How Employees Improve Credit Union Performance
Read Eric’s take on Andy Jennings session at ICUL, and how the right tools & knowledge in the hands of your employees improve credit union performance.
Investing in New Technology Training
Successfully implementing your digital transformation doesn’t end after launching new software/technology. Investing in new technology training is a key step in the implementation process to produce optimal results. Implementing new technology is great, but if you don’t know how to use it properly, you may be paying for features or functionality that aren’t delivering much value. Many organizations offer add-on training sessions to teach customers how to navigate all the features of their new implementation, which allow you to optimize the return on your investment. According to Middlesex University, 56% of HR Managers consider training and development to be an essential business enabler. Time is money, and one might think that training is a drain on time, that could be better spent working. However, the real cost that will negatively affect your organization comes into play if you’re not planning or executing your training programs correctly. Why Invest in New Technology Training? Choosing to invest in additional training sessions will allow your organization to get the most out of your new implementation. Ideally, you’ve chosen a solution that provides the most benefits to your organization. Getting trained on your new solution allows your staff to learn from the experts on how to utilize the new features and functionality, which means that you can expect the best return on your investment. No matter what solution you have chosen, it is going to have some impact on either your customer-facing channels and/or your back-end processes. Getting trained on your new implementation will enable your staff to use the new solution in the best way, in order to maximize operational processes. Although your vendor might have an amazing support team, it uses a lot of your organization’s time if your staff rely solely on customer support to manage your new implementation. The risk of relying on customer support from your technology vendor is that it can lead to inefficient operational process, waiting for the vendor’s support team to address basic questions about the solution that could be managed in-house if your staff receive the proper training. Additionally, investing in a training program for your new solution will greatly increase its adoption amongst your employees. When your staff are properly trained on how to manage your new technology solution, they will be much more likely to adopt it and benefit from the features it provides. allowing your organization to function at an optimal level. Avoid Poor Adoption and Frustrated Employees Your new implementation can become more of a detriment than a benefit if you choose to forgo a training program, ultimately blocking-up your operational processes. By opting to not go through a training program of your new implementation, you open yourself up to the risk of poor adoption by employees in your organization. If employees are not properly trained on how to effectively use the new software, there is little chance that your new implementation is going to have a high adoption rate. This is problematic as you will have different individuals within your organization using different applications and workflows, leading to disorganized back-end processes, which will inevitably lead to a poor customer experience. Not providing training for your employees can also increase turnover, especially if it is integrated into the regular tasks of their job. Not providing your employees with training on your new implementation that you are requiring them to use can cause frustration. This is due to the pressure being put on employees to use technology that they are not familiar with, resulting in blocked-up operational processes. Technology solutions are not cheap and typically involve a lot of effort from your organization to choose and subsequently implement. Spending the extra money on a training program for your new implementation is a worthwhile investment for your organization as it properly teaches employees how to successfully use the new solution and enhance operations processes. Why Invest in Coconut Software Training? At Coconut, our onboarding team is dedicated to providing our customers with a personalized implementation process, to ensure that you receive the most out of your scheduling solution. During the implementation process, our onboarding staff will conduct consultations with the stakeholders involved in the roll-out of your new solution, to understand and help create your unique workflow. Should you choose to take advantage of the training program for your new solution, our staff will use your use case as a base for putting together a customized training package. We have several learning materials available in terms of how your organization can go through the training process, all customizable to your organization’s use case and branding: Recorded, interactive webinars Modular tutorial videos Written user guides Recorded webinars This is a recorded, interactive training tool that includes a live tutorial on how to maneuver your new scheduling solution. Additionally, serving as a guide that you can refer to down the road. Modular Videos This training tool includes recorded videos on how to use the solution, tailored to your organization’s unique use case, and can be shared within your company, as well as uploaded to your organization’s LMS, or Learning Management System. User Guide User guides are written documentation that explains how to use your solution. We tailor the information in the user guide to fit your unique use case, as well as brand the document according to your organization’s guidelines. It is important that your employees get the training they require when first implementing new technology within your organization to streamline operational processes and foster high adoption. However, it is also crucial that you have the necessary resources available to onboard new employees an train them on your solution down the road. The amount of time and effort that goes into choosing and implementing new technology, it is in your best interest to empower yourself, as well as your employees, with the necessary training in order to get the most out of your new solution as well as improve operational efficiencies. What Next? Looking to boost revenue and deliver a premium experience to your
