Community Financial Institutions (CFIs) are under a lot of pressure to deliver value and reliability in the face of rapidly shifting demographics, rising digital trends, heightened fraud concerns, and lingering effects of the global pandemic.  

But, what could have been their greatest asset in this time of need – their human resource – has been hit the worst. 

Ask any community bank and credit union about their biggest concerns at this moment and we promise 80% of the time it will be “staffing issues.” Even 2023 Crowe Bank Compensation and Benefits Survey numbers paint a similar picture – across 388 financial services organizations for varying asset size and geographic location.

Your staffing issue is affecting your customer experience

The problem of not being able to “find and train the right people” is not only a human resource problem. Rather it negatively impacts the very core focus of your community financial institution – member/customer relationships. 

It negatively impacts your capability to provide timely & quality assistance to your members/ customers. 

What you are left with as a team is a lot of missed opportunities, hundreds of frustrated customers, and an overburdened experienced staff. 

As per Rivel’s nationwide meta-analysis, conducted exclusively for CU Times across 5,000+ financial institutions, “Over 20% of credit union members are currently not happy with their credit union and are open to leaving.”

Here are the primary staffing drivers behind this concerning trend:

• Inadequate Staff Training: Dissatisfaction with staff training levels has surged by 131% as members encounter newer tellers and call center staff who are not yet proficient.

• Proactive Assistance Shortage: Dissatisfaction among members/customers has risen by 188% as they see staff being overwhelmed to provide additional assistance.

• Responsiveness Decline: Most alarming being the 275% spike in dissatisfaction with financial institutions’ ability to promptly address members/customers seeking assistance.

Traditionally, hiring more experienced agents – who can rely on a wealth of knowledge gleaned from years to deliver stellar customer experiences – would be the way to go. However, this approach becomes unsustainable in the face of lean hiring & training budgets compared to banks and fintech startups, focus on community relationships & service rather than fat profit margins, and rapidly evolving technologies and regulations.

Instead of struggling to find the perfect talent, let’s innovate and see if we can cultivate excellence against all odds – by doing more with less with AI.

AI for Credit Unions and Community Banks Teams

AI is reshaping the operational landscape of financial institutions. From elevating member engagement with personalized services and instant issue resolution to optimizing workflows through automation and augmentation, AI offers a plethora of opportunities. For this discussion, we will limit ourselves to empowering your existing team to deliver at scale. 

Solve for volume : Take routine queries out of the equation

Rethink the way your members access information needed routinely.

Get versatile AI agents that overcome traditional support limitations to deliver frictionless experiences to your members/ customers.

• What’s my account balance?
• I would like to know about my last 3 transactions
• I want to report a stolen Credit Card

With less time spent on routine rule-based questions and more on focussing solving the issues that yield higher deposits and growth motivates your team, leading to higher job satisfaction = less attrition. Read more about how Eltropy AI agents can help your credit union or community bank solve for volume. 

Agent Benefits 

Customer Benefits 

Solve for complexity : Assist employees to become experts

Rethink the way your team access information needed for their customer interactions. 

Enable them to confidently resolve any member/customer issue, independently and accurately with GenAI based knowledge assist. This empowers them and elevates the overall agent- member experience. 

ChatGPT-like for community financial institutions can effectively 

• Consolidate knowledge: Unify information from various sources into a single, searchable platform.
• Deliver instant answers: Empower agents to answer member questions quickly and accurately.
• Seamless integration: Work within existing workflows for minimal disruption.

Read more about how Eltropy GenAI knowledge assist can help your credit union or community bank solve complex user interactions. 

Agent Benefits 

Customer Benefits 

Solve for efficiency : Put member conversation insights into action

Rethink the way you extract, manage, and distribute customer insights across the team.

Discover a goldmine of intelligence in your member and customer interactions which can lead you to discover service improvement opportunities, compliance risk & performance improvements, and sales opportunities.

• Interaction summaries across all communication channels, ensuring no detail is missed.
• Agent performance monitoring to support training & development.
• Operational foresight, highlighting trends and insights for strategic decision-making.

Read more about how Eltropy AI Conversational Intelligence can help your credit union or community bank solve for operational efficiency. 

Agent Benefits 

Customer Benefits 

In the end, it’s not just about understanding the potential benefits. It’s about seizing the opportunity to integrate AI effectively, driving growth and productivity within existing systems while optimizing resources and minimizing waste. If you feel you are ready to have that first conversation, click here to get a guided tour with our product experts to find out how Eltropy AI-powered solutions can meet your needs and challenges.