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The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based payments CUSO PSCU announced the deployment of desktop automation in all its contact centers through a partnership with the Alpharetta, Ga.-based Jacada, which provides robotic process automation tools for customer service.

The attended bot from Jacada, according to PSCU, safely and securely logs agents into hundreds of owner credit unions' digital banking platforms, eliminating multiple manual steps for PSCU agents and substantially reducing member hold times.

"As we continually strive to deliver the best member experience in our industry, our partnership with Jacada has enabled PSCU's contact center agents to have more interaction with members and spend less time on manual tasks," Rini Fredette, SVP, contact center services and solutions for PSCU, said. "Our first deployed automation, a smart agent assistant for password management, has simplified a multi-step, highly manual process for our agents, enabling them to make calls more efficient and decrease call time. We continue to identify additional use cases and look forward to leveraging Jacada's expertise to further improve the member experience for our owner credit unions."

PSCU noted that much like chatbots have improved self-service experiences, the same technology assists contact center agents in managing member interactions. The smart agent assistant works side by side with the agent, unobtrusively and securely, to provide proactive guidance, invoke automation sequences, surface relevant knowledge and more. Therefore, agents can better focus on member interaction, while the smart agent assistant focuses on the systems and processes.

"We are excited to deploy this robotic automation solution in PSCU's contact centers, helping their agents further heighten the member experience," Oren Shefler, vice president of sales, Americas at Jacada, said. "A key to driving operational efficiency in the contact center is the ability to automate manual, error-prone and time-consuming tasks on behalf of the agent." Shefler noted with this solution, every agent essentially gets their own trainable robot to complete any number of manual redundant tasks.

Jacada leverages its customer service RPA platform to provide hybrid RPA capabilities that support end-to-end customer service interactions across both self-service and agent-assisted use cases. With more than 30,000 bots deployed globally, Jacada's vision is to deliver tailored solutions for the world's most demanding customer service RPA use cases.

In a separate announcement, Milpitas Communications based in Milpitas, Calif., introduced the Loan Lead Generator, an automated chat tool designed to assist credit unions. The product, recently introduced in the U.S. following successful integrations for banks in Asia, uses Facebook messenger to engage potential borrowers, create excitement about loan products, and schedule follow-up calls with a loan officer or member service representative.

"I'm thrilled to lead the U.S. launch of the Loan Lead Generator for Milpitas Communications," Heather Anderson, sales executive, said. "I've worked closely with our development team to customize this fintech product for credit unions. I'm excited to introduce the movement to this cost-effective and innovative way to keep members and potential members engaged via social media, 24/7/365."

According to retail banking research conducted by Accenture and provided by Milpitas Communications, almost half of checking account consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 discover retail banking options online using their mobile devices. When asked which online sources they used, consumers selected Facebook more than any other app, site or service.

Financial services providers around the world are building automated chat tools that work with Facebook Messenger to generate loan leads. Taiwanese loan service provider AlphaLoan developed its own customized Facebook Messenger chat tool and increased loan leads by 20%. In Mexico, Banco Azteca introduced automated assistant services in Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp and hit its annual new customer acquisition target in just six months, increasing the number of new accounts opened per month by 30% and loan conversion rates by 10%. Banco Azteca customers who used the automated chat services reported satisfaction ratings of 93%.

"The Loan Lead Generator can be customized to match a credit union's branding and loan products, providing a rare opportunity to create a fintech tool that works like proprietary technology without investing considerable development resources," Anderson said.