There are so many things that are better together than they ever could be alone. The best pairings are the ones that complement each other, the ones that share similarities but also fill in the gaps where the other might be missing. When it comes to customer service, there’s a pairing that Glia is helping financial institutions unlock that’s changing the way they manage their service experience. So move over, Peanut Butter & Jelly, because there’s a new power couple that Glia, Ascentra Credit Union, and Expedition Credit Union want to talk about: Digital Customer Service and the call center.
While digitally-focused service seems to be the norm nowadays, and certainly is preferred by most modern customers of financial institutions (as 84% of all interactions start either near or on a screen), they’re still reaching for the phone when they have an urgent need or want to speak with a human agent. Call centers are busier now than ever, and their popularity isn’t going to be going away any time soon. As integral as these two customer support channels are, however, problems can arise from how they’ve historically been managed as completely separate solutions.
On a recent webinar, Laurie Bruggenwirth, AVP of Digital Operations at Ascentra Credit Union, discussed what their service experience was like with digital and phone handled as two separate silos: “We originally brought Glia on for our website and our online engagements, and we were managing another platform [for phone calls]: it was way too much for our staff. In the early stages, we had to pull staff members from taking your standard contact center calls to just doing the digital side of things… it was hard for them, we were losing another person taking calls.”
Running digital and phone as separated solutions can lead to inefficient staffing and frustrating transitions between channels. While both excel at different things, there hasn’t been an easy way to ever bridge the gap between them. That is, until Glia Call Center (GCC) came and found a way to bring the two together at last.
Phone Call Center + Digital = Holistic Contact Center
GCC is part of the Glia Interaction Platform, a full suite of customer service solutions that connect together seamlessly with a ChannelLess® Architecture. Instead of having separate contact center solutions for managing phone calls, digital interactions, automation, and other service channels, Glia provides a single platform that brings everything under one roof.
Laurie Bruggenwirth knew that finding a solution like GCC would be a great way to solve the issues that come with using separate point solutions for member service: “We have it all together now, and it works great. We have our contact center agents take 2 engagements, so they’re all able to take a phone call and then also take a chat at the same time. They’re very comfortable with that, I honestly feel we have agents that could take 3.” GCC worked to finally unite phones and screens together, creating a synergy between the two systems that wasn’t present before.
Improved CX and EX with Glia Call Center Software
Dennis Griesgraber, COO at Expedition Credit Union, also saw an improvement in the experience of both their staff and members thanks to GCC: “We brought on both Digital Customer Service and [GCC] right before a debit card conversion, right before an online banking conversion, and there isn’t any way we’d be successful without it. The ability to seamlessly switch channels from voice into digital and all the visualization, all the context that you need for high call volumes in these spaces was absolutely instrumental. We couldn’t have done it without [Glia].”
The ability to seamlessly switch channels from voice into digital and all the visualization, all the context that you need for high call volumes in these spaces was absolutely instrumental. We couldn’t have done it without [Glia].
– Dennis Griesgraber, COO at Expedition Credit Union
Even in an increasingly digitally-focused world, service over the phone is still a priority for a significant number of customers. But digital service and phones don’t have to be treated as though they’re incompatible: on the contrary, these two service channels can become an inseparable duo that draws on one another’s strengths to succeed where the other could not alone. Glia Call Center unites phone calls with Digital Customer Service, a truly perfect match that empowers financial institutions to support all aspects of their customer’s experience on one intuitive platform.
Want to hear more from Ascentra CU and Expedition CU about Glia Call Center? Check out the full webinar recording here.
