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The largest credit union service organization in the United States needed to simplify how its contact center agents navigated the multiple banking systems—and their massive knowledge base—used by the 2,400+ credit unions it serves. The be successful, the solution would need to surface the best practices for each credit union, along with the appropriate account service or card program information a customer was calling in about, all within a guided workflow.
Fortunately, Uniphore had an answer: a unified agent desktop utilizing the core capabilities of U-Assist. The solution not only consolidated the patchwork of disparate systems into a single window; it also automated workflow processes, eliminating the need for the organization’s highly complicated knowledge base. As a result, PSCU was able to drastically reduce average handle time (AHT), hold times and agent training and onboarding times.
CHALLENGE
Too many applications were driving up AHT, holds and agent training times
One of the challenges of serving more than 2,400 credit unions is dealing with multiple banking systems—and the processes and requirements that vary for each financial institution. Not only did PSCU’s customer operations team need to know how to navigate best practices for each credit union, but they also had to search the knowledge base to find the appropriate information for the account service or card member program they were helping with—all while the customer was on the line.
As expected, this cumbersome process was producing high average handle times and long holds—two major customer satisfaction hurdles. It was also inflating training times, with new agents taking four to six months to get up to speed. Once fully onboarded, agents had to grapple with multiple applications and a knowledge base bloated with the myriad processes and best practices required of each program. This complexity was fueling high agent attrition and making it difficult to retain talented contact center staff.
To scale growth and achieve economies of scale, the PSCU board led the strategic initiative to find a solution that would unify access to all the different banking systems, as well as provide customer data and workflows in a single window. Not only would this enable agents to handle queries without having to open multiple login screens, but it would also ensure compliance with customer best practices and industry regulations.
SOLUTION
Unify desktop applications and automate workflows
After considering several options, including customer relationship management (CRM) systems and unified desktop solutions, PSCU decided to partner with Uniphore. Their motivation was twofold. First, PSCU identified with Uniphore’s customer-first philosophy: be authentic on what can and can’t be done; don’t overpromise during the sales cycle; and build trust from the start.
Second, PSCU saw what the technology was capable of and how easily it would integrate with their existing Avaya-based contact center software. Using Uniphore’s low-code/no-code platform, they could build and maintain guided workflows with ease and eliminate the problematic knowledge base from the desktop.
RESULTS
Double-digit reduction in AHT, hold times and classroom training time
Using the unified agent desktop capabilities built into U-Assist, PSCU was able to consolidate 500+ banking applications into a single window—while maintaining the integrity of each credit union’s processes and best practices. Furthermore, the industry leader was able to create guided workflows for more than 100 service requests, ensuring agents know what to say, while automatically surfacing relevant procedural information for card and member services (i.e., checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards and debit cards).
In addition to automating, the solution automates administrative backend tasks, such as blocking a card reported stolen and issuing its replacement. This not only shortens overall call time; it also allows agents to focus on the customer rather than on desktop data entry tasks. What’s more, by assigning this work to conversational AI and automation (rather than error-prone humans), the solution improves data accuracy and compliance—two factors critical to customer satisfaction and industry good standing.
Altogether, Uniphore’s solution was able to reduce PSCU’s average handle time by 11 percent and cut hold times by a whopping 30 percent. While these metrics mark a serious improvement in customer experience, the benefits are far from limited to customers alone. On the agent side, the solution was able to reduce training time from four to six months to a mere three weeks. Combined with a simpler, single-window interface and on-demand knowledge automation, this shorter training span has helped incentivize agent retention.
30%
Reduction in
hold times
85%
Reduction in classroom training time
11%
Reduction in average handle time
NEXT STEPS
Expand initial rollout and explore other areas for personalization
Based on the success of the unified agent desktop for card and account services, PSCU has begun deploying the solution within its fraud and dispute management business units. The company is also exploring additional conversational AI use cases. Future considerations include:
Effective—and empathetic—complaints management is critical in today’s remote banking environment. By analyzing customer complaints using conversational AI, U-Analyze can unearth actionable insights that can save customer relationships and prevent complaints from escalating to regulatory authorities. Using U-Assist, these insights can then help agents navigate the processes and next-best actions for resolving customer complaints and regaining lost trust.
Self-service has become a major differentiator for banks and credit unions as more customers adopt a digital-first approach to banking. Utilizing Uniphore’s next-generation AI and automation platform, U-Self Serve makes it easy for financial institutions to design and deploy world-class self-service experiences around countless use cases, including card and member services.
COMPANY
USE CASE
Application Consolidation and Guided Workflows
GOALS
SOLUTION
Unified Agent Desktop (U-Assist)
WHY UNIPHORE FOR CONVERSATIONAL AI AND AUTOMATION
Uniphore’s conversational AI and automation platform provides real-time guidance and actionable insights for customer-centric organizations. By combining conversational AI, knowledge AI, and emotion AI, Uniphore optimizes every conversation to deliver exceptional CX.