Assembling Your Software Implementation Team
In order to streamline the implementation process of your new technology solution, it is important that, (along with support from the decision makers in your organization) you gain inter-departmental support, essentially building an implementation team to speed up the process. Failing to establish your software implementation team can be very problematic when the times comes to roll-out your new solution. Not gathering input from various departments within your organization could lead you to choose a solution that is not viable for many other teams within your organization and that is missing elements necessary to meet the needs of other problem areas. Ultimately, this can cause roadblocks later on in your roll-out process. Here are some of the was in which your software implementation team can make the roll-out of your new solution that much easier. Is the Software Solution Viable? Gathering representatives from various departments early on in the process will help you choose the best solution for the issues your organization is experiencing. Assembling a software implementation team made up of individuals from various departments will ensure it is a viable solution for the departments that will use and benefit from it. And, with their early support, they will help clear the path for a smooth roll-out of your solution. Meet Everyones Needs By establishing the software implementation team early on, you will ensure the solution meets everyone’s needs. You will want to get the most out of your new software solution, and by learning what the needs are from the departments that will benefit from this solution, you will be able to get the best return on investment. Additionally, the department representatives on your software implementation team will become advocates for the new implementation. Members of different departments will be able to sell the solution to their team, encouraging employees to adapt to the new technology at a quicker rate. Prevent Roadblocks Your software implementation team will help smooth out the roll-out of your solution. You will also gain feedback from each department about how to best roll-out the solution to meet their needs, providing support for the logistics of the implementation. Establishing a software implementation team made up of members from various departments in your organization will help avoid roadblocks later in the process, as each department benefiting from the solution had an advocate of theirs involved from the beginning. This ensures your solution is realistic and beneficial. Who Should be on Your Software Implementation Team? Most organizations, when rolling-out new tech solutions, develop teams that include members of the Marketing and IT teams, representation from other business units, and a project manager to lead the process. Each representative plays an important role in the implementation process and will help ensure your new solution will meet the needs of every benefiting department. Project Manager A project manager is a key member of the software implementation team. Their main responsibility is ensuring the roll-out of your new solution is seamless and efficient. The main role of the project manager is to conduct day-to-day correspondence with your software solution provider and manage the other members of the software implementation team. This job is critical, as it ensures the roll-out process accommodates all the benefiting departments in your organization, and that other members of the software implementation team complete the necessary tasks to ensure a seamless roll-out. IT As this is a technology implementation, it is crucial that you involve your IT team early on. They will be able to give insight into what is possible in terms of a technology integration within your organization. Additionally, they can give insight into any adjustments needed to make this a high functioning, compatible solution within your organization. Your IT team also knows your back-end processes better than we do, making them a crucial component in ensuring you have a seamless installation and configuration of your new solution. These team members will be most interested in understanding more about our open API, and how the solution can be customized to meet the needs of the organization. Marketing Implementing a new customer-facing solution needs to involve the marketing team. They will be crucial for raising awareness about your new solution, and ensuring the implementation is customer-ready with familiar branding and accessibility requirements. The marketing team is the most familiar with your organization’s customer-experience expectations. They’ll be most interested in determining how the appointment scheduling software can be custom-branded to fall in line with their branding guidelines and provide their customers with a seamless and consistent journey. Business Units Aside from Marketing and IT, there are many other departments within an organization that could benefit from your new solution. Be thorough, and add representatives from each department to your software implementation team. These members will be able to advocate for the needs of their departments and give insight into what the solution should offer to improve operational efficiencies within the organization. This also benefits the project manager, as they will be able to delegate tasks to each department representative, making the roll-out process that much quicker. By establishing your software implementation team, and composing it of members from various departments within your organization, you will be able to see the bigger picture of what your solution will have to accomplish. This will allow you to make sure the solution benefits as many aspects of your business as possible, giving you the highest possible return on investment. With Coconut, one customer success coach along with a project manager is dedicated to your implementation process to ensure you have a positive experience with us, as well as a seamless roll-out of your new scheduling solution. For more information about who you should include on your software implementation team to experience a seamless roll-out of your appointment scheduling solution, book a consultation today! What Next? Looking to boost revenue and deliver a premium experience to your clients? Schedule a consultation with Coconut Software to learn more about how our appointment scheduling solutions can get you there.
