This year’s Innovation Series returns with bigger impact and broader horizons. Since 2018, this annual showcase has spotlighted forward-thinking solutions by giving innovators a stage to share ideas, demonstrate solutions, and spark meaningful change.
The Innovation Series is celebrating 2026 with a diverse slate of finalists whose breakthroughs are reshaping member experience, data and business intelligence, lending, employee engagement, fraud prevention, and digital member engagement — all with the power to help credit unions thrive in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
Read on to learn more about this year’s finalists in employee enablement: AgentIQ, Alogent, LemonadeLXP, Posh.
Agent IQ
Describe your innovation.
Smart Assist by Agent IQ is a generative AI-powered assistant built specifically for credit unions to support both members and staff using institution-approved knowledge only.
Smart Assist draws exclusively from a credit union’s validated policies, procedures, product information, and approved content. This ensures every response is accurate, consistent, and compliant, with no hallucinations or reliance on public or unverified sources. Credit unions maintain full control over what knowledge is available to Smart Assist, ensuring responses remain accurate, current, and aligned with institutional policies.
Staff use Smart Assist to quickly answer member questions, confirm policy details, guide conversations, and resolve routine issues without searching through manuals or internal systems. Smart Assist delivers instant, reliable guidance directly within existing workflows.
By reducing the time staff spend looking for information or handling repetitive questions, Smart Assist improves efficiency while preserving what matters most: the human connection. Routine interactions are handled faster and more confidently, giving staff more time to focus on complex needs, advisory conversations, and relationship building.
The result is a digital experience that extends the trust and personal service of the branch into digital channels, using generative AI to enhance relationships rather than replace them.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
Credit unions see the opportunity in generative AI, but many struggle with how to adopt it safely, responsibly, and in a way that aligns with their mission and regulatory environment.
The challenge is balancing the convenience and efficiency of generative AI with the need for accuracy, security, and trust. Traditional generative AI tools can introduce risk by pulling from public sources, producing inconsistent answers, or hallucinating responses that staff cannot rely on with confidence.
Smart Assist addresses this challenge by giving credit unions a practical way to deploy generative AI quickly, while maintaining full control over the information it uses. Every response is generated exclusively from institution-approved knowledge, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and compliance. If Smart Assist does not have an approved answer, it clearly indicates that rather than making one up.
This approach allows credit unions to realize immediate efficiency gains while protecting member trust. Staff gain the speed and convenience of generative AI without sacrificing confidence in the answers they provide, enabling a safer path to innovation that strengthens relationships rather than putting them at risk.
How does it increase member value?
Smart Assist increases member value by enabling staff to serve members faster, more accurately, and with greater confidence across every interaction.
When staff have instant access to institution-approved knowledge, they can respond with confidence and clarity in the moment, eliminating delays that erode trust. Members experience fewer pauses, fewer transfers, and more consistent answers, which builds trust and reduces frustration.
By removing the burden of searching through policies, procedures, and internal documentation, Smart Assist gives staff more capacity to focus on listening, problem solving, and advising members. This leads to more thoughtful conversations and a service experience that feels personal rather than rushed or transactional.
The result is a better member experience in both branch and digital channels: efficient, informed, and grounded in the human connection that differentiates credit unions.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
Smart Assist is purpose-built for credit unions, not a general-purpose AI tool adapted for financial services.
Many institutions have access to broad enterprise AI platforms, such as Microsoft Copilot, but those tools often require significant IT configuration, ongoing management, and custom governance to make them safe and usable for frontline staff. Smart Assist is designed to be deployed in as little as two weeks, with built-in controls tailored to the operational, compliance, and staffing realities of credit unions.
Unlike generic AI assistants, Smart Assist draws exclusively from institution-approved knowledge and includes governance by design. Credit unions control exactly what content is available and can assign different levels of access based on role. Frontline staff, managers, and leadership each see information appropriate to their responsibilities, ensuring sensitive or strategic content is only available where it belongs.
Smart Assist also differs in how it supports human-centered service. It does not attempt to think or decide on behalf of staff. Instead, it delivers accurate information at the moment of need, allowing staff to remain in control of conversations and judgment.
By removing friction and complexity, Smart Assist enables staff to spend less time searching for answers and more time building trust, solving problems, and strengthening member relationships. That combination of speed, control, and relationship focus is what truly differentiates the innovation.
Alogent
Describe your innovation.
FASTdocs, Alogent’s enterprise content management platform, unlocks a major opportunity for credit unions by transforming how institutions handle their documents and information. It replaces outdated, manual processes with a single, intelligent platform that automates routine tasks and streamlines the entire document lifecycle.
