Evans Bank Accelerates Digital Transformation with Voice Authentication, Reducing Average Call Handle Times by 40 Seconds

Overview

Evans Bank has been serving Western New York for over 100 years. As a $2.1B community bank with 18 branches, the institution has the advantage of a deep understanding of local clients and communities. The organization tailors its services and products to meet consumer needs, while the Financial Fitness team offers education around financial health with personalized workshops.

Challenge

Evans Bank is in the midst of substantial digital transformation. With half a dozen call center agents on staff, the institution had been relying on a cloud phone system with limited capabilities to run the contact center operations. With this older technology, it wasn’t possible to effectively manage the queue or even dig into stats to find areas for improvement. 

Evans Bank CIO, Jen Zorn, and her team began implementation of the Glia Interaction Platform (Glia Call Center) to move beyond a limited cloud phone system to a comprehensive solution that offers advanced queue management, detailed analytics, and ChannelLess® communication capabilities. This transformation has positioned Evans Bank to better serve customers in the digital age while maintaining a commitment to personalized service.

During this endeavor, they were introduced to Illuma as a Glia partner providing voice authentication in the contact center. 

In Jen’s view, here was a chance to solve a problem while capturing an opportunity. “The big driving force was the fact that customers hated the verification process. We were at the point where getting an account balance took 3-4 security questions, and a money transfer required additional Q&A. This was adding 30-45 seconds to each interaction over the phone. We were excited about the chance to have Illuma Shield™ as an add on to our Glia platform.” 

Solution

Because this voice biometrics application is pre-integrated with Glia, the deployment was straightforward. According to Glia Chief Product Officer, Jay Choi, “The ability to seamlessly integrate these technologies into the Glia platform allows banks to leverage cutting-edge solutions without the complexity of managing multiple vendors or dealing with compatibility issues.”

With Illuma doing much of the lifting, the implementation process took less than 2 weeks. The Evans Bank team noted high responsiveness before and after the roll out. “Everyone we worked with was incredibly helpful and we didn’t run into any technical issues.”

The fast deployment on the technology side meant the effort for Evans Bank was around adoption, an area where Illuma also offered support. This included training the agents to enroll as many customers as possible and helping customers understand the benefit of saying “yes” to participating in voice authentication. Digital Branch Manager Lamarr Golston found that a few factors helped speed up this process. 

“We have a number of agents who are very high performing and have figured out a flow that helps people understand and agree to the voice authentication process. Illuma’s gamification program also makes it a fun competition to see who can get the most customers enrolled.”

Customer buy-in has also been on the rise as well. In Lamarr’s experience, “I’ve found that, with more mature customers who may be hesitant about new technology, it helps to explain that their call is already being securely recorded for quality assurance. Voice authentication is leveraging what we already have to make their experience more efficient and enjoyable.”

As the bank’s upcoming digital conversion occurs and customers start navigating their new banking experience, call volume will increase dramatically for a time. With voice authentication driving handle times down, the team will be able to get through the volume at a faster rate, keeping customers from waiting on hold. Over the past few months, Evans Bank has increased enrollment by nearly 30% by focusing on effective communication techniques.

Outcome

According to Lamarr, “Going back to last year, gradually we were able to get the call time down by 40 seconds. That’s great progress, especially given the fact that not everyone calls in at the same rate. The more we get that average down, the more we are available for customers that have pressing issues that need to be addressed.”

The bank also feels more confident about Illuma’s approach to voice authentication compared to other methods that rely on a user’s device for verification. According to Jen, “We felt this was more secure. It is easy to use or see someone else’s phone. There will continue to be more ways to hack into a person’s device. In our view, voice biometrics was the more forward-looking solution. ”  

Voice authentication that occurs in the secure cloud or on-premise environment of a banking contact center gives the financial institution more control over security factors. It relies less on users to protect their devices against hacking, SIM card cloning, and other fraud methods. “Of course, there are also fraudsters attempting voice authentication hacking. Continued efforts to identify and weed out deep fakes are critical.” Illuma’s background as a Federal R&D contractor and continued R&D and innovation in fraud prevention has bolstered Evans Bank’s confidence in the continued security of the Illuma Shield™ solution.

Key Benefits of Illuma Shield™

  • Over 16% of total customer base enrolled in voice authentication in first 15 months
  • 40 second reduction in average call handle time
  • 50-65% reduction in time needed to verify customer identity on the phone
  • No fraud attempts have defeated Illuma’s voice biometrics engine
  • Removal of longstanding friction point for customers
  • Prepared for high call volume that will follow full digital conversion
  • Prepared for future security threats with product designed by industry leaders in call center fraud prevention innovation

Key Benefits of the Glia Call Center

  • ChannelLess® communication capabilities (voice, video, chat, CoBrowsing)
  • Intelligent queue management and interaction analytics
  • Seamless handoff from bot to human with AI operator assist to transition full context 
  • Automated interaction dispositioning and summary, portable to CRM or other systems
  • Established integrations with best-in-class FinTech solutions

 Testimonials

“We were looking to remove friction from our client experience with the contact center, while also providing enhanced security for our customers’ accounts.  We were impressed with the strength of Illuma’s product and delightfully surprised that the solution could be integrated with our digital customer platform within 2 weeks.” – Jen Zorn,  CIO 

“From a call center management perspective, the use of Illuma has effectively lowered our overall handle time and improved the customer experience for telephone verification. I consider this a win that we will continue to build upon as we get more customers enrolled” – Lamarr Golston, Digital Branch Manager

“Our partnership with Illuma exemplifies Glia’s commitment to solving problems for our clients and improving the member’s experience. By integrating Illuma’s voice authentication technology with our platform, we’re able to offer banks like Evans a powerful combination of enhanced security and improved customer experience.” – Jay Choi, Chief Product Officer