The Importance of Securing Early Buy-In from Decision Makers
Securing Early Buy-In: Mirroring the customer service trends evident in retail and other industries, bank and credit union customers are seeking to interact with their financial service providers in new ways. In response, many FinServ organizations are beginning a front-end (and back-end) digital transformation. Choosing the right technology solution for your organization is the first big hurdle, but planning and executing a successful implementation can be a challenge unto itself. One way to ensure that the implementation runs smoothly is by securing early buy-in from the decision-makers in your organization. The Importance of Early Buy-In Not acquiring early buy-in from your key decision-makers could leave you open to the risk of going through lengthy sales-cycles with various FinTech solutions, to ultimately find out that they do not meet the needs of the stakeholders in your organization. This ends up costing you time and slows down your digital transformation process. Early buy-in from decision-makers will ensure you have support throughout the process, allowing for an efficient roll-out of your technology solution. It is in your best interests to start by assessing the needs of each stakeholder before you start the sales cycle for a new technology implementation. This way, the implementation process becomes much easier, increasing the pace at which your new implementation can be up and running with the support from ‘higher-ups’ within your organization. Of course, bringing the solution to the attention of decision-makers early on in the process is one thing, but securing buy-in is another. Here are some ways your organization can gain support for your next technology investment. Highlight the Operational Inefficiencies to Solve The first step in securing buy-in from stakeholders is to bring operational inefficiencies to their attention. A significant part of any technology implementation is to correctly identify the issues affecting the operational process within your organization. By doing so, you will be able to choose an implementation that will effectively tackle what’s going wrong, and will also improve key processes. Bringing these issues to the attention of decision-makers within your organization will help garner support for a new technology implementation. Issues that affect the customer experience and reduce efficiency mean the loss of revenue for your organization, and as soon as you highlight and emphasize issues that are currently affecting company revenue, decision-makers will be more likely to invest their support in a new solution. Pitch a Solution, Not the Product After highlighting the areas within your organization that are in need of an upgrade, it is wise to pitch the benefits of the new solution rather than the product itself. As an example, let’s say that your organization is experiencing long contact handle times in its contact center, causing customers who are trying to book an appointment to drop off the line. And once appointments are booked, your customer-facing staff are seeing high no-show rates, in part because you have no way to send automated reminders or calendar invites for appointments. To solve these issues, you have decided to implement integrated appointment scheduling in your organization. Pitching the implementation as a product look like this – “Integrated appointment scheduling will be beneficial to our organization, as it has many features that will enhance our operational processes, such as: The ability to track appointment analytics within our organization. Integration with our CRM and give customer-facing staff insight into customer history with our organization. Sending custom branded follow-up emails after appointment completion. Integration into our online platforms, giving customers 24/7, self-serve appointment scheduling.” Yes, these are the benefits that come with integrated appointment scheduling, but they are not what you need to highlight to secure buy-in from stakeholders. Rather, we recommend cutting to the chase and instead, highlight how the solution will help you solving problems that you’re currently experiencing. Pitching the implementation as a solution to the organization’s operational issues looks like this – “Integrated appointment scheduling is the right solution for our organization, as it has many features that will address the inefficiencies we are experiencing in our scheduling process. It will allow us to enhance the customer experience and improve operational processes, such as: Integrating all appointment scheduling applications into one platform. Streamlining the appointment scheduling process for our contact center representatives and significantly reducing contact handle time by having all applications on one platform. Automatically sending confirmation emails to customers after they have booked their appointment through the contact center. Using notifications to remind customers of their appointment to reduce the number of no-shows.” Know the Solution & Paint the Picture Highlighting the benefits of your ideal solution is beneficial, but drawing out how it will fit into your organization