By bringing smart automation and AI-driven intelligence to everyday operations, FASTdocs automatically classifies documents, saving valuable time and reshaping how teams work, as well as how members are served. Built‑in data extraction and AI‑powered routing ensure every file is accurately identified, categorized, and delivered to the right destination. Its workflow library adds efficiency with pre‑configured, event‑triggered workflows for common credit union processes, reducing manual effort and accelerating productivity.
Features like OCR and click indexing simplify high‑volume tasks by instantly populating metadata, cutting down on errors, bottlenecks, and administrative overhead. FASTdocs also supports frontline staff with instant member verification directly from the core system, helping deliver faster, more frictionless service.
Purpose‑built for financial institutions, FASTdocs is ready to deploy out of the box but can be easily customized to meet each credit union’s unique needs. The benefits extend directly to members as well — quicker service, fewer delays, and secure, two‑way document exchange that enhances convenience and modernizes the overall experience.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
FASTdocs addresses a core challenge credit unions face: managing growing volumes of content in varying formats, member information spread across disconnected systems, manual workflows, and inefficient processes. These bottlenecks slow service, increase errors, drive up operational costs, and make it difficult for staff to access the information they need in real-time.
- Information silos across departments that make it difficult to get a complete view of a member’s relationship.
- Manual, time‑consuming processes like sorting, indexing, and routing documents.
- Inconsistent or error‑prone data handling, leading to delays and service frustration.
- Compliance risks tied to outdated retention workflows or missing documentation.
- Limited member self‑service options, requiring branch visits or secure email workarounds.
How does it increase member value?
FASTdocs increases member value by helping credit unions deliver faster, more accurate, and more convenient service. By eliminating manual, paper-heavy processes and introducing automation, credit unions can focus less on administrative tasks and more on engaging meaningfully with their members.
- Accelerated Member Service: Automated document classification, indexing, and routing ensure staff can retrieve and process member documents quickly. This speeds up approvals, reduces wait times, and improves the overall service experience.
- Fewer Errors, More Accuracy: Automated data recognition and OCR reduce manual data entry and associated mistakes. Members benefit from cleaner records, fewer delays, and more reliable interactions.
- Seamless Digital Interactions: Secure, two-way digital document exchange allows members to submit and receive documents anytime, without visiting a branch. This convenience enhances accessibility and satisfaction.
- Consistent, Reliable Compliance: Automated workflows and version control help ensure documents are accurate, current, and archived properly. Members gain confidence knowing their information is handled securely and in compliance with regulations.
- More Personalized Service: Unified digital member files give staff a comprehensive view of each member’s relationship with the credit union. This enables more informed conversations and tailored product recommendations.
- Faster Account And Loan Processes: Click indexing and pre-built workflows streamline high-volume tasks like loan applications and onboarding, helping members move through key financial steps with ease.
- Stronger Trust And Loyalty: By reducing administrative overhead and freeing staff to focus on human-centered support, credit unions deliver faster responses, fewer errors, and a modern, digital-first experience — building long-term loyalty.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
FASTdocs differentiates itself from traditional content management systems by delivering a platform purpose built for the specialized needs of financial institutions. Unlike generic ECM solutions, FASTdocs is architected around the workflows, compliance standards, and member centric processes that credit unions rely on every day.
Its cloud-native design ensures seamless scalability, high availability, and reduced IT overhead, making it easier for institutions to modernize without major infrastructure investments.
The depth of FASTdocs’ built in automation is another defining advantage. AI powered document classification, automated data extraction, and pre-configured workflows streamline the entire document lifecycle, from ingestion to routing to retention. The result is a smarter, faster, and more efficient content management experience that empowers staff, accelerates service, and delivers a level of precision and automation that truly stands out in the market.
LemonadeLXP
Describe your innovation.
LemonadeLXP is the all-in-one learning and knowledge platform for financial institutions.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
The Challenge: The Complexity Of The Modern Financial Ecosystem
Financial institutions face a dual challenge: their product portfolios, compliance requirements, and security protocols are becoming increasingly complex, while member expectations for immediate, expert support are higher than ever. Frontline staff often feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information they need to know — from product details to fraud prevention — leading to a lack of confidence that negatively impacts service quality. Simultaneously, members often lack accessible resources to educate themselves on financial wellness and security, creating a gap in understanding that puts a strain on support teams.
The Opportunity: A Unified Approach To Staff Enablement And Member Education
LemonadeLXP centralizes knowledge, transforming it into a powerful engine for both employee confidence and member empowerment. It replaces fragmented training methods with an all-in-one learning and knowledge platform designed specifically for financial institutions.
