By Adrian Moise, CEO of Aequilibrium
In Brief: AEQ-5 Playbook for Platform Migration
- Luck isn't a plan: Copycat or “figure it out later” approaches put CUs at risk..
- It’s a rebuild, not a swap: Forge migration touches strategy, tech, ops, and member experience
- Checklist for leaders: Do you have capacity, skills/partners, a real decision framework, and clarity on group tradeoffs?
- Winning formula: Vision + the right platform + a trusted partner = long-term success.
Wishful Thinking Is Not a Strategy
The Forge sunset is forcing Canadian credit unions (CUs) to make tough digital decisions. Some leaders are relying on luck:
“We’ll figure it out as we go,” or “Let’s do what the others did.”
But let’s be clear:
replacing Forge with another digital banking platform (DBP) is not as simple as swapping in a new engine into an existing Formula 1 race car. This is about redesigning the entire vehicle so it actually works for the driver and pit crew to win the race.
AKA your executive team and staff to win over existing and new members.
So the real question isn’t “Which DBP?” It’s
Are you truly set up for success? Or are you just hoping for the best?
The Executive Checklist
To answer that question, I’ve drawn up a practical checklist for CEOs, CIOs, CMOs, COOs, and board members as the drivers of this digital transformation. Altogether, it can be used to assess whether your migration plan is grounded in strategy or luck.
1: Do you have the capacity?
Running a CU is already a full-time job. A 12–18 month migration isn’t something that can be squeezed into evenings and weekends.
Do you have a program manager or executive owner?
If not, projects will drift.
Do you have dedicated bandwidth?
Otherwise, your team will burn out
Success takes leadership alignment, not a gathering of herded cats.
2. Do you have the skills?
Do you understand the implications of multitenancy vs. single tenant?
Do you know your CMS and CRM options post-Forge?
Do your data pipelines support personalization and automation?
If you don’t have all the answers, that’s fine. But you’ll need partners who do.
Your core competency is member-first service, not cloud storage management.
Leave that to the technology experts so you can focus on what your CU does best.
3. Do you have a decision framework?
Some CUs make a choice first and then build the “business case” backward. That’s not a framework: it’s confirmation bias.
Are you mapping vendor capabilities to actual business goals?
Is your board aligned on the criteria that matter most?
Because gut feeling is not a governance model.
4. Do you understand the tradeoffs of group decisions?
The Forge project started with nearly 300 CUs and $100M. Even then, it struggled. Now, some are talking about a “Central2” effort with fewer participants and far less budget.
When thinking of committing to this effort, honestly ask yourself:
Will 50 CUs with $1M succeed where Forge did not?
When 50 voices are in the room, whose priorities win?
Then, reckon with how you feel about the answer to those questions.
Understandably, consensus feels safe, but it can slow innovation and dilute impact.
As a final question in this category, boards should ask:
Is this really the best path for us, or are we just following the herd?
5. If you do have an executive sponsor and program lead, do you know what they need to do?
This is not “just an IT project.” It cuts across product, marketing, compliance, operations, and governance.
That makes it vital that you:
Assign them to align all stakeholders
Hold them accountable for board education and member-facing communication
Know if anyone on your team led a project of this size before
Without clear sponsorship and leadership, even the best technology will fail.
Warning Signs You’re Hoping for a Miracle
If you or your team has found themselves saying or thinking any of the following, then your CU may taking your chances with its Forge migration:
“We’ll decide what CMS and CRM to use later.”
“We’ll just reuse Forge UX—it’s fine.”
“Let’s follow what another CU chose.”
“This is a like-for-like replacement, right?”
If you’ve checked any of these, then now is the time to stop testing your luck and thinking about this migration as a full digital transformation.
Because ‘feeling lucky’ and hoping for the best isn’t a roadmap. That’s how digital projects end up six months late and millions over budget.
Because ‘feeling lucky’ and hoping for the best isn’t a roadmap. That’s how digital projects end up six months late and millions over budget.
The Winning Formula
The CUs that will thrive post-Forge won’t rely on luck. They’ll combine three ingredients:
- CU Vision: clarity on member and business goals.
- The Right Platform: not just features, but integration, security, and scalability.
- A Trusted Partner: one who can orchestrate strategy, design, and execution.
That’s how you build the right digital foundation for the next 10 years.
One that your pit crew can manage and maintain confidently, and your members will love to drive every time they log in for a podium-winning experience.
What’s Next
This article is part of AEQ’s Forge Migration Thought Leadership Series.
Next, we’ll dive deeper into our team’s industry-based experience to add further insights to our AEQ-5 Proven Process: a repeatable framework we use with CUs to move from strategy to execution without costly detours.
Ready to replace wishful thinking with strategy?
Let’s map your roadmap together.
Book a 30-minute strategy session with AEQ’s Forge Migration team to assess where you are — and where you need to go.
Coming Soon: Applying AEQ-5 and More Tools to Support Your Future-Proofing
In the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing a practical toolkit to support your CU at every stage of the migration journey. These include:
- A comprehensive downloadable guide with insights, frequently asked questions and common pitfalls per stage
- Dedicated posts for deep dive insight into each stage
- A self-assessment quiz to benchmark your CU’s readiness
- An executive checklist for strategy and governance alignment
- And more!
Stay tuned for these tools designed to make AEQ-5 actionable for every CU team — and to help you move from strategy to execution with clarity.
