NCR Voyix’s Doug Brown Talks About Evolving Member Experience at GAC

Credit unions' member experience has rapidly changed over the last several years. The COVID-19 pandemic forced credit unions to jump head-first into creating excellent digital banking and experiences for their respective memberships, and these trends have continued long after lockdowns were lifted.

Sarah Snell Cooke, cofounder/publisher/editor of The Credit Union Connection, sat down with NCR Voyix President Doug Brown at GAC 2024 to talk about the continuing evolution of member experiences and how technology and AI can be used to help credit union staff better help and serve members.

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Sarah Cooke 00:00
All right. Welcome, everybody to The Credit Union Connection. We're live here from GAC 2024. We are here today with Doug from NCR Voyix. Welcome.
Doug Brown 00:12 Thank you so much, Sarah.

Sarah Cooke 00:13
Go ahead, let you introduce yourself. Tell me a little bit about what y'all are doing? Sure. So I'm

Doug Brown 00:17
Doug Brown, President of Digital Banking at NCR Voyix. And we run digital platforms for hundreds of credit unions across the US today.

Sarah Cooke 00:26
And so, you guys have your fingers on the pulse of everything? I'm sure. So what are what are some of the trends that you're seeing? Obviously, it's a hot topic. Yeah.

Doug Brown 00:35

This year has been great, like a lot of energy at the session. So that's been exciting. There's a maniacal focus on the member and the member experience. And what's different, I think this time than other years has been member experience in a more holistic fashion, what we call a digital first at Voyix. And what that's about is that we want to have great digital, when people are on the glass in an app or on a laptop, but then also when they're interacting with your service members, and digitizing that series of exchange, and so forth. And so that's really been a noticeably more palatable topic this year. And we're pretty keen on that. Because we really think that's the way to elevate how much value you can offer the members in essence, derive back from members.

Sarah Cooke 00:37
Yeah, and, you know, anything that can help credit unions transfer that that wonderful in-

branch experience, the member experience to, you know, the digital world is a good thing,

Doug Brown 01:31

right and difficult, and vice versa, bringing the convenience, right, and the capabilities both ways. And so that's where we see some of the leaders, I'll say, industry wide, really moving out in front. And that's how really, they can establish a higher level of trust and engagement than any other alternatives out there, be it a credit union or community bank, or even a fintech.

Sarah Cooke 01:53
And so how are you connecting with them? Like, how does that work? Yeah.

Doug Brown 01:58

So for us, it's about really having a deep data integration and real time data, so that you can inform the experience to the members expectations and their desire, and then making it very relevant, of course, and personal. And that's the one thing that credit unions are masters of, versus their competitors. And so it's really about bringing that experience to the point of member. And as we talked about it in a digital first, it means digital everywhere. So that means it's going to be great when I'm using the app, it's gonna be great when I go into the branch, it's gonna be great when I contact the contact center. And the reason is because the data is persistent across all those instances, and it informs who's ever servicing the member, is what it's about.

Sarah Cooke 02:08
And that's always been one of the issues is, oh, this data is in here. This is in this spot. Yeah, all these data silos?

Doug Brown 02:43

No, it's, it's, you've got to see the member holistically. And if you don't, you're gonna fail. And so there's a recognition of that. So that's been really exciting. We have a tight partnership with Google, and how we run our infrastructure instance, as well as our data to offer back to the credit unions. So that's been very successful in helping to really execute on this long, longtail strategy of member engagement with data informed decisioning and experience

Sarah Cooke 03:07

and personalizing the service. Yes, once you have that data back there, you can use it to analyze and pick next best or pick, like what they're most likely to do next, say my car loan is three, four years old, might be time for another car loan. And

Doug Brown 03:22

they're desperate for advice and coaching, they had improved their financial wellness. So it's not just about the product offering. It's also just like understanding them and making it topical and helpful for them. Could be credit score counseling, there's a variety of things, financial literacy. So I think there's a number of themes, but knowing which members need which is really the essence of it. Because nothing's more annoying than getting hit with the same message that doesn't apply to you. Exactly. That's a big turn off, right. And so, so recognition of that, and then also being able to like I was really interested in I saw on the app the other day, but then they go into the branch, the branch needs awareness of what it was that they were interested in. So bringing that experience forward, and then helping service them engage them, that you were aware of what they were interested in, and why and then you can really take it to the next level. And it's really strong.

