Customer Focus

Verteks helps Eglin Federal Credit Union upgrade its contact center capabilities to ensure continued member service excellence.

Long considered the consumer-friendly alternative to big banks, credit unions earn high marks for customer satisfaction and loyalty in surveys of financial institution customers. With a not-for-profit, cooperative structure, credit unions tend to focus on delivering great service to their members.

An emphasis on service has been one of the key reasons for Eglin Federal Credit Union’s remarkable longevity. EFCU recently celebrated its 60th anniversary serving the citizens of Northwest Florida, including military and civilian personnel on Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field and Duke Field. The credit union also has branch offices serving members in Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties.

EFCU recently made a major technology investment to ensure the quality of its member relationships. An aging PBX was nearing end of support and becoming difficult to administer, posing a potential problem for the credit union’s contact center — the focal point for member interactions and thus a critical factor in optimizing the customer experience.

The company turned to Verteks and ShoreTel for a stateof- the-art IP phone system and contact center solution that could better support its operations.

“We looked at a lot of systems, but Shore Tel had the simplicity and the ease of management that we liked,” said Tim Farnsworth, Vice President of Information Technology, EFCU. “Verteks was recommended to us, and all their references spoke very highly of them.

“We reached out to Verteks because we were told they are very, very good in the contact center area, and the contact center here at the credit union was an important piece of this. We wanted to make sure that our members get the right service, and we thought they had the best chance of that through our partnering with Verteks.”

Integrated Features

The contact center experience has evolved from a simple phone call to a complex interplay of communications channels. Although most customers use the telephone to contact companies, a growing number prefer to do business by email, text, chat and mobile and social applications. It was important for EFCU that its new contact center solution allow agents to respond to customers quickly, through whatever communication channel they choose.

“We reached out to Verteks because we were told they are very, very good in the contact center area ... We wanted to make sure that our members get the right service, and we thought they had the best chance of that through our partnering with Verteks.”

ShoreTel’s Enterprise Contact Center solution is designed to help organizations respond to the consumer-driven marketplace with a communications platform that puts business intelligence right where it’s needed. Built on the highly reliable voice capabilities of the ShoreTel Unified Communications system, the Enterprise Contact Center solution quickly delivers all the benefits of a fully integrated business communications platform.

The ShoreTel Communicator interface is a key feature of the system. It puts intuitive communication and collaboration tools at agents’ fingertips, allowing them to manage real- time communications on their computer or mobile phone while moving seamlessly between voice, video or instant messaging (IM). This gives agents the ability to have sidebar conversations during calls or to bring other people into a chat session in order to ensure successful call resolution.

Built-in integration with CRM applications such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics allows agents to gain instant access to customer records during any communication to reduce call response and duration times and significantly enhance caller satisfaction and agent productivity. Integration with Microsoft Outlook enables access to directories and personal contacts for quick-dialing options that speed communication. A host of other productivity features, including calendaring, call history and call-routing settings, are delivered from the same interface.

“The Communicator software is easy to use and gives our employees the ability to do things we couldn’t before,” said Farnsworth. “The call history, call routing and online directory capabilities make things so much easier.”

Gaining Insight

Enterprise Contact Center also features a reporting engine that allows EFCU to review advanced statistics of all the activity in the call center without requiring database programmers or third-party reporting applications. The ability to enter and track “wrap codes” has been very useful for understanding why members are contacting the credit union, Farnsworth said. These codes describe the nature of a call, including balance inquiries, fund transfers, electronic payments, lost or stolen cards, and more.

“We are using the wrap codes to help us track our call volume and the different types of calls,” he said. “What we learn from this will help us see where we can further improve things in the future, either through member education or maybe more information online. The system also allows us to generate reports on dropped calls, missed calls and the volume of calls at any time of day. These reports can help us adjust our staffing levels to ensure we’re delivering the best possible member service.”

Gaining insight through historical data also improves agent productivity. Agents can preview customer information through “screen pops” so they are better prepared for the call. With advance knowledge of customer information and account activity, agents have a better opportunity to help the customer quickly and reduce call time.

Farnsworth credits Verteks for guiding his team toward the right solution and managing the implementation of the system in a way that ensured no interruption of customer service.

“Verteks took the time to find out what we needed and what we wanted, and they were extremely thorough in helping design a solution for that,” he said. “There are always numerous ways of doing things, and I was always really comfortable with their path for us — versus just giving us a system and saying, ‘Here, let us try and make this work for you.’

“They got us up and running with no downtime. They scheduled the conversion for off hours to minimize the impact on our employees. They did a phenomenal job for us.”