Serving Northern Maine and the greater Bangor area, Acadia Federal Credit Union has thrived for more than 60 years by offering highly personalized member service. In fact, the service team has often been on a first-name basis with members. Maintaining close member relationships was a top priority as Acadia assessed how to digitally transform its service experience.
While digital options offered a number of advantages in supporting its broad member base, it also created some obstacles. Acadia wanted to maintain the high-touch, familiar service that members had come to expect while also providing the convenience of banking from home. The credit union needed a flexible solution that would allow members to adopt online service on their own timeline with solutions that were intuitive and provided a positive member experience.
The first step to Acadia’s digital transformation was a shift from disparate phone systems in each branch to a centralized call center that could deliver consistent service and enable Acadia to share resources across all locations. This presented a challenge as many members were used to calling their local branch and connecting with a familiar representative, who was often also a friend. While the support team always provides personable, friendly service, the move to a centralized call center was an adjustment for some members.
Additionally, Acadia wanted to provide digital capabilities, allowing members to chat with the service team online. The credit union first tried a traditional, phone-based call center system that also offered some chat capabilities. Unfortunately the phone system and digital chat were not integrated, locking members into one channel or the other, creating a disjointed experience. Acadia wanted members to seamlessly transition between chat, voice and video without having to stop the interaction, make a phone call, and start all over again.
While evaluating Glia’s digital capabilities, the service team realized that an integrated, centralized approach could include both phone and online interactions on a single platform. The Glia Interaction Platform includes Glia Call Center to support dial-in callers as well as Digital Customer Service (DCS) to assist members online. In addition to efficient management of member service channels, the unified Glia platform overcame the disconnect between phone and digital service. Members can choose how they interact with Acadia, with digital options available as they feel comfortable to try them.
“Digital service with rich on-screen context can simplify interactions and perhaps save a trip into the branch, which is important for our members especially during bad weather. We saw great opportunity here, yet some members have been with us for more than 50 years and are used to picking up the phone and recognizing the voice when an Acadia representative answers. Glia has allowed us to balance the two, providing convenient digital options and also great phone support, all on one platform,” said Charles Pelletier, Information Systems Manager at Acadia Federal Credit Union.
Glia’s digital ‘bubble’ is available on all pages of Acadia’s website and mobile application. By clicking on the Live Support bubble, members can choose chat, audio or video to interact with a representative, or request a phone call back.
Acadia’s strategy to carefully offer digital service options without pushing it onto members all at once, has been successful. The credit union has experienced steady digital adoption, including some members who were skeptical at first. Chat in particular has proven popular, with a growing number of members returning after trying the chat feature.
As members get used to digital options, Acadia is seeing an increase in on-screen collaboration, including dual-cursor CoBrowsing. This allows service representatives to guide members online by pointing out resources, opening relevant links for a member and even helping to fill out an application. All sensitive data or Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is shielded from representatives to protect members. CoBrowsing is especially helpful for more complex interactions, such as applying for a loan or credit card online. Much like Acadia’s chat ‘frequent fliers,’ those who use CoBrowsing rate it highly, with a 5 out of 5 star score.
The same convenience that allows members to interact online has also benefited the Acadia service team. Enabling service representatives to work from home during a bad winter storm when driving would be dangerous, for example, has made staffing easier while keeping the team safe. With the Glia Interaction Platform, service reps can handle both dial-in calls and digital interactions from home, maintaining Acadia’s trademark personal service even when they cannot get to the office.
By consolidating all member interactions on a single platform with Glia, Acadia has driven new efficiencies. Reporting is not only easier, but more consistent and delivers deep insight across phone and digital interactions. The unified approach has also simplified training for the service team, with new employees quickly learning the Glia platform and able to provide member service in as little as 45 minutes.
“Our service team loves the Glia platform. Training is easy and fast. It’s very user friendly and not a hard system to learn,” said Beaupre.
Since deploying the Glia Interaction Platform with Glia Call Center and Glia Digital Customer Service (DCS), Acadia has been able to meet the strong demand for commercial and consumer loans as well as support overall growth in membership. Digital usage continues to increase without alienating members who prefer to call in. Most importantly, Acadia has the flexibility to adapt and offer features that improve the experience, as members are ready.