Sarah Cooke 04:06

A strong way of delivering on a brand. That consistency, the helpfulness, you know, as far as like the financial wellness piece you're mentioning, and so it's not just about the money, it's not just about, you know, to take that loan and take your money. And it's

Doug Brown 04:23

precisely and yeah, and I think I noticed too, that the people's sentiment, attitude is also like trending negative, I'll call it about their financial outlook. It's not getting better, it seems to be getting more stressful, right? So as a result of that, I think that's where credit union industry at large can really help with empathy and understanding it. And that really starts with providing them more things that where they engage more frequently, and that you can have the opportunity to hear from them, learn from them and show them that you do care and you do understand better. One interesting trend that happened here was people have had incredible efficiency success with the deployment of interactive tellers in the drive up lanes. And at some level, that's great because it helped us through COVID with a servicing surge in the light. However, there's also a need to say, Well, hey, you know what, I don't want to just have them drive up drive away without any chance to engage and help them. And so there's even some people now pursuing, like, I'd really like to encourage you to come in and talk to us, we'll make the service side very efficient. But if I can engage with you a bit more. So looking for those opportunities, right to open up advisory and consulting, I think is really a really good one, I think that it's gonna help a credit union stand out, it's a

Sarah Cooke 05:33
culture shift to, to, you know, this whole new thing coming in. And so the entire team needs to be on board with consistently using it, that

Doug Brown 05:41
kind of thing. Yeah, they have to be

Sarah Cooke 05:42
the cross sell or, you know, or holistic understanding of the member. And understanding all that. Yeah.

Doug Brown 05:49

And And you're exactly right, that staff has to be, you know, embracing the tools, understanding and looking at these things like AI as a threat, as an enabler in many instances, as we look to, you know, leverage use cases there to help make the service member job better. And in so doing, they're gonna reach the members better,

Sarah Cooke 06:06
right? Because if that AI is taking care of things in the background, that it can, and then the human is saved for the human piece of it. Yeah, empathy.

Doug Brown 06:16

And another trend here at the show, you know, we're seeing the the excitement over AI and Gen AI and the like. And so, one thing we've seen with some of our early deployers of that type of technology, is when it's offered to, for example, in the contact center, like this is your best teammate, you're ever going to have this is a teammate who works the off hours, who can take surge activity, and also a teammate who can help coach you and offer you how to service member with new topics that you might not even be familiar or comfortable with yet, you know, topics like crypto coming back into vogue. And that's something like not a lot of service members unnecessarily know about. But an AI assist, type of agent can help inform and explain to the contact center how to share and form and what to say on the topic to other members. And yeah, so it kind of helps your members just sort of service members having more flexibility and range and doing it accurately and consistently. Right.

Sarah Cooke 07:07
Right. And it's spitting out too like, for example, if you're on the phone with somebody and

maybe a keyword comes up in the conversation, I mean, does it does attract that kind of

Doug Brown 07:16

stuff? It does. And it's reacting more than just the keywords. It's also taking full context. It's also in some instances noticing like tone, are you saying it in a positive or negative manner? Like I just got burned on crypto with it, it'll know that the question wasn't like, please go recommend the next crypto ETF to this member explained to them responsible budgeting investment strategy, you know, is what it goes about doing. So

Sarah Cooke 07:40

yeah, that's another thing. You know, like, I would say, I know nothing about investments, right? We're asking and the member service person may not as well. And it provides opportunity to educate as well as potentially, you know, deepen the member relationship.

Doug Brown 07:54

That's right. And then and topics to that maybe are, are seasonal like tax. So tax is not something if you don't do it all the time, you probably aren't fully current, and with tax codes and laws changing too. So it's one that can help enable somebody if you're on the front desk to help address and understand what to direct people to do. So again, looking at it as a teammate, not as a replacement is coming from my job like, no, it's wants to make your job better.

