About Centier Bank
Centier Bank is Indiana’s largest private, family-owned bank, having served hometown banking across communities since 1895. With a purpose of enriching lives through caring relationships and financial guidance for an even better tomorrow, Centier Bank currently has over 60 offices, serving in 35 communities across 11 counties with over 1,000 associates. Centier Bank has ranked on Forbes’ list of Best-in-State-Banks annually from 2018 to 2023. Additionally, Centier Bank has been among the top “Best Places to Work in Indiana” by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and received national attention from American Banker magazine as the Top Best Bank to Work For in Indiana and #10 in the U.S.A.
The Goal:
Convince Senior Leadership That Coconut is Money Well Spent
A solution that initially appears to be the path of least resistance sometimes turns out too good to be true. Centier Bank experienced this during the pandemic when they urgently needed a solution to manage branch traffic. Centier was provided with a quick solution for appointments by a current partner, which seemed like the logical course of action since the tech was included in their subscription. Once the appointment software was in place, the team soon realized it couldn’t deliver on some critical needs:
- Access Controls and Permissions: The existing system was limited in the ability to assign administrative responsibilities. There was no way to limit a branch from changing critical components, including hours, service descriptions, and more.
- Multi-Branch Management: This software required each branch to be built individually with no ability to replicate the settings. That left significant room for human error and inconsistencies. When Centier needed to update hours, services, or client communication, staff had to touch 60+ branches and then review them all to ensure no errors were made.
- Actionable Insights: The prior software could not gather information and reports across 60+ branches and required technical support each month to pull limited data with pivot tables to make it workable. According to Tiffani Davis, VP of Client Experience at Centier Bank, this left the leadership team with more questions than answers. There was no line of sight on appointments, which associate was involved, or if the client even showed up.
- Client Self-Serve: It was also challenging to let clients “choose their own adventure” and find a service that best reflected their needs due to limited display options in the previous experience. This often resulted in clients selecting the wrong service and booking time with staff who couldn’t best serve their needs. It also meant that both clients and staff were unprepared for meetings, leading to a lackluster experience all around.
- Welcoming Walk-ins: When clients walked into a branch for help, there was no guarantee that the right staff member would be available for a conversation. Clients often couldn’t get what they needed through one meeting because they weren’t prepared with the right information and paperwork.
Additionally, Davis shared, “With the old appointment software, when we had national holidays and needed to block a specific day, we sent calendar invites to all bookable associates to ensure their day was blocked. There was no quick and easy way to update the system to block all branches and associates. Now, [with Coconut] it’s seamless.”
Making a Strong Case to Trade Up
Tired of the frustrations and manual administration associated with the prior software, Davis and team wanted to switch to a new appointment scheduling and lobby management solution. “The daunting part was convincing our senior leadership that we should pay for an appointment software when we’re getting one for free,” says Davis.
The team successfully made the case that the “free” solution was causing frustration and impacting the client experience. That was compounded by highlighting the questions they couldn’t currently answer that senior leadership yearned to know. Lastly, they were able to compare the two systems and all the added benefits connected to associate productivity, staffing efficiencies, and more. Ultimately, they got the green light to implement Coconut Software.
Boost Visibility and Efficiency Through Appointments
Choosing to implement Coconut Software eased the administrative load for the Centier team while improving reports and insights into branch happenings and branch experience.
- Efficient Administration: With Coconut, the administrative team can make changes to services, staff or locations in one spot (and it takes minutes, not hours). “Before we moved to Coconut, we had to strongly consider if a requested change was necessary because we knew how much work every small change required,” says Davis. “On the admin side, Coconut is probably 1000 times better.”
- Useful Insights: Coconut allows the Centier team to see patterns across locations – including how long a service takes, which services are most requested, and whether a client shows up for their appointment.
- Transforming Minds: With an easier set-up process, adding new services is quick, making it simpler to align client needs with solutions. Centier focuses on guiding its clients toward financial success so timely appointments are critical and drive favorable outcomes and client satisfaction.
“Our clients are used to walking in to see a banker…but what happens when no one is available?” says Davis. “Our team is educating clients on how beneficial appointments are for them. Now it sounds like, ‘Let me show you how easy it is to schedule your account opening when it works for you!’ and ‘When you want to follow up with me you can simply select the link in this email.’”
- Frictionless Experiences: Coconut makes it easier for Centier clients to select the right service and get routed to the right expert to help them. It also helps Centier capture interest in products or services. Clients can seamlessly book an appointment from a search result, Google Maps or Google Assistant. “Coconut allowing us to show up in search results is a win,” says Davis. “If a client is searching for a product/service or location, they can book right in their search results. And that was not something we had before.”
