Call center earns award - Company Operations

Communications News, August, 2000

At the 2000 Best Practices Forum in Ontario, CA, Redwood Shores' Provident Central Credit Union received the Best Practices Award as best e-commerce entry from the California Credit Union League and its affiliated Applied Research Institute.

Provident Central--with more than 85,000 members and $815 million in assets--installed the Enterprise Interaction Center (EIC) from Indianapolis-based Interactive Intelligence in April 1999. EIC is used for Web functionality, PBX, interactive voice response, automatic call distributor (skills-based routing), screen pop, conferencing, unified messaging, fax service and a workflow-management application.

Helen Byrnes, executive VP for Provident Central, says "With its open platform and built-in Web functionality, EIC has played a critical role in helping us achieve that goal."

Provident offers highly customized Web services, which differentiate it from other credit unions. The EIC-based Web services include a home-banking system that lets members communicate with a call-center representative by clicking on a Web chat or Web callback button. Provident also offers an online loan application service to expedite pre-approval of member loans.

In addition to Web services, EIC has also given Provident Central customers enhanced service via automated phone options and CRM integration. For example, customers calling into the center are prompted for their member number and given an approximate wait time. Using the member number, EIC can determine if the member is highly profitable and, if so, move him to a higher position in the queue.

Members can listen to their account balances while they wait to speak with a representative. When the call is connected, EIC pops the Provident CRM record, so agents have immediate access to vital consumer information. Along with the screen pop, personalized sales teleprompts suggest products and services that the member may want to buy, based on his profile.

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