Several factors are affecting the way credit union contact centers interact with their members and conduct business, in particular the advent of social media. The traditional contact center is evolving to keep up with these changes, but not without a few growing pains.

TMCnet interviewed Tom Farquhar, Business Process Specialist at Zeacom (News - Alert), to discuss the current state of the credit union contact center, what the future might hold, and how Zeacom’s mix of professional services and advanced functionality is meeting these demands for its customers.

TMCnet: Why focus on credit union contact centers?

TF: Credit unions, as an industry, are quite different from banks. They are very focused on maintaining an intimate relationship with their members, which plays directly into Zeacom’s strategy and solutions portfolio. Not only do we offer ideally suited contact center software for credit unions, but we also deliver the business process automation, services and customization necessary that enables us to cater to individual deployments based on each specific organization and the needs of their respective members. Credit unions that are intent on providing the personal touch do not want for a canned solution; they are looking for specific, individualized ways to improve the overall customer experience.

TMCnet: What types of communications breakdowns typically plague a contact center?

TF: With relation to credit unions, there are recurring transactions, such as payroll direct deposit, that are worth mentioning and that answer this question. Credit unions try to secure as much payroll direct deposit business as possible because that gives them a regular deposit from which they can run money – that’s the positive side. The side effect of that, which impacts the contact center customer service operation, comes from the segment of members/customers who need immediate assurance and notification that their deposits have gone through.

What happens during every pay period – and this is universal across the credit union universe – is that on the 1st and the 15th of each month, and every other week or every other Friday, they will receive a very large, pronounced spike in call volume from people checking on their payroll direct deposit, which can severely impact the performance of the contact center.

Enter Zeacom.

It is specifically this type of situation for which our technology is perfectly suited. We can do things like automatically check that the deposit has gone through within 24 hours and subsequently confirm this for customers quickly, via their communications medium of choice, instead of them having to wait and then navigate through the entire phone menu. This proactive, “push” technology not only reduces the burden on contact centers and their agents, but also provides a higher level of customer service and member satisfaction.

TMCnet: How can Zeacom’s Business Process Automation (BPA) benefit the credit union contact center?

TF: Simply put – Zeacom BPA combines technology and professional services to streamline the entire operational process. At the end of the day, people only have a certain amount of time. For example, when Joe Customer calls into his credit union, he is thinking, ‘I have only five minutes to deal with this situation’ (or whatever that certain segment of time is). Once he nears that time limit, he will lose patience and focus. So, if Joe spends a lot of time trying to navigate complicated phone menus to get the information, it’s only natural that he will want to hear everything.

Zeacom’s Business Process Automation identifies the frequent items for which members and customers are calling, and then helps immediately answer that initial request. As such, if Joe Customer has a five-minute window allotted for this call, and he gets that answer in two minutes, we as agents now got some time to do other things like offer Joe new products and services or identify things he might use that would benefit the credit union and help increase the products and services per household.

We work with our customers to streamline the experience and create additional time with which to direct them to the proper person/department to sell new products and create additional revenue per household.

TMCnet: How can implementation of an IVR system benefit a credit union contact center?

TF: IVR is an essential tool for credit union contact centers and facilitates a few different processes. Traditionally, IVRs have been good for routine, everyday tasks, and as such, a large percentage of callers will use this these functions with relative ease and success.

The inherent challenge with IVRs is that they typically just display basic information and then you’re done. However, advanced IVR systems have tremendous potential as a cross marketing tool, as there is a great deal of data available that is specific to each caller (such as what kinds of products and services they have, what they don’t have, special offers they aren’t aware – all of which translate into additional sales opportunities). This information arms agents with detailed background and statistics about the caller’s interests and needs, and as such, thus enabling him to upsell other products and services with a higher degree of success.

The most notable benefit with IVR technology is the ability to consistently lower costs; the disadvantage is you are losing those additional sales and marketing opportunities when there is not a direct path to live agent interaction.

To summarize, there are two essential considerations for implementing an IVR. 1) Identify and install the right IVR to help lower labor costs, but 2) Ensure that your team is still creating sales opportunities by educating members and customers on other products and services that may be of interest.

Like all things, the trick is finding the balance. 

TMCnet: What type of product support does Zeacom provide its customers?

TF: I am glad you asked this question as our service and support team is a great source of pride and a true differentiator. Zeacom provides maintenance and ongoing support services to ensure that clients are able to maximize the benefit from their ZCC solution. Further, Zeacom users can access our top-tier Support Team either directly or through our Resellers, depending on the relationship.

Zeacom's support services will optimize the performance of your contact center and unified communications applications. After some 15 years of first-hand experience, working in a wide range of customer environments around the world, our support methodologies can handle all your requirements.

Whether you require a standard service package or prefer a customized service level agreement, Zeacom and its reseller partners will provide a fast response and resolution to all reported issues.

TMCnet: What future upgrades or new product releases does Zeacom have planned?

TF: Most exciting is the pending release of ZCC v 6.0. We have not yet publicly announced all of the new, advanced functionality this package will feature, but I can tell you that it will deliver a higher level of customization for the operator console, as well as enhancements to outbound queuing and executive mobile. Also, ZCC 6.0 will support myriad additional platforms and functionality that will appeal to both new and existing customers.

TMCnet: Do you foresee social media playing a role in the contact center industry?

TF: Absolutely. I’ve spoken at two credit unions in the past month and social media was the topic. It’s gotten quite a bit of interest from CEO’s. Traditional marketing is dramatically changing and that’s all because of social media.

There’s the saying, ‘It costs more to acquire new customers than it does to keep your current ones,’ social media is changing that because all you have to do is a Twitter (News - Alert) that ‘I had really bad service at XYZ Bank’ and guess what? That’s out there now. People see that. On the flip side, if you create a very rewarding, unique, positive customer experience, then you’ve got the social media capabilities to share that as well.

TMCnet: What sets Zeacom apart from its competitors?

TF: The other day a customer said to me, ‘The delight about Zeacom is that we’re large enough to have cutting-edge technology, but we’re small enough to care.’

That really makes sense to me because we’re not a huge company – and I personally prefer that because we are small enough to care; we’re small enough to be able to not only listen, but to hear what our customers want and to respond accordingly. Yet, we are large enough to be quite profitable, and continually add to our expansive customer base across the globe.

Candidly, and at the risk of repeating myself, we’re very solid and we’ve got some great people and technology that enable us to make a difference.