast experience serving Fiserv DNA customers, along with successful DDS conversions, all of the pieces fell into place for a smooth conversion to Identifi’s enhanced ECM.

A Thorough, Flawless Implementation

Meyer attributes the smooth installation and implementation of the new ECM, in part, to Identifi’s ability to work through the deployment in a logical progression.

“Instead of trying to do everything at once, Identifi was good about guiding us through the steps of each process gradually,” Meyer said. “They knew how to get us where we wanted to be, and they delivered on all of their timelines.”

Identifi’s support team worked closely with Sue Keller, Dakota West’s Compliance and Training Officer, to make sure critical pieces, documents and workflows were all in place. Whenever there was an issue, Keller said Identifi jumped right on it.

“Their support team is very quick to respond, no matter what type of case you open,” said Keller. “For the most part, they take care of issues within the same day.”

Even though Dakota West uses different vendors for their core processing and online banking, Identifi ECM seamlessly integrated with their core on new account and teller platforms, third-party lending platforms, statement vendors and online banking. This led to increased efficiency across all eight Dakota West branches.

ECM Encourages Extra Efficiency

With the Identifi ECM in place, Dakota West enjoyed several new features and efficiencies, including:

According to Keller, documents that have been signed digitally can be imported and auto indexed. This not only improves
efficiency, but is a big boon to accuracy, as well. Keller estimated the efficiency of Identifi solutions saves each of the eight Dakota West branches at least an hour per day.


“I would definitely recommend Identifi. The thing that really stands out to me is the way they approach things,” said Meyer. They have a defined process and they don’t deviate from it. It makes Identifi incredibly efficient about how
they go about things. When we ask them to do something, we know they’ll make it happen because they know exactly what’s necessary in order to deliver.”