The call center at Xtend, Inc., a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based multi-owned cooperative CUSO, is in the process of handling the overflow inbound member service calls for a new credit union partner. Warrenville, IL-based Northstar Credit Union ($77M in assets; 8K members) contracted the CUSO’s Xtension Call Center to assist its staff during the early stages of its core data processing conversion project, which started March 1st.
As they prepared for an upcoming data processing conversion (to CU*BASE, the core data processing suite from CU*Answers, Inc.), the team from Northstar CU made the decision to tap on Xtend’s experience to help handle the anticipated volume of basic member service and online banking calls that typically accompany a core system conversion.
According to Julie Gessner, Manager of Xtend’s Communication Services, the first week of the project has gone very smoothly. She notes, “Our standard CU*BASE post-conversion engagement lasts from one to two weeks and helps both the credit union staff and the members during that period – the staff is able to ease into a powerful new set of member service tools and the members are educated on new self-service applications like online banking, mobile banking, bill payment and audio response. Our team of agents provides this same support for many credit unions on a daily basis, so when NorthStar asked us to assist with their overflow volumes we jumped at the chance. Their staff has been great to work with, and the feedback we have received from the conversion team has been very positive.”
Gessner reports that Xtension agents handled nearly 1,000 member interactions during the first week of support. “Based on the past dozen or so conversion projects we have supported, the second week starts to taper off a bit,” she says, “but a few credit unions have kept us engaged for up to a month as an extension of their staff. And several have contracted us to provide overflow and after-hours support on an ongoing basis.”