South Carolina Federal Credit Union

South Carolina Federal Credit Union offers a full range of financial services to its members, including savings, checking, credit card, investments and loans. A non-profit with 175 employees and 20 locations throughout the state of South Carolina, South Carolina Federal’s 170,000 members are also its owners.

The Challenge

Over its 85 years, South Carolina Federal Credit Union has provided member-centric service, helping the institution to grow exponentially. Traditionally, members and potential members would call or walk into a branch location, and as the credit union has grown, it has offered online connections through its website. South Carolina Federal listens to and frequently surveys their members. A few years ago, they were hearing that members were waiting too long to meet with representatives. This had several causes: limited meeting room space, representatives with different areas of expertise who traveled to different locations, and the good problem of having markedly increased volume.

The Change

South Carolina Federal deployed Engageware to meet these challenges, offering members the ability to book an appointment to come into any one of their financial centers, or to speak with a representative at a scheduled time, or to have a representative call them back at a specific time.

“In the past, if a member called the contact center and needed to go into a financial center, the representative would simply give them directions to the closest financial center. Now they can actually schedule an appointment…and the representative will be waiting for them at a specific time, and will already have all of the information ready to take care of that member’s specific needs,” says Bridget Lewis, South Carolina Federal’s Manager of Sales & Service.

One unique feature for South Carolina Federal is that there are different representatives who travel to different financial centers at different times. Before deploying Engageware, it was hit or miss with whether the right expert would be at the right location at the right time. With Engageware’s Intelligent Appointment Scheduling system, representatives know ahead of time which members are visiting which centers at what times, and what their specific needs are. This allows each location to offer personalized service with no waiting.

“We wanted our members to pick the product first, and then the location, because we are unique in that not all of our locations are the same. Engageware makes it easier for members to find the place they need to go rather than going to a place first,” adds Bridget.

“At South Carolina Federal, we realized that our members are changing – that everything is changing – and we need to change as well. So we listened to our members, gathered their feedback and asked: What can we do to make things better for our members?”

“One of our favorite sayings now is ‘We’ll have a representative waiting for you – rather than you waiting for them!’”
– Bridget Lewis, Manager of Sales & Service

Measurable Results

South Carolina Federal says that three years ago, they saw wide ranges of ups and downs in their Net Promoter Scores. “This year, we were within two points all year,” says Bridget, who adds that Engageware makes it easy to gather information on what members want, what they like and don’t like. “We take that feedback and apply it to our processes and how we do business,” Bridget explains.

Applying that information has allowed South Carolina Federal to “see our Net Promoter Scores maintain a high level, and we don’t see the dips that we used to see. We know we are providing consistent service that is exceeding member expectations.”

And South Carolina Federal’s members aren’t the only ones who like the changes made possible with Engageware: South Carolina Federal’s employees love it too.

“We made sure that we designed Engageware to meet [our employee’s] needs, and when we rolled it out, we made sure they understood how it worked and how it was going to streamline their days and make things easier. Those who resisted it the most are now the biggest champions of Engageware! They’ve found that the benefits are just incredible. They like the structure that it provides and the fact that they can look at the day and see who is coming in the door so they can be ready and make any adjustments necessary,” says Bridget.

She also notes that call volume has slowed at South Carolina Federal’s call center because members can match themselves with the right representative, either by phone or in person. “Members have already established a relationship with a particular representative in one of our financial centers, so they don’t have to call the contact center and get passed around, which has alleviated call volume and provided better service.” South Carolina Federal has seen a huge drop in wait time complaints “because people can come in at the time that they want to come in, and they know there won’t be any waiting.”

The Future

South Carolina Federal will be adding Events & Classes, and is “excited about it – we do offer a lot of financial education seminars to our members and we’ve never really had a clean way of tracking who is coming and who had attended.” The credit union plans to use Engageware’s Events & Classes to schedule, manage and track investment events, insurance events, financial literacy seminars, and many other educational opportunities for its members and potential members.

Another future benefit from Engageware will be the ability to connect with Spanish speaking members. Using Intelligent Appointment Scheduling, South Carolina Federal members who prefer to do business in Spanish will be able to select an appointment or call with a Spanish-speaking representative.

South Carolina Federal will also be deploying Reserve with Google, and is excited that members will be able to search Google and immediately see that they can book an appointment “without even visiting our website.”

“We made a product using Engageware that meets the needs of our members and works fantastically for our employees.”