The Vision
In 2017, University Credit Union(UCU) developed a 5-year plan focused on evolving their long term business model. Considering they serve the university community, that is highly technologically savvy and geographically scattered, UCU had to elevate their offerings and member service efficiently by focusing on being a leader in the digital space. The 5-year plan reflected the same.
“Considering the tech-savvy university community is our target audience, we are focused on being a leader in the digital space.”
Dr. David Tuyo
President & CEO, University Credit Union
The Progress
Executing the 5 year plan, UCU evaluated their technology ecosystem and looked at technology investments that would help them achieve their goal with a renewed focus. With concerted efforts around this, UCU has been able to increase the portion of the business that originates online from 10% to over 40%. This has led to a strong growth in revenues, assets and membership in the past 3 years.
The Next Step
Even with an ever increasing portion of the business originating online and significant growth, there was scope for even greater growth and efficiencies to be had.
- A significant portion of the applications that were started online, were never completed
- There were several bottlenecks in the contact center operations, which, if rectified, could greatly improve service levels to members
- There were several upsell and cross-sell opportunities to be explored
Technology Selection
The road to Artificial Intelligence & Intelligent Virtual Assistants
After extensive research and understanding of case studies of several Credit Unions incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI), the executives at UCU were convinced that AI, specifically, Intelligent Virtual Assistant, was the technology that would help them overcome the challenges they were facing.
Affordability
Considering the possibilities with a technology such as Intelligent Virtual Assistants, the UCU team were initially concerned about its affordability. On gaining knowledge of credit unions of similar sizes incorporating Intelligent Virtual Assistants and understanding how the technology could be implemented at a modular level, it became clear that it was affordable and had massive ROI generating potential.
“We were not sure of our ability to afford technology like AI and ML due to the narratives in the outside world. When it came to our knowledge that other Credit Unions with similar asset size ranges, were investing in AI, we were convinced to take a granular look. On going deeper, we understand that all financial institutions with more than $100M in assets can leverage different aspects AI with Intelligent Virtual Assistants.”
Serge Rizk
CFO, University Credit Union
Creating significant competitive advantage for UCU
After extensive research and understanding of case studies of several Credit Unions incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI), the executives at UCU were convinced that AI was the technology that would help them overcome the challenges they were facing.
UCU Expects to
- Reduce training time of support staff
- Improve operational efficiency across the organization
- Offer personalized interaction experience for members
- Improve member response accuracy rates by up to 95% and greatly improve first call resolution rates
- Continuously learn from member interactions and improve
On timing of sanctioning the project amid the coronavirus pandemic
“This project is part of our long term strategy and it made sense to advance considering the accelerated shift of members towards digital channels. The decision to invest has come after extensive evaluation and the technology is proven to deliver value. We believe that institutions that take action during tough times by adding significant value to their members & by serving them in creative ways will be poised for success in the long term.”
Dr. David Tuyo
President & CEO, University Credit Union
UCU will also be able to serve its membership base across the world in a fast and efficient manner. It will also enable them to maintain great relationships with partner universities that are highly tech savvy.
Vendor Selection & Evaluation
Vendor Identification
After extensive research and understanding of case studies of several Credit Unions incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI), the executives at UCU were convinced that AI was the technology that would help them overcome the challenges they were facing.
UCU identified vendors by
- Researching industry publications
- Reading AI implementation case studies in the Credit Union space
- Speaking with other Credit Union decision makers in their network
- Hands-on evaluation of Credit Union Intelligent Virtual Assistant implementations which acted as a proof of concept
Vendor Shortlisting & Evaluation Criteria
UCU evaluated vendors based on the following criteria
- Pricing – An affordable solution
- Functionality – A solution having a wide range of functionality that can add value to all aspects of the organization and to all members
- Experience – Having deep domain knowledge and having several successful live implementations delivering impact
- Vision – Having a long term vision, technology roadmap and insights into the possibilities with the technology
Pricing, key functionalities offered, and the technological roadmap of the partner were key factors in choosing a partner for this project
Tristan Dion Chen
CMO, University Credit Union
University Credit Union & interface.ai
After an extensive vendor selection process, UCU chose interface.ai as its partner for Intelligent Virtual Assistant Technology
“From our evaluation, it is clear that interface.ai is far ahead of even the second best vendor operating in the Intelligent Virtual Assistant space.”
Dr. David Tuyo
President & CEO, University Credit Union
The major reasons for UCU choosing interface.ai are
- Deep understanding of the credit union space
- An industry leading offering focused on delivering value & ROI from day 1
- Having the most successful AI implementations across Financial Institutions in North America
- Out of the box solutions for all banking needs
- A well defined long term vision and product roadmap
- An offering that is affordable by all financial institutions
“interface.ai will enable UCU to offer premier experiences on all member facing channels while greatly improving efficiencies across the organization.”
Dr. David Tuyo
President & CEO, University Credit Union
Learn more about Royce and interface.ai
In the news
AI Assistant helping small business Owners guage their eligibility for Small Business Administration Relief Funding
April 22, 2020
Fintech firms providing Free Techchnology during the CoronaVirus Crisis
April 3, 2020
Credit Unions begin new decade with Upgraded, Converted Systems
February 7, 2020Other Case Studies
Dr. David Tuyo,
President & CEO
University Credit Union’s Intelligent Virtual Assistant.
“From our evaluation, it is clear that interface.ai is far ahead of even the second best vendor operating in the Intelligent...
Jay Tkachuk,
Senior VP, Digital Services
Security Service Credit Union’s Intelligent Virtual Assistant
“interface.ai is one of the very few platforms that can achieve 90%+ accuracy within just a few weeks”
Carolyn Jordan,
Chief Growth Officer
Intelligent Virtual Assistant for Neighborhood Credit Union
“Our call handling rates increased from 50% to 90% within 2 days of Nick's deployment, which has allowed our agents to focus more on...
Howard Meller,
President & CEO
Intelligent Virtual Assistant for Neighborhood Credit Union
“Our call handling rates increased from 50% to 90% within 2 days of Nick's deployment, which has allowed our agents to focus more on...
Troy Kyle,
Chief Information Officer
Intelligent Virtual Assistant for America's Credit Union
“The possibilities with interface.ai on the automation we could achieve, the customizations possible with the solution, the impact enabled for...
James Chang,
Chief Executive Officer
Intelligent Virtual Assistant for Pasadena Service Federal Credit Union
“The experience that interface.ai was offering was far superior than the other AI platforms...
Travis Frey,
Chief Technology & Security Officer
Intelligent Virtual Assistant for Dover Federal Credit Union
“We have achieved 40% call automation on day 1 of launch of ‘Beau’, our Intelligent Virtual Assistant, powered by interface.ai”
Josh Herzog,
Vice President of Operations Experience & Payments
Intelligent Virtual Assistant for KeyPoint Credit Union
“The team at Keypoint was greatly impressed by what interface.ai was able to offer currently and had laid out a detailed roadmap for the future...
Todd Rothenberger,
SVP/Chief Member Experience Officer
Intelligent Virtual Assistant for Diamond Credit Union
“We believe that this technology will allow us to get answers to our member’s questions quickly with 24/7 availability. Currently...
Matthew Herrick,
Senior Vice President Marketing & Financial Services
Southland Credit Union’s Intelligent Virtual Assistant
“We have been very impressed with the solution provided by interfacai.ai. The committee was blown away by the demo and what we can...
Dan St. Hilaire,
Chief Executive Officer
Northern Credit Union’s Intelligent Virtual Assistant
“The IVA will free up our employees from working on transactional activities and enhance the quality of work, thus improving employee morale...