Sarah Cooke 08:19

Yeah, it's funny, because you mentioned like, it doesn't matter how many times the economists in DC tell us we're not in a recession or whatever, doesn't matter, because people are feeling like their money is it's pinched. And so yeah, I think it's great timing for the financial wellness piece. Like what what all does that encapsulate for credit for the credit union to the members?

Doug Brown 08:41

Yeah, you know, wellness is about detecting what the needs are of different individuals, of course, and, and offering different mechanisms to provide either content or structured program, if you will, to help them that they care about. So with financial literacy I mentioned earlier. So that's one that okay, we can create endless numbers of textbook type things on the topic, right, but they're not going to read it, it's not going to mean it. So you have to like convert it to video format, whether it can be TikTok-isized or something to that effect, that's going to reach millennials and Gen Z, right, in a much more meaningful way. And then also having, you know, partners spokespeople who, you know, make the target audience look attracted to and will listen, more attuned to it. Kind of like I'm a parent of millennial daughters, and I'm usually the one that the last one they come to. Because they're friends. Everyone else knows more than mom and dad. Yes. And so find the right spokesperson with message delivery and forming and things that resonate with them. And then span the spectrum that you know, some people need more basics things like basic literacy of how to manage, how to budget, how to finance what the term cash flow means. Some people might have more upper end exotic needs, which we were talking about, like investment strategy, wealth and tax. And so you want to just, you know, build yourself in a flexible model, you can respond to the guidance that you're after. And so we think our digital first model is a great way to do that, because we see over and over that people keep reporting the the depth of the branch. And as the furthest thing from the truth, as we see it, we see the purpose and role of the branch changing quite a bit. Right and how it delivers in the service mix. But we don't believe that the name of the game is to shut it down and ignore that side of relationship. That's really important.

Sarah Cooke 10:31

Yeah, I mean, I almost never walk into the branch of my credit union. But yeah, we had a problem with our debit card the other day, and so yeah, having that branch there, even though I avoid it at all other costs,

Doug Brown 10:44

but yeah, that's right. So so that's a good example. Like, they're all the branch changing, like they're there to help you with a major issue, right? That was impactful to you. I call that a moment of truth. And they were able to fulfill and satisfy you, you know, depositing check, I trust, you can do that on your mobile phone, like 99% of the rest of the population. So that's not as important to you. So recognizing that. And then what have you trained your service members to do how to engage. And as you said, it's not always easy to have that. And when I would like to have a conversation about your financial needs, you know, people it's not something they naturally gravitate to is conversation app. So what's the technique you need to use to make them feel comfortable, you feel comfortable, but they're coming to you, they come to the credit unions for a reason. And I think I like to describe that as trust is making a comeback right now, as more things make people more anxious. And I think credit union industry right now, that's what we're seeing here at this show is just really poised to capture that moment. And that's what got me excited. And I think the rest of the audience that's here with us.

Sarah Cooke 11:43

There's no I mean, there wasn't much good about COVID. But one of the good things, I think they came out of it was this. Okay, yeah, we need to do this transformation now. Yeah, as opposed to think about it or I'll tweak here and there. It's like, a more strategic approach to the

Doug Brown 11:58
data. And it's funny you asking about the industry show here that we're all taking part of and the energy and it's great. It's funny when you talk back to COVID. COVID was this was the last show I attended before COVID lockdown started. And it was the first one upon return, we all lifted and came back. So I think the the GAC event really has a special place for us

Sarah Cooke 12:18
come full circle here. Exactly. Thank you very much. I'm gonna give you the last word. What are your final thoughts for for credit unions, for everybody listening?

Doug Brown 12:27

I think now is our time. The, as I mentioned, trust, making a comeback. This is a time that members need us collectively more than ever. So let's put our best foot forward, let's address what they really need. Both the tactical as well as that things around empathy, sentiment and the like. And I think we will all win together as a result of that. And

Sarah Cooke 12:47
maybe ironically, technology and data can help. I think so. Thank you.