makes the idea more tangible, and increases your chances of buy-in. This is different from listing the features that will help solve the issues affecting your organization and is more of a “picture this” approach. Let’s say you have listed the benefits of an integrated appointment scheduling solution, but you still don’t have complete buy-in from your stakeholders. Now is the paint a picture of what the solution would look like in your organization. Describe Your Current State “Here is a breakdown of what currently happens in our contact center when a client tries to book an appointment: First Hold: Customer calls into the branch and is placed on hold for the next available representative. Basic details: Once the customer gets through to the representative, they are asked for their basic personal information, and what service they need. Second Hold: Customer is placed on hold for the second time while the contacts center representative searches through multiple platforms to find the necessary information to book the appointment. Checking branch locations: The representative searches for the nearest branch to the customer, typically using a geolocator. Searching available, qualified staff: Then the representative has to search through an extensive list of employees who work at that branch location to try and find an advisor who is qualified to conduct the service the customer requires. Checking staff availability: The contact
Identify Operational Inefficiencies in your Organization
Identifying your organization’s operational inefficiencies is a key step when choosing software implementations during a digital transformation. By correctly diagnosing any issues, you will be able to develop a clear picture of the technology implementation process you need. In appointment-driven businesses, it is a common issue for organizations to experience both back-end and front-end inefficiencies that affect overall processes. Issues with back-end processes can include lack of communication between the appointment scheduling channel and the customer-facing advisor, while front-end inefficiencies can include lengthy call handle times for customers attempting to make an appointment with your organization. Identifying Your Operational Inefficiencies When looking for processes within your organization that could be improved, start by assessing the current state of your customer journey. Customer expectations are on the rise as digital transformation has swept across most industries. According to Salesforce, 76% of customers now report that it’s easier than ever to take their business elsewhere. With the threat of increased churn, it is crucial that your organization stays on top of its customer-facing processes to increase brand loyalty. A common issue that many appointment driven businesses have experienced are inefficient customer facing-channels. In order to bring in revenue, you rely on customers to reach out and schedule appointments with you. But, friction points in your appointment booking process could be turning away potential customers. Customers have come to expect it to be easy to get in touch with their service providers, and booking an appointment is no exception. With integrated appointment scheduling, customers will no longer experience long hold times or inefficient call handling while trying to book an appointment. Even more importantly, you have the opportunity to provide customers with a 24/7 online appointment booking portal — capturing more business with less staffing requirements. Additionally, it is wise to assess your organization’s back-end processes that directly impact the customer experience. In large businesses, keeping track of all of the information customer-facing staff need in order to schedule appointments can get chaotic. With that in mind, it’s vital to keep track of staff availability, updated qualifications and other important information on a single platform if your organization is to run as smoothly as possible. With enterprise scheduling, you can host advisor data on a platform that is organization-wide and updates in real-time. Implementing an appointment scheduling solution will add much-needed order to your booking process, enhancing your staff and customer experience. Targeting Operational Inefficiencies With Coconut Software’s Appointment Management Solutions When looking at solutions to help solve the issues within your organization, do not limit yourself to one solution for each individual issue. A single solution such as integrated appointment scheduling can help address and enhance multiple inefficiencies that are preventing your organization from functioning at its highest potential. Schedule a consultation to learn more about how integrated appointment scheduling can help solve the issues affecting your organization! What Next? Learn more about how an effective appointment management solution can solve your operational inefficiencies. Download Coconut Software’s Appointment Management Data Sheet. Looking to boost revenue and deliver a premium experience to your clients? Schedule a consultation with Coconut Software to learn more about how our appointment scheduling solutions can get you there.
