Customer Interaction Solutions for Financial Institutions Financial institutions face several challenges and opportunities in the area of customer interaction: using self-service effectively; providing a complete picture of their clients; and quickly identifying the best ones. Additional challenges that financial institutions face are: Outdated processes that are reducing efficiency of agents and impeding the ability to serve customers The lack of integration among various systems creates inefficiencies and customer dissatisfaction The need to know what customers should be extended special offers or rates Astute can provide solutions that help financial institutions meet these challenges. Self-Service Good self-service is key to contact center efficiency because so many contacts involve routine balance inquiries or transfers. Empowering customers to accomplish these tasks without agent interaction can drive down contact center costs without impacting customer satisfaction – if self-service is properly executed. This requires integration with the contact management system. Advantages of self-service include: A bank-by-phone IVR system provides a self-service option that can be easily escalated to connect the member with a service representative without the member having to repeat their account number or other information Because of the new, automated capabilities, call center hours can be extended without increasing staff Linking the call center to financial applications means that fund transfers can occur at the time of request, rather than two hours later, and do not require any manual processes. A Unified View of the Client PowerCenter™ integrates with telephony systems to enable fast customer identification and easy escalation from self-service applications. Because of the ability to integrate with financial systems, it provides a unified view of the client, allowing individuals in multiple departments across the enterprise to understand the entire scope of the customer relationship with the firm.  Understanding this relationship can lead to increased revenues, cross-selling, and client satisfaction.  Furthermore, freeing up advisor time allows for the advisors to focus on winning new clients while retaining existing ones. If the client requires human assistance, PowerCenter provides service reps a complete history of the member at the beginning of each call.  Status of loans and accounts can be accessed and reported by any member service representative, eliminating call bouncing. Increased Efficiency With Astute’s solutions, banking and credit union service representatives spend less time on clerical tasks and more time helping valuable clients. PowerCenter provides a system that can house product descriptions, rate sheets and other information for fast access by representatives and the ability to easily forward that information to members through automated letter and email writing capabilities. Furthermore, Astute’s solutions allow finance and banking firms to distinguish themselves among the competition.   Astute’s solutions can help financial services: Improve agent/advisor productivity Improve the efficiency of service representatives Improve client satisfaction by providing rapid access to client information Increase client wallet share Understand customers financial goals Deliver world-class customer service Automate fulfillment process Improve tracking and analysis of call center activity Improve marketing effectiveness Learn how Northwest Federal Credit Union benefited from PowerCenter!