CUSTOMER PROFILE
01 The Before
Growing a Legacy of Service—Manually
What started as a student project at Brigham Young University had evolved into a not-for-profit financial institution with $3 billion in assets, 21 branches across four Utah counties, and 300,000 customers around the globe. COVID-19 shutdowns fast-tracked an enterprise-level push for advanced technology and improved automation: The already tech-focused organization knew there had to be a smarter, safer way to enable remote work and to accommodate the new customer imperative to deliver anytime, anywhere service.
“At the time we were consolidating data from separate systems into Excel spreadsheets--everything was manual,” explained Cami Young, Assistant Vice President of UCCU’s Service Center Operations. “And we were doing a lot of guessing when it came to scheduling, which meant there were times we were really understaffed or overstaffed.”
02 Desire to Change
Service Leads an Enterprise-Wide Fintech Transformation
The inefficiencies of manual functions and data consolidation were about to be a lot more pronounced: UCCU had embarked on an ambitious expansion project. Between 2020 and 2023, the credit union continuously added branches and members in Utah and, by 2024, had earned licensing to expand outside of the state. Moreover, the credit union aspired to move toward a more technology-driven, fintech operating model.
As part of strategic planning, UCCU knew its service center was the right place to test and perfect new digital capabilities. It was already the epicenter for UCCU’s growing range of digital touchpoints: Above and beyond handling inbound calls, the service center manages UCCU’s 30,000+ monthly chat, email, voice, and text interactions; its online banking platform and a portfolio of applications; back-office support for 21 branches; and its Interactive Teller Machines, which combine the convenience of ATMs with the personal touch of in-branch services.
“For our 300,000 members we are the face of UCCU, and our goal is to push the company to the next level with technology that helps us serve our members when and how they want to be served,” said Young.
03 The Solution
WFM Powers a Digital Evolution, Starting with Scheduling
Young, who had worked with NiCE solutions in previous roles, knew NiCE could transform UCCU’s service operations at the pace of its ambitious expansion and transformation goals. After CXone WFM helped improve service level agreement (SLA) scores by six points just months after its implementation, the rest of UCCU did, too.
Other functions—namely scheduling and coaching— immediately returned harder-to-track but deeply felt gains. Prior to CXone WFM, the inherently complicated task of scheduling UCCU’s dynamic workforce, which includes agents specific to member service, online support, and online banking was further complicated by manual processes. And UCCU agents were beginning to feel the pain in the form of missed breaks and arduous trades.
“Timing-wise, we were scheduling about a quarter out, which inevitably meant there were lots of changes needed and unanticipated fluctuations in demand that we had to accommodate manually. And if we couldn’t, agents were missing breaks, which is a huge problem,” explained Young. “With CXone WFM we’re forecasting, scheduling, and measuring volume so much more effectively. No one is missing breaks, paid-time-off can be scheduled as it’s requested, and we can strategically stack agents to meet the SLA objectives.”
04 The Results
Improved Performance with Fewer Agents
The improved scheduling function emboldened UCCU to increase its baseline SLA target and allowed the contact center to extend its Monday through Friday operating hours and add service on Saturdays—all with fewer agents. “In the month leading up to the CXone WFM implementation we lost five agents due to natural attrition, and within 30 days of being on the solution we realized we didn’t need to replace those agents thanks to all the capacity it had created,” said Young.
In addition to capacity gains, UCCU is heading into its historically busy summer and fall seasons armed with a 6-point gain in its SLA (from 80 before CXone WFM to 86 today), 11%+ reductions in average handle time, and 25% reductions in average hold time. “Having our SLA increase so quickly just based on adjustments in breaks and meetings was an amazing surprise,” explained Young. “And those improvements made a huge difference in our overall morale, too.”
04 The Future
NiCE + AI: Making hard work easier
With NiCE-enabled multi-channel integration in
place, UCCU is taking high-profile steps toward its
fintech vision and customer-centric service. Today,
the credit union is working to replace under-utilized
drive-ups with contact center-managed ITMs, and it’s
exploring how Amelia.ai, a NiCE partner, could deliver
Interactive Voice Response capabilities to enhance
fraud protection and introduce AI-enabled browsing
and chatbots.
“The reality is most people don’t go into one of our
branches, and when they do, it’s likely for a more
complex transaction. For everything else, our members
want help fast, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and
we see AI as being key to being where the customer
needs us more efficiently, said Young.
Meanwhile, NiCE is enabling digital transformation
across other departments, with CXone WFM
specifically powering efficiency gains in UCCU’s loan
center and small business department. “We know
the upcoming expansion is going to be hard, but with
CXone WFM UCCU is more prepared overall, and we’ll
continue to build our AI-enabled capabilities to reduce
those growing pains,” said Young.
