The Nine has acquired SmartSource Solutions, the Alabama-based credit union technology firm that has served the cooperative-finance space for more than two decades. SmartSource now operates as a wholly-owned practice of The Nine Digital, LLC — same team, same products, with an AI-native agency behind it.
Who SmartSource is.
SmartSource Solutions spent over 20 years as a CUSO — a credit union service organization, owned by and accountable to the industry it serves. In that time the team shipped websites, hosting, and digital infrastructure for nearly 300 credit unions nationwide: award-winning responsive design with WCAG accessibility built in, private-cloud hosting, multi-layered security, and CUboardroom, their board portal software.
That's a rare thing — a technology partner that serves one industry exclusively, long enough to know its regulators, its examiners, its member expectations, and its politics from the inside.
What doesn't change.
- The team. SmartSource's practitioners — leadership, engineering, and support — continue running the practice. Decades of institutional knowledge stay exactly where they are.
- The products. Websites, hosting, security, and CUboardroom all continue, supported by the same people who built them.
- The focus. SmartSource serves credit unions exclusively. That was the point of acquiring them, not something to dilute.
What credit unions gain.
The Nine is an AI-native agency — senior practitioners running an accountable marketing system, with AI agents doing the heavy lifting. SmartSource clients now get that full bench behind the infrastructure they already trust: Insight Genesis audits, member-acquisition campaigns, SEO and paid media, content engineering, and full digital rebuilds — all tuned to the regulatory and member-experience realities of the cooperative model.
One company, two brands. The Nine serves growth-minded businesses everywhere; SmartSource serves credit unions exclusively. Each brand stays purpose-built for its audience, and both run on the same system.
What's next.
SmartSource's new home on the web is right here — you'll find the practice, the team, and every credit union they've shipped for on the SmartSource page. If you run a credit union and want to see what an AI-native partner looks like with 20+ years of CU experience behind it, the conversation starts the same way every Nine engagement does: an honest audit, and a straight answer about whether we can help.