Raleigh, NC – August 27, 2026 – Gather Federal Credit Union has selected BusinessNext as its CRM partner, giving its branch and frontline teams a single platform for serving members. Gather’s story began in 1954, when ten pineapple farmers on Kauai pooled their resources to buy equipment for the good of their whole community. More than seventy years later, the credit union serves over 41,000 members from seven branches stretching from the North Shore to the West Side, and its purpose has not changed: strengthening the financial well-being of Kauai and Ni’ihau.
What Gather Was Looking For
Gather came into this evaluation knowing exactly what it did not want. An earlier CRM had left the credit union with data it could not fully trust and reporting that took technical help to produce. That experience set the bar for the next one. Gather was not shopping for a marketing engine or a growth tool, at least not first. Branch managers needed to see what was actually happening in their branches, from accounts opened and closed to how their teams were tracking against goals. Frontline staff needed a member’s history without hunting for it.
“For our frontline staff, it’s about seeing the entire picture of the member relationship in one place. What was sent to them, what notices went out, what their last phone call was about. Simple things, but that’s what better service is made of, and better business follows from it naturally,” said Justin Ganaden, Executive Vice President, Gather Federal Credit Union.
Two things settled the decision. The first was pre-built workflows designed around how financial institutions actually operate, which meant BusinessNext would be the system Gather’s teams work in rather than one they update after the fact. The second was how little technical help it asked for. Building a report, setting a goal, or standing up a dashboard would not require a developer or a ticket to IT.
The platform was only part of it. Gather points to the months of conversations that came before the contract, several of them in person, as the reason the decision moved from consideration to commitment.
“We have been burned before, where a salesperson promises a lot and then you never hear from them again once you sign. We even talked with their existing customers, and what we were seeing from the BusinessNext team is what those customers are still experiencing years in. It felt like a partnership rather than a transaction,” Ganaden added.
“Gather has been part of Kauai’s story since 1954, and you can feel that in how they make decisions,” said Andrew Piron, President of BusinessNext, Americas. “This is a credit union where members and staff are neighbors, and where relationships were never the thing technology needed to create. What they wanted was for their systems to reflect what their people already know about the members they serve. We spent real time with Justin, with Kaleo Perez, their VP of Operations, and their team before any of this was signed, and that is how we like to start. We’re proud to be part of what they’re building for their island communities.”
What Changes for Members
Once live, Gather’s teams will work from shared member history across every channel, so a conversation that starts in a branch can continue over the phone without a member repeating themselves. Someone calling to ask whether a letter is a scam gets a real answer from whoever answers. Outreach shifts from one message for everybody to something relevant to the person receiving it. For Gather, none of that is a new way of working. It is how the credit union has always worked, now with systems that keep up.
For more information about Gather Federal Credit Union, please visit: https://www.gatherfcu.org/
About BusinessNext
BusinessNext, recently named a Leader in the 2025 Forrester Wave™: CRM Software For Financial Services, empowers financial institutions to deliver personalized experiences by uniting fragmented data into a comprehensive 360-degree view. Our purpose-built platform combines AI-driven insights with intuitive workflows to help banks and credit unions eliminate silos, automate processes, and equip frontline staff with actionable intelligence. Trusted by over one million bankers worldwide and featuring pre-built integrations with major banking core providers, BusinessNext accelerates digital transformation for forward-thinking financial institutions.
For more information on BusinessNext or to schedule a demo, please visit: https://info.crmnext.com/schedule-a-demo-businessnext-crm-for-credit-unions-banks
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