Digital communications platform leader shares 3 tips for credit unions and community financial institutions to thrive during current staffing shortages
An unpredictable job landscape and staffing shortages are testing the entire financial industry, including credit unions and community financial institutions (CFIs). Eltropy Founder and CEO Ashish Garg offers 3 tips: “Be smart about hiring, prepare to do more with less, and utilize technology such as Video Banking like there’s no tomorrow.”
The pandemic and other macroeconomic factors have already accