Credit Unions Are Filling the CIO Position to Gain Access to Strategic Technology Leadership

By Sean Grennan, Wipfli

Credit unions face significant technology-related challenges, including cybersecurity risks and outdated platforms that limit growth. That’s why more credit unions are filling the CIO position to gain access to strategic technology leadership.

But do you have to hire a CIO full-time – or could an outsourced or fractional CIO make for a more effective approach? Keep reading to learn more about why credit unions are increasingly exploring outsourced CIO services to strengthen their security and infrastructure.

What Are the Top Technology Challenge Areas Credit Unions Are Dealing With?

Like most community and mid-sized financial institutions, credit unions must deal with an array of technology problems: Risk management and cybersecurity, outdated back-end infrastructure, and the need to deliver an appealing user experience for members. Let’s explore each in greater detail:

Risk management and cybersecurity

Managing risks, particularly cybersecurity threats, is the biggest technology challenge for many credit unions. Credit unions are natural targets for cyberattacks and fraud and are also subject to strict cybersecurity compliance requirements from regulators.

The rise of AI has only made the threat environment worse. AI tools have essentially lowered the barriers to entry for would-be cybercriminals, making it easier to launch phishing scams and other cyberattacks even if you lack sophisticated IT or coding experience.

Credit unions must also navigate other regulatory compliance challenges and liquidity risks, both areas where outdated tech can make an already difficult process even harder.

Aging back-end infrastructure

Legacy systems that don’t integrate or talk to each other are a significant barrier to growth. Large financial institutions are increasingly able to draw on vast pools of customer data pulled from multiple systems that allow them to precisely tailor marketing and product offerings. Credit unions that lack such capacity – along with the operational benefits that come along with greater systems integration – may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

Poor front-end user experience

Credit unions may also struggle to provide the slick user interfaces and high-level user experience that national financial institutions or fintech rivals often take for granted. This can quickly become a growth blocker, as potential members may make banking decisions based on which institution offers a more appealing face.

Limited digital asset capabilities

After Congress passed the GENIUS Act in 2025 (with additional regulatory clarity likely on the way), more financial institutions are considering moving into the digital asset space. But without modernized technology infrastructure and leadership, you will likely struggle to offer services like stablecoin payment mechanisms or a crypto wallet integrated with your banking app.

How Does an Outsourced CIO Help Credit Unions Grow and Manage Risk?

An outsourced or fractional CIO offers credit unions strategic technology leadership without the need to commit to a full-time C-suite hire. This can help your credit union grow, improve operations, and develop stronger cybersecurity defenses. As a people leader, a CIO can also boost the ability of your team members to work together effectively.

What does an outsourced CIO’s strategic technology leadership actually involve? Here’s what to look for:

• Strategic growth: An outsourced CIO thinks holistically about how technology helps you achieve long-term strategic and growth goals over the next 3-5 years. By contrast, your IT team is focused on keeping your current systems running and putting out fires, with little bandwidth for thinking about what tech you will need to compete in 2030.

• Cybersecurity leadership: Larger institutions may hire a CISO, but for most credit unions, a CIO would be in charge of cybersecurity. Your outsourced CIO can implement a modern, risk-based cybersecurity strategy and concepts like defense-in-depth to not just meet compliance requirements but also actively reduce your risk of a major breach.

• People leadership: Your IT team understands tech, and your HR department knows people. But an outsourced CIO understands both, which allows you to identify both technology challenges and career development or skills gaps within your organization and take action to fill them. In other words, look to a CIO to help build a better technology team that’s capable of higher-level work.

• Member experience improvements: An outsourced CIO can help you develop a more attractive member experience by leading efforts to modernize your app and other front-facing technology. This can help you to better compete with national institutions and fintech companies, especially for millennial and Gen Z consumers.

• Operational infrastructure: Outdated back-end infrastructure that slows down your team and limits your ability to offer a more targeted, personalized member experience is a major growth blocker. But an outsourced CIO can lead efforts to migrate onto modern systems or better integrate AI (including coming on board only for the duration of a new system implementation to support an in-house CIO who lacks experience with that specific system).

When Does It Make Sense to Hire an Outsourced CIO?

If you’re weighing whether an outsourced or fractional CIO would benefit your credit union, start by thinking about it from an ROI perspective. Consider questions like:

• How much are you already investing in areas like cybersecurity, member technology experience, and AI? Are those investments paying off – or could additional strategic leadership deliver greater success?

• You may benefit from both front-end (member experience) and back-end (operational) technology investments. Which one makes more sense to start with? Would more integrated systems allow you to pursue growth more effectively, or would you be better off developing a better app to wow potential members?

• And what about your current IT team? Does it fit your credit union’s current needs, or is it still structured to serve the organization you had a decade ago? Would your IT team and technology-focused work benefit from a skilled people leader?

An outsourced CIO can deliver results in all of these areas.

How to Get Started

To further explore whether an outsourced CIO could help you grow or better manage risk, connect with an advisory firm that offers outsourced or fractional CIO services. An advisor will work with you to assess your specific goals and determine whether additional CIO support could move the ball forward.

If so, your advisor can typically provide fractional CIO support directly.

Connect with Wipfli to learn more.