Digital Transformation to Improve Operations
Learn how digital transformation and initiatives can digitize customer-facing channels to keep up with increasing customer experience expectations.
3 Ways Online Appointment Scheduling Optimizes Staff Time
Online appointment scheduling provides many benefits that will help to optimize staff time, subsequently boosting business productivity and revenue.
3 Ways to Improve Contact Center Performance
Highlighting the 3 best ways that you can better manage your Contact Center team performance to get improved results and ROI.
5 Things to Consider When Writing an RFP
Katherine, Coconut CEO, provides a breakdown for writing an enterprise-grade appointment scheduling RFP to help organizations ask the right questions.
The 4 Best Follow-Ups to Decrease No-Show Meetings
Learn about the best methodolgy appointment driven organizations can use to decrease no-show meetings with Coconut Software.
Top 3 Credit Union Scheduling Pain Points
Depending on the size of a credit union, scheduling pain points arise for both advisors and members when it comes to their appointment management system. Pain points generally culminate around staffing requirements, research and preparation and system limitations. These pain points lead to unproductive meetings with members, missed meetings and lost time and revenue for the credit union. We’ve recently compiled the top 3 scheduling pain points that we have come across in meetings with our credit union clients over the past year. Additionally, we’ve highlighted the ways that enterprise appointment software addresses these issues, leading to less missed and more productive meetings. Credit Union – Top 3 Scheduling Pain Points 1. Establish the Omni Channel Within the Credit Union industry, the idea of the omnichannel is very important. Credit Unions understand that their members are diverse and prefer a choice for how they interact with its advisors. In order to create a fully optimized omnichannel experience, Credit Unions are looking to offer an opportunity at every level of their member interaction to book an advisor meeting. This means, over the phone, in person and online. Credit Union’s currently have a tried and true model when it comes to in branch and contact center interactions. What ends up being the missing piece is a quality digital option to help your members connect with your team. With online appointment scheduling, Credit Unions are able to empower their members by allowing them to select the branch and meeting time that works best for them. It creates efficiencies and a seamless experience for all involved. 2. Visibility of Resources and Expertise across the Branches The ability to provide a visual of which advisors can perform specific services within each branch has been very difficult for tellers, members and contact center agents to book appointments in real-time. Real-time online scheduling maps out which advisors are certified to perform what services at which branch, creating a simple online view and scheduling ability for your members, branch staff and contact center. 3. Wait Times and Hold Times Credit Unions are challenged with longer than desired wait times for contact center and walk in traffic. These wait times are resulting in frustration from its members, busy lobbies and potential missed opportunities to connect with drop-off and walk out traffic. Online scheduling creates visibility into the advisor’s real-time schedule, alleviating wait times and spreading traffic within the branch across more time slots. On very busy walk in days, providing times to meet with your advisors is convenient to your members and respects everyone’s time. Automated reminder messages reduces no shows, eliminates wait times and increases your member experience. Learn about the key features and integrations that enterprise organizations need from an appointment management solution. Download Coconut Software’s Appointment Management Data Sheet today. Looking to boost revenue and deliver a premium experience to your clients? Schedule a consultation with Coconut Software to learn more about how our appointment scheduling solutions can get you there.
3 Things to Consider When Selecting Enterprise Appointment Software
You’ve already made the first step in recognizing the value of enterprise appointment software but now you have the tough decision of selecting a vendor.