It’s a regular workday in Nashville. A member heads to an Enbright Credit Union ATM for cash, and the machine isn’t being serviced. Nobody is monitoring it, and nobody is coming to refill it. The company that handled all of that has just shut down, with no warning to anyone.
That’s the spot Enbright found itself in when its ATM management provider abruptly went out of business. The credit union had to move fast, and Dolphin Debit helped it do exactly that.
A Utility Town Credit Union With Six ATMs
The Nashville Electric Service (NES) power utility founded Enbright in 1951. The credit union mainly serves NES employees, plus residents of five Middle Tennessee counties. Its fleet includes six ATMs:
- Two drive-up machines, one at each of its two Financial Centers
- Four cash-dispensing units at various NES facilities
Zero Notice, Plenty of Scrambling
Ron Smith, Enbright’s President and CEO, says the closure hit without any lead time. “We had zero advance notice,” he said.
The team improvised. They pointed members to other ATM locations outside the failed servicer’s platform, answered a stream of calls and emails, and kept people posted through texts, email updates and a message on the website.
Why Dolphin Got the Call
Smith already knew Dolphin Debit by reputation, though Enbright had never done business with the company. He also looked at other vendors. Dolphin won out because, in his words, “They were able to solve the issue in a relatively timely manner – faster than other vendors – at a cost-effective price.”
Life After the Switch
With the turmoil behind it, Enbright is happy with the results. “The uptime of our ATM network has been excellent, with minimal outages, and is definitely better than other vendors we have used in the past,” Smith said.
He says the biggest perk is less obvious: “we do not have to spend team member time to monitor the ATMs for maintenance and cash replenishments.” That’s staff time freed up for other work.
Usage has held steady as banking goes more digital, though it hasn’t grown. Smith says the credit union still considers the machines important for member convenience.
Joe Woods, Dolphin Debit’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Partnerships, said that “sometimes a credit union has to move quickly to make a big change in your ATM management, as Enbright did.” Whether the need is sudden or part of longer-range planning, he added, “we always strive to meet a client’s timetable.”
Looking ahead, keep an eye on ATM usage as digital banking keeps growing. Enbright’s flat numbers suggest machines will stick around for convenience, so credit unions will likely keep weighing how to run their fleets without tying up staff. Having a backup plan for a provider’s sudden exit may become part of that conversation.