The CU*Answers’ Mobile Technologies Group will have a major focus for 2020 to build the foundation of APIs both within CU*Answers applications and in partnership with external vendor/partner applications. API development for CU*Answers is an important step in revolutionizing the ability to be flexible in providing data in a secure but streamlined manner. Once an API is developed, it can be used by other third-party applications, core processing, online and mobile banking, loan applications or anywhere data access is allowed, now or in the future.
“API development is quickly becoming a way of life within the organization,” said Brian Maurer, EVP of software development. “Wherever possible, new projects are being implemented with the API design paradigm, and updated code is being replaced with new modular API functionality. The list of third parties that utilize our API services continues to grow.”
The Mobile Technologies Group builds mobile applications for both iPhone and Android and a collection of supporting products and services. Both Android and iOS versions are built natively with the recommended development tools provided for their platforms. This approach creates a more solid and secure foundation for app development versus a Cordova-Phone Gap or Xamerin approach that creates vulnerabilities in relying on 3rd-party software to update their software before you we can update mobile apps. Native development is also ideal for when phone hardware is needed for features like remote deposit capture, touch ID or biometric authentication. Over 200 credit unions are live with CU*Answers mobile app.