The digital age is enabling value like never before. Credit Unions are utilizing technological resources to help with their daily operations and improve productivity.

In this article, we discuss and share some relevant best practices on increasing automation to reduce costs, increase revenue and improve revenue and member satisfaction. These insights on “Automate and Elevate” were shared by Dr. David Tuyo, President, University Credit Union, at the 6th Annual CULytics Summit.

Strategic Priorities of University Credit Union - Before the automation initiatives, University Credit Union had the following objectives -

1. To Invest in Employees
2. To Simplify Products and Services
3. To Increase Speed and Quality
4. To Enhance Accessibility to/for the Member

Here is how the Credit Union has moved towards achieving its objectives.

1.ROYCE - Chatbot and Digital Assistant

The problem statement which pushed the initiatives  was as follows - “How can University Credit Union leverage technology to exponentially scale to surpass growth rates of assets, loans, and revenue from larger financial institutions?”

The solution was to develop a cognitive agent, and hence, they introduced Royce- Digital Assistant from UCU, which is now integrated throughout the member experience and all touchpoints.

2. Know your numbers, know your business 

The Credit Union developed a 20 mile March Principle, the essentials of which were as follows -

• Keep a steady pace
• Focus on consistent, long term performance
• Have concrete, clear, intelligent, rigorously pursued, performance mechanisms.

3. Due diligence - Through due diligence, UCU attempted to discover and answer whether they would want to buy or build a solution, narrowed the market quickly, and chose a solution provider whose scalability was wide and deep.

4. Understand the process and built greater levels of intelligence - UCU took time to understand the reaction of members and interaction with Royce and built on it. 

5. Metamorphosis of Artificial Intelligence at University Credit Union

University Credit Union built artificial intelligence function with Royce, and it got smarter with time. This happened over a series of phases.

Phase 1: Information and Product Discovery Experiences

Phase 2: Product Application using assisted forms and conversational forms

Phase 3: Transactional Experiences

Phase 4: Call Center Automation

Phase 5: Intelligent Banking Experiences

On-going learning maintenance

Eventually, Royce Interactions and UCU Live video banking increased, whereas calls to call centers decreased. There has been a sustainable spike in digital and mobile banking as well.

6. Transforming the Technology Stack - UCU had to rethink the entire technology stack. They had to do core assessment, digital services assessment, and look at API Functionality, mobile and digital banking, API Access to other services and reduce initial transactional set because of risk. With a better understanding of member behavior, the transaction sets were eventually increased.

7. Employee Education Program and initiatives - The employees at UCU went through education and knowledge-based promotions for roles and responsibilities like:

• Career Pathing/Laddering
• Member Service Specialist
• Member Success Coach
• Member Wellness Coach
• Financial Advisor.

There are also certifications available like :

• Certificate in Accounting
• Internal Audit Certificate
• NAFCU Compliance Certification
• NAFCU Risk Management Certification.

Through this, employees became capable of addressing member’s questions professionally and intelligently.

CONCLUSION

As we can learn from UCU’s transformation, Never stop learning, and become a student of your profession. The switch to intelligent automation is no less than metamorphosis, and you become efficient only with time, and as you stay consistent.