How LemonadeLXP Addresses It:
- Empowering Staff With Knowledge And Confidence: LemonadeLXP tackles the staff performance challenge by enabling institutions to quickly create members-focused training. Rather than just checking compliance boxes, the platform focuses on upskilling staff to better serve and support members. By providing engaging, bite-sized learning and an easily searchable knowledge base, LemonadeLXP ensures staff have the immediate answers and deep understanding they need to handle member inquiries with total confidence.
- Educating Members Directly: Uniquely, LemonadeLXP extends this enablement beyond the branch with a dedicated Member Education Platform. This addresses the challenge of member literacy by providing a specialized hub built to help credit unions educate their members on:
- Products & Services: Ensuring members understand the full value of what the institution offers.
- Financial Wellness And Literacy: Helping members make smarter financial decisions.
- Fraud And Cybersecurity: Proactively teaching members how to protect themselves and recognize threats.
- Digital Capabilities: guiding members on how to utilize self-service tools.
- Impact On Member Experience: By combining robust staff support with direct member education, LemonadeLXP creates a better experience on both sides of the transaction. Staff are confident and knowledgeable experts, while members are better informed and protected—resulting in faster resolutions, deeper trust, and a stronger financial partnership.
How does it increase member value?
LemonadeLXP increases member value by creating an environment where members are no longer just passive account holders, but informed, empowered financial partners. It does this through a two-pronged approach that includes better staff training and support, and effective member education and support.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
LemonadeLXP differentiates itself by breaking down the silos between internal employee training and external member education. While competitors typically offer generic Learning Management Systems (LMS) strictly for internal HR compliance, or separate Digital Adoption Platforms (DAP) for software overlays, LemonadeLXP provides a holistic, all-in-one learning and knowledge ecosystem purpose-built for financial institutions.
Posh
Describe your innovation.
Posh Training Simulator: A high-fidelity roleplay platform that replaces static training with interactive AI voice and chat simulations. It allows staff to master real member-facing banking scenarios from complex loan explanations (HELOCs vs. personal loans) to high-stress fraud reports and overdraft disputes in a safe, judgment-free environment. The platform is designed for total flexibility, enabling credit unions to effortlessly build custom scenarios for everything from new hire screening to manager coaching.
Posh CoachQA: An automated coaching platform that analyzes member interactions across calls and chats. It evaluates conversations against a credit union’s standard operating procedures and best practices to provide consistent, actionable feedback to every agent without increasing managers’ manual workload.
Posh Knowledge Assistant: A secure, AI-powered companion providing a single, governed source of truth for institutional knowledge. It enables staff to instantly search internal policies, summarize dense documents, and reframe complex information into member-friendly language. This reduces handle times and accelerates onboarding while ensuring accurate, source-backed responses.
What opportunity or challenge does it address?
Mastery Of Tough Conversations: Employees use the simulator to build “muscle memory” for high-stakes member moments, ensuring they are prepared for vulnerable-member situations and risk-heavy regulated conversations.
Faster, More Accurate Service: By accelerating “time-to-proficiency” for new hires, members interact with staff who are better prepared from day one. Posh Knowledge Assistant supports this by providing immediate access to consistent, approved answers, ensuring every member receives accurate information during live interactions.
Empathy And Quality at Scale: The platform provides instant feedback on empathy, judgment, and policy fluency, ensuring that even as the credit union grows, the quality of the member experience remains high and human-centric.
Total Oversight: Coach IQ identifies knowledge gaps before they impact members, allowing for proactive training that keeps service standards consistent across all branches and channels.
How does it increase member value?
Mastery Of Tough Conversations: Employees use the simulator to build “muscle memory” for high-stakes member moments, ensuring they are prepared for vulnerable-member situations and risk-heavy regulated conversations.
Faster, More Accurate Service: By accelerating “time-to-proficiency” for new hires, members interact with staff who are better prepared from day one.
Empathy and Quality at Scale: The platform provides instant feedback on empathy, judgment, and policy fluency, ensuring that, as the credit union grows, the member experience remains high and human-centric.
Total Oversight: Coach IQ identifies knowledge gaps before they affect members, enabling proactive training to maintain consistent service standards across all branches and channels.
What differentiates this innovation from competitors?
Posh’s suite is purpose-built for the unique needs of the credit union industry:
Banking-Specific Customization: Unlike generic platforms, Posh allows for simulations
100% Visibility vs. Random Sampling: While traditional QA tools typically sample only 1% of calls, Coach IQ provides full visibility and consistent coaching across every single interaction.
Versatility in Scenario Building: The platform is an “all-in-one” tool that handles the entire employee lifecycle from objective skill verification during hiring to ongoing specialist communications and leadership development.
Safe, Measured Excellence: The Simulator provides measurable, audit-ready performance data, allowing institutions to standardize quality across different regions and lines of business without relying on senior staff shadowing.