CommonWealth One Federal Credit Union in Virginia has turned over operations of its entire fleet of ATMs to Dolphin Debit, the full-service ATM management company.
All of the credit union’s 15 ATMs have been replaced by Dolphin Debit, including those in major select employer group (SEG) locations. The $440 million credit union, with more than 37,000 members, is headquartered in Alexandria. It serves Northern Virginia, Washington D.C., and two other counties in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, as well as a large number of federal government and other SEGs.
For CommonWealth One, it turned out to be a straightforward decision to partner with Dolphin Debit, as the credit union was coping with an aging fleet and a looming major investment in new machines.
“We were at a point where we were going to have to replace the fleet because they required upgrades. Our machines were pretty dated. Dolphin provided a way for us to that cost-effectively,” explained Shamus McConomy, Chief Operations Officer for CommonWealth One Federal Credit Union.
“We were managing it in-house, but we were attracted to outsourcing because it is more turnkey, so we can take some administrative items off our plates, especially when it comes to maintenance.” McConomy said. “We were also looking for cost savings.”
CommonWealth One found those savings after comparing three outsourcing partner candidates. McConomy said that while the cost advantages that Dolphin Debit offered were the main driver in the decision, there were other factors as well.
“The team at Dolphin is really good to work with. They are responsive, and came across a a good partner for us. They have followed through on that,” he said.
In addition, “One of the biggest benefits is that they handle the remote locations completely. It’s not that hard to manage machines at branches, but it has been a tremendous help for our remote locations,” McConomy noted.
ATMs and broad national ATM network are important to CommonWelath One’s service strategy, McConomy said, as many of its military members are frequently on the move. He also said the credit union is looking into upgrading to ITMs – interactive teller machines – particularly at a few of its SEG branches where teller staffing can sometimes be an issue.
“It is when their ATM fleets age that credit unions face that big choice between a huge capital investment in machine upgrades and replacements or outsourcing with us for much more cost-effective pay-as-you-go approach,” said Gary Walston, CEO of Dolphin Debit. “For many of our credit union clients, that has been the tipping point for their decision.”