Our credit union friends at Vantage have launched a first of its kind mobile banking platform leveraging Twitter. Two quick thoughts on their innovative efforts:

1. Controlling your own destiny is an innovation enabler. As Tim McAlpine from Currency Marketing says better than I can – lay claim to being first at something can be a viable business strategy or at least an important component of a successful strategy. I think the first mover advantage depends on the scenario and I am not using this space to argue about the pros and cons of first mover advantage. I am not looking for a debate on that topic. What I do want to proclaim is that controlling your own destiny instead of depending on a third party can be a huge innovation enabler. Vantage CU built their Twitter mobile application off of their own internet banking source code that they control. It helped them jump to the head of the class and get to market first. If you don’t have this control you are often times at the mercy of a third party who has many customers who want to be first and you often times have numerous fast followers.

2. No critics = lame idea. I was trading messages with my friends at Vantage CU this evening and they were sharing they have had both positive feedback to their launch and their share of critics. I reminded them that a healthy dose of criticism likely means they are on to something special. Another equation for this point is: critics = I might just have something special and if I don’t, life is just too short not to try.

Bottomline: Kudos to Vantage CU for having the courage to try and the stewardship to improve the access their members have to their credit union.