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From its start in 1965—operating from the trunk of a car—Heritage has evolved into a thriving financial institution serving almost 65,000 members across southwestern Indiana, northern Kentucky, and eastern Illinois. The credit union's significant growth demanded a new approach to member service delivery while maintaining its commitment to relationship-focused banking.
"We wanted to meet our members where they are," explains Tim Coudret, Director of Member Experience at Heritage. "Whether that's via phone, website, digital banking, or text messaging, we needed a solution that would allow us to serve members on their terms while maintaining the personal connection our credit union is known for."
The credit union established three interconnected objectives:
These goals shared a common thread: harnessing modern technology to work smarter while maintaining the relationship-focused service that drives the credit union's growth. However, some of its existing systems couldn't support this vision, thus change had to occur.
Heritage's legacy contact center technology stood in direct opposition to its member service goals: its existing phone and IVR systems, with complicated menu trees and limited capabilities, prevented the 24/7/365 seamless service experience the credit union wanted to deliver.
For employees, a lack of system integration created daily challenges. Member service agents had to toggle between multiple platforms while trying to maintain efficient and personalized service. This disjointed approach limited their ability to understand a member's full interaction history quickly to provide seamless, high touch support.
"We felt like we had an opportunity in our market to gain a competitive advantage in our contact center by using technology to improve our member experience," explains Coudret. "But our disconnected systems were holding us back." Without native AI capabilities or modern automation tools, expanding service availability would have required significant staffing increases - an unsustainable model to growth.
The need was immediate. "Customer expectations have changed and they're going to continue to evolve as technology evolves," notes Coudret. "You don't want to get left behind because you don't have the contact center technology stack that serves your customers the way that they deserve." To achieve its goals of enhanced member service, employee empowerment, and operational efficiency, Heritage needed a comprehensive solution that could bring its member service into the AI era.
Heritage found its answer in Glia's Unified Interactions Management (UIM) platform - a solution that would deliver a truly ChannelLess® experience for agents and members alike. "It was a no-brainer choice for us," says Coudret. "Once we met with Glia the first time, we frankly didn't really look anywhere else."
The credit union deployed a powerful suite of integrated solutions to ensure a seamless experience for members and a unified workspace for employees.
To meet members where they are, Heritage first implemented Glia Digital, offering live chat, CoBrowsing, and Live Observation capabilities to better support members. The credit union was ready to supercharge its digital channels and expand service accessibility, adopting AI-powered Digital Glia Virtual Assistants (GVA) to provide instant, accurate responses to common member questions at any hour of the day. Heritage then expanded its digital services even further by integrating Glia Digital with its Alkami online banking and mobile platforms to ensure consistent support across all channels. The credit union also implemented SMS capabilities to further expand how members could engage with an agent.
To complement Glia Digital, Heritage would then replace its legacy CCaaS solution by implementing Glia Voice, offering real-time speech-to-text transcription, AI assistance, and fully automated post call wrap-up. The addition of “Heidi,” an AI-powered virtual phone assistant (GVA), would vastly improve the member experience when calling the credit union. Unlike traditional IVR menus that frustrated callers with endless button pressing or talking to a recording, “Heidi” would engage members in natural conversations to resolve inquiries directly or connect them to the right agent.
By implementing a suite of Cortex AI solutions, purpose-built for high-trust organizations, Heritage aimed to streamline every aspect of service delivery.
Agent AI would help service staff work more efficiently with a suite of smart tools:
Managers would gain powerful tools, like Insights AnalystGPT, Quality AnalystGPT, and Forecast AnalystGPT, for a more modern approach to quality assurance and continuous improvement.
The most impressive part? Heritage implemented Digital GVA for its online and mobile banking platform, Glia Voice, Phone GVA, and Cortex AI for a total call center overhaul in a mere four months. Coudret notes “Any one of those features could have taken four months with a typical legacy vendor, but the Glia team helped us execute on an aggressive timeline and we really felt like they were an extension of the Heritage team.”
This strategic implementation would directly address Heritage's goals: improved operational efficiency, better member service, and enhanced employee effectiveness through intelligent tools. The impact would soon prove significant.
When Heritage implemented Glia's unified platform, the impact was immediate and far-reaching. In a move that defied conventional banking wisdom, the credit union doubled its service capacity while reducing labor requirements by 20%—proving that superior member service and operational efficiency can go hand in hand.
The key to Heritage’s success lies in its strategic approach to blending AI automation with personalized human service. Today, AI enhances 90% of all voice interactions at Heritage, with “Heidi,” the Phone GVA independently resolving 34% of calls—meaning one in three members get immediate answers without ever waiting in the queue.
For more complex inquiries, AI supports agents in 56% of calls, gathering initial interaction details from the GVA that first answered the call. Before connecting to a live agent, Cortex Heads-Up and Transfer Summaries creates a clear interaction summary. This allows agents to focus immediately on solving the issue without asking customers to repeat the information they've already provided.
This intelligent approach to service delivery has generated impressive results:
"Members love that they can get immediate answers without waiting for a live agent," explains Coudret. “Heidi handles routine questions quickly, and for more complex needs, members are connected to the right team member with the interaction context to alleviate the pain of asking a member to repeat themselves."
Beyond phone support, Heritage's 65,000 members enjoy 24/7/365 access to banking assistance through AI-powered virtual assistants on its website and Alkami digital online and mobile banking platforms. Whether checking balances at midnight or exploring loan options over morning coffee, help is always just a click away.
The results reveal an important truth in modern banking: excellent member service and operational efficiency work hand in hand.
Behind these impressive metrics lies another crucial transformation: the evolution of Heritage's service team from transaction processors to relationship builders. By strategically deploying Glia's comprehensive AI solution suite, Heritage has fundamentally changed how its employees work to serve members.
While virtual assistants handle routine inquiries, Heritage's agents now focus on complex problem-solving and relationship-building conversations—the kind of meaningful work that drives both employee satisfaction and member loyalty.
When handling more complex member inquiries, Cortex Agent AI serves as an intelligent assistant for the service team to amplify their capabilities:
For managers, Glia's suite of AI analysts has improved how they support and develop their teams:
This powerful combination of tools enables managers to provide targeted coaching, identify training opportunities, and make data-driven decisions about team development. Rather than spending hours manually gathering and analyzing data, managers can focus on what matters most: mentoring their teams and improving service delivery.
The addition of these new AI tools energized the entire service team. "Our team is very customer-centric, and they love to connect and help our members. Giving them a tool like this has really been revolutionary," explains Coudret. "Now they can do more for our members and really meet people where they're at, helping to improve lives and simplify banking."
By prioritizing not only the member experience, but also the employee experience, Heritage created a virtuous cycle. Happier, more engaged agents provide better, more efficient service, leading to more satisfied members.
Heritage has proven that with the right technology partner, financial institutions can simultaneously enhance experiences and operational efficiency. Its new AI-powered foundation enables contact center scalability, adaptability to changing member needs, and maintains its competitive edge in an evolving market.
As Heritage partners with Glia to boost member service in the digital age, Glia is here to help your organization chart its own contact center modernization journey. Reach out today to find out what your institution can do with Glia’s fully connected UIM platform and Cortex AI solutions.
