By Adrian Moise, CEO of Aequilibrium
In Brief: Forge Migration in 2025
- 10 months after the Forge Sunset announcement, Canadian CUs must make some urgent definitions
- This requires rethinking your entire digital experience stack — from CMS and CRM to personalization and AI-readiness
- C-suite leaders are shifting focus from “What should we replace Forge with?” to “How do we build something scalable, unified, and futureproof?”
- This is not just a migration — it’s a leap into composable, member-centric banking
Six months after Central1 announced Forge’s sunset, many Canadian credit unions (CUs) were still grappling with what that truly meant for them. Now, in mid-2025, the implications of the changes have crystallized into requiring urgent decision-making.
Between our Aequilibrium (AEQ) Forge Migration Thought Leadership Webinar in April, the Canadian Credit Union Association (CCUA) Conference in Halifax, and our fireside chat with Plumery and Mambu just before the World Credit Union Conference (WCUC) in Stockholm, the message has become clear:
“Forge migration isn’t just about picking a new digital banking platform. It’s about rethinking your digital foundation — from the public web to the Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) to member engagement — to build something resilient, scalable, and ready for the future”
From Awareness to Action: What Credit Unions Are Learning
At our April CU webinar, I was joined by leaders from some of the country’s most innovative CUs to discuss Forge readiness, platform choices, and strategic priorities. The tone was exploratory, but concerned: CU leaders were still comparing options, unsure who was moving and when.
Fast-forward to CCUA Halifax, and what was once a foreboding announcement became very real. Central1 completed the Forge handoff to Intellect Design, transferring 150+ staff, including the CTO. This realization brought the conversation to the realization that digital banking operations no longer belong to the Canadian cooperative ecosystem, and long-term investment alignment is not guaranteed.
Then, at WCUC in Stockholm, the conversation evolved again. In our fireside chat with Plumery and Mambu, we reframed the Forge sunset not as a risk — but as an opportunity to create an integrated digital strategy, not just a tech stack replacement.
We heard it over and over again:
We need to futureproof — not just migrate. We need to get the basics right and enable financial wellness for members.
Forge Sunset is Not Just a Digital Banking Platform (DBP) Decision
Too many CUs treat the Forge sunset as a one-for-one platform replacement. That’s a mistake.
Here’s why:
Old Strategy:
Replace Forge with another DBP
Maintain parity with current features
Address logged-in banking only
Fragmented tech stack (PHP, Java, .NET)
Manual marketing and service
Modern Strategy:
Architect a composable platform for growth
Leapfrog to scalable, AI-ready capabilities
Integrate public website + CMS + CRM + analytics
Rationalize to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and technical debt
Automate, personalize, and engage dynamically
Choosing a DBP (e.g., Veripark, Plumery, Mambu, Temenos, eBankIT) is just one layer. But how it integrates with your Customer Manager System (CMS) (e.g., Adobe AEM), your CRM (e.g., Microsoft Dynamics, Creatio), and your member analytics and personalization engine — that’s where your future competitiveness lives.
Strategic Themes from CCUA & WCUC Conversations
Across dozens of meetings and AEQ booth conversations, we captured critical concerns and shared hopes from CU leaders across Canada and beyond:
- Are mapping how new platforms integrate with legacy or modernized stacks (Java, .NET, PHP).
- Need to evaluate CMS options post-Forge (Forge included OpenText; some are moving to Adobe AEM).
- Want to rationalize vendors and reduce fragmentation and hand-offs.
Chief Experience/Marketing Officers (CXO & CMOs) / Experience Executive
- Are asking how to drive continuous member journeys across public and logged-in channels.
Seek unified analytics and personalization for marketing automation.
- Want to use this migration to create differentiated, human-centered experiences — not just digital parity.
Chief Exective Officer (CEO)s and Board Members
- Are increasingly concerned about timelines and capacity.
Want clarity:
“What is the roadmap to go live by Q1 2026?“
- “Do we have the internal and partner support to succeed?”
- Are asking about AI-readiness: “if we replatform now, how do we ensure we’re not redoing this in 3 years?”
This is no longer just a technical or compliance conversation. It’s strategic.
Countdown to 2026: What You Must Do in the Next 6 Months
The time to act is now for any CU aiming to launch a new digital platform by Q1 2026.
Here’s why:
Platform delivery partners (DPPs) are booking capacity for 2025 now, and availability will shrink rapidly by fall.
Most platforms require 9–12 months to go from initiation to go-live.
You need Q3–Q4 2025 to complete:
- Platform selection
- Partner alignment
- CMS/CRM integration strategy
- Member journey planning
- Change management roadmap
At AEQ, we’ve been working with CUs to reverse-engineer readiness to select the right DPB vendor and launch their next gen banking experience by January 2026. For faster timelines, we’re seeing strong potential in shared CMS hosting, accelerators, and pre-integrated analytics modules.
Forge Migration is the Tip of the Spear — Let’s Futureproof Together
The Forge sunset marks the end of an era. But for CUs, it’s also the beginning of a more composable, agile, and resilient future.
At AEQ, we not only help CUs migrate — but transform digitally
Our approach includes:
Strategic advisory (platform and partner selection, roadmap planning)
Experience engineering (UX, design systems, member journeys)
Systems integration (across DPB, CMS, CRM, marketing tools)
Change management & training (including VR onboarding modules)
AI-readiness (data strategy, personalization, virtual assistants)
What’s Next from AEQ
We’re continuing our Forge Migration Thought Leadership Series to keep you informed and equipped. Upcoming articles include:
“Working Backwards from January 2026” — tactical roadmap and readiness checklist
“Beyond the DPB: Building Your Digital Experience Stack” — integration, CMS, CRM
“Digital + Human: AI Readiness for Credit Unions” — preparing for next-gen engagement
“Platform vs. Patchwork” — helping execs evaluate vendor cohesion vs. complexity
We’re committed to helping Canadian CUs migrate confidently, scale with agility, and compete with clarity.
If you haven’t subscribed to our updates yet, now is the time. Follow our LinkedIn page where we post about every new article in our series.
From roadmap to rollout – we’re here to help.
Whether you’re selecting a platform, designing the experience, or ready to build, we’ll meet you where you are.
Book a 30-minute strategic session with our Forge Migration team.
