Southern Gas FCU, located in Little Rock, Arkansas, is excited over its expanding member services with the adoption of Zipwhip, the two-way text messaging service available through CU*SOUTH. Zipwhip text provides members with the option to text or call the credit union’s existing landline, VolP, or toll-free business number. The easy to use apps for desktop, web, and mobile allow the credit union to text members from wherever they work. It’s also one of the few texting providers with SOC 2 Type 1 compliance, bringing peace of mind that texts are sent securely.

According to Southern Gas FCU CEO Tina Plante: “Zipwhip has improved our overall efficiency by lowering the time it takes to perform back office functions, such as insurance verifications. What used to take days to complete now takes only a few hours.” As an example, the credit union will text a verification of insurance request to a member and within minutes to a few short hours, the member has responded. Members can even photograph an insurance declarations page and upload it to a text message or send collateral pictures. Plante continued: “Zipwhip is the bomb and members love it! The phones rarely ring, freeing up time to focus on back office tasks, member-facing services and transactions.”

Utilizing innovating strategies has advantages. In under 12 months, Southern Gas FCU was able to complete its three-year business plan, creating greater efficiency and investing in the membership by adding a mobile application process, mobile app, mobile RDC, and Request Center forms (secure forms online). They will be adding additional products and services over the next 12 months.

An energized Tina Plante said, “All credit unions should be utilizing Zipwhip, no matter how large or small. The cost of the service is far outweighed by the amount of time saved to focus on other important tasks in the credit union.” For more information on two-way text messaging provided by Zipwhip, please visit Xtend at xtendcu.com.