USAA Conference - Day One

As most of our fans on Army Wife Network have found out from our Facebook page, USAA has been gracious enough to bring myself and Star Henderson to their corporate headquarters here in San Antonio, Texas. I want to show you all the unique ideas and cutting edge innovations that USAA is launching to help make the lives of military families a bit easier. I want to start off by thanking USAA for allowing us this rare opportunity into the inside workings of this amazing company. They have been exceptional hosts and have taken wonderful care of us.

Today was our first day venturing into the world of USAA. USAA stands for United Services Automobile Association. The company originated in 1922 and was created by a group of Army Officers who were unable to find insurance due to the fact that they were considered high-risk. They originally called themselves United States Army Automobile Association. They have since expanded to include all branches if service. USAA continues to work hard to support their mission of helping to facilitate financial security for its members by providing a wide range of outstanding financial products and services. They continue to be the choice provider for military families.

Our day began with a welcome from Wendi Strong who is the Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications for USAA. After this warm welcome we were invited to take a tour of the USAA facilities. This was an utterly amazing experience. USAA rests on a huge amount of land. It contains its own zip code and is comprised of 6 and a half million square feet. Inside the halls of their main building you will find a rich military history. There are galleries filled with military portraits and photographs throughout our history. There are artifacts and beautiful exhibits, such as the case showing one of each of the three military medals of honor. They are only other facility to have this honor besides the Department of Defense. The facility also contains 4 fitness centers, a corporate store, a fully operational television studio, and there is even a childcare center on the grounds for the children of their employees. It was truly fascinating to see how much is done to make sure USAA employees are happy and successful.

Another amazing thing about USAA is that this is the only place you will find an actual USAA banking facility. This is a huge question that has been brought up again and again by USAA members. Why don't we have "brick and mortar" banks? USAA has put a lot of thought into this. They have begun devising ways to make depositing checks and cash into our accounts easier. Some of you may have heard of their scanned check program. For USAA this was one way to resolve the issue of depositing checks but there was still the problem of what to do with cash deposits. Some of the ideas USAA is working on is using common community places such as grocery stores to enable us to walk in and make check or cash deposits into our USAA accounts. After speaking with the staff at USAA I have a better understanding of why they have not come out and created bank branches. Most of banks are moving away from "brick and mortar banks and everything is becoming more virtual. USAA us ahead of this power curve because they are already in the forefront of this technology and advancement. I had to admit that deposits is really the only reason I would even travel to a bank.

While on our tour we were allowed some insider access into USAA's Innovations Department. This is where a lot of high tech projects are being tested and experimented with, all to make our lives easier. We saw some pretty amazing gadgets and some exciting new projects, such as their on-going virtual work and pilot programs. It was quite an experience, I must say.

After our tour we were back in the conference room where we were the first to be exposed to USAA's new Auto Circle (TM) program. This is a brand new program designed by USAA to help make finding, financing, and insuring a car as easy as 1,2,3. The program is expected to launch August 4, 2010. The site is accessible via the Internet but there is also an application for the iPhone as well. That's right you will be able to find, finance, and insure a car right from the palm of your hand. USAA also assures us that an application compatible with the Android phones is coming shortly.

It is hard to believe when you first hear it but we got to see the program in action and it is nothing short of amazing! The buying process allows you to search vehicles based on makes, models, features and price. You can also see which vehicles are USAA preferred. This means that the vehicles meet a set of the most common standards requested by USAA members. USAA has also compiled a list of over 3400 USAA Preferred automobile dealerships. These dealerships have to meet a certain criteria from USAA to make this list and more are trying to get placed on that list everyday. USAA is also using Auto Circle to save its members thousands of dollars off of MSRP prices. We were allowed to play with both the website and USAA also had iPhones on hand so we could experiment with the application as well.

After this presentation we were treated to lunch while having a discussion about USAA innovations with Mick Simonelli. Mick is the Assistant Vice-President of Enterprise Innovations for USAA. We discussed some of the many ideas that USAA is working on and we were also able to suggest things that we as members would like to see.

After lunch we were introduced to the next phase of innovations being brought to USAA members, and that is Home Circle. Home Circle is also scheduled to be released August 4, 2010. Home Circle is very similar to Auto Circle except now we are dealing with Homes. There are many features of Home Circle that are being worked on and are scheduled to be added to the pilot program. Home Circle is expected to be fully completed by 2013. Right now the program allows you to find homes, finance homes, and insure homes. There are great features that allow you to compare property listings and even save those listings that are the most appealing to you. As with Auto Circle, Home Circle also has an iPhone application that allows you to search, finance, and insure homes. You can take pictures of homes using the application and you can also find potential homes with a GPS locator.

I was extremely interested in this project because I have yet to buy a home. For a lot of first timers buying a home cane seem very intimidating and scary but after seeing Home Circle in action, USAA has made the process extremely simple and they are with you every step of the way! Features that are expected to be added are things such as property management for those of us that are wanting to rent our properties and many other programs to help with the maintenance of a home. Home Circle also works hand in hand with USAA's Movers Advantage Program. There really is nothing that USAA has not thought of to make the experience of purchasing a home as simple and stress-reducing as possible.

After the Home Circle presentation we were introduced to the marketing campaign USAA will be launching to promote Auto Circle and Home Circle. These are extremely creative advertising campaigns that really show USAA's connection to the military. There will also be many USAA events coming to installations that will be extremely interactive and hands on to show people these new programs and just how simple they are to use.

We were also introduced to the new spokeswoman for USAA's Auto Circle program, Lauren Fix. Lauren Fix is a winning professional race car driver. She is also an award winning Automotive and Lifestyle Expert and has been featured on numerous print ads, web programs, television, and radio. She is author of the book "Lauren Fix's Guide to Loving Your Car". This is an incredible resource for military spouses who know just how quick the car decides to go bonkers after their soldier has left for deployment. In the book Lauren gives you expert advice on how to deal with your vehicle. Lauren was nice enough to give us a signed copy of her book. Lauren talked about why she was so adamant to speak out about USAA's new Auto Circle program. She describes it has a simple and efficient new way to buy a vehicle. Lauren is not a USAA member but realizes that USAA is doing incredible things to help our military community and she is more than willing to help promote that. She was incredible speaker and gave us lots of great tips.

We finished our day off by being provided dinner by USAA at a wonderful Mexican restaurant down by the famous River Walk here in San Antonio. Today was packed with an amazing amount of information but after today I am more excited than ever to be a member of USAA. They are proving, once again, their dedication to the military and their families and are working hard to provide us with top of the line services and products. I am very excited to walk into Day 2 of this incredible experience. Tomorrow we will be working with USAA on devising a format for an online community geared specifically for military spouses. This will help USAA better understand our needs and help strengthen their relationship with military spouses, especially in times of deployment. I look forward to hearing USAA's ideas and making suggestions of my own. It is a very exciting moment, to be able to provide USAA with our perspective and help this incredible company better serve us! Be sure to check back tomorrow for my blog on Day 2 of this USAA Conference.

Until Then.......

Household 6 Janet