It’s official – effective September 8, Webster First Federal Credit Union completed its core migration to Synergent’s Symitar® Episys® core processing platform! Webster First, headquartered in Worcester, MA, signed a new ten-year Episys outsourcing agreement with Synergent earlier this year.
“We could not be happier to have Webster First expand their partnership with the Synergent team,” shared Ben Jordan, Senior Vice President of Information Technology for Synergent. “With 18 branches and over 78,000 members, we are honored to serve their members and staff in this new capacity. This continues the growth of the Synergent family and provides a new and valued voice in our future endeavors.”
This migration expands on existing partnerships. Webster First already had partnered with Synergent for marketing and professional services and had been an in-house Symitar Episys core processing customer since 2008.
It Takes a Village
Any change involving the core is a big decision for a credit union to make. Webster First made the right call in choosing Symitar’s Episys core platform, which is the most popular core in the United States in all asset ranges over $50M. (Webster First holds over $1B in assets.)
“Webster First initially started working with Synergent as a Professional Services client to assist with development when they were an in-house Symitar client,” stated Krystle Gagne, Synergent’s Team Lead for Development/Analysis. “Synergent demonstrated to Webster First the value and expertise we bring for core and third-party integrations, and we helped them automate many manual processes.”
Over many months, Synergent and Webster First worked closely together to understand current processes, identify challenges, ensure data hygiene, and as a result, were able to implement over 15 enhancements before migration to ensure the smoothest live day experience. These enhancements included big ticket items, like ACH, draft, and evening processing, as well as several third-party postings and integrations. Synergent also provided over 30 new enhancements related to reporting, lending, application processing, and purge efficiencies to reduce database size and increase productivity.
“Webster First was ready to implement new processes, and they were not afraid to push and ask for things—in a good way!” explained Tyler Hudson, Assistant Vice President of Development for Synergent. “They are focused on staying on the cutting-edge, and aren’t afraid to create things themselves. I look forward to a great partnership with them for many years to come.”
The Power of Partnership
“The migration went very smoothly due to all of the hard work the Synergent and Webster First teams put in over the course of many months of preparation,” reflected Pam Lovering, Project Manager for Synergent. “All of the staff members at Webster First were excellent to work with. They know their stuff and are open to change. They are very responsive, and having been on the Episys platform for some time, they were all ready to jump in and help figure out the best solutions for their credit union as part of the migration. They also identified items that could wait to be worked on post-migration.”
The right relationships, leading to the right partnerships, are key to credit union success. Being a large credit union, Webster First’s decision to partner with Synergent provides them access to an incomparable portfolio of products, services, and resources. Synergent and Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.® (Symitar’s parent company), have a long history of working together to best serve credit unions and their members. The Synergent experience takes the power of Episys and combines it with seamless, integrated marketing, technology, and payments solutions accessed through a single source.
