Within the past month, Xtend, Inc., a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based multi-owned cooperative CUSO, has provided call center services for three credit unions during their transition to a new core data processing system. Call center support was provided for two Ohio credit unions: PEF FCU based in Highland Heights and Vacationland FCU based in Sandusky, and one South Dakota credit union: Rapid City-based Rapid City Telco FCU. Each credit union underwent a conversion to the CU*BASE core data processing system from CU*Answers, Inc. (www.cuanswers.com).
Prior to each conversion, agents from the CUSO’s Xtension Call Center completed a series of outbound courtesy calls to encourage pre-selected members to review printed and/or electronic materials regarding the upcoming conversion. Each credit union also engaged Xtension to assist with inbound member service calls for a period of two weeks following conversion so that the credit union teams could focus on lobby traffic as well learning their new toolset. Scott Collins, President of Xtend, noted that “since we rolled it out last fall, many credit unions have taken advantage of this valuable service, but over the past few months we have really seen it take off. A data processing conversion can be a nerve-wracking time, so I think that many are looking at our back office and call center support teams as their ace in the hole for their staff.” Collins continues, “Reaching out to members to get them excited about new self-service tools and then handling support calls to help smooth the learning curve at the credit union has been an effective 1-2 punch for our partners. From our standpoint it has given some great exposure and great references.”`
The CUSO is preparing for two more conversion projects in November, which will close out a busy 2009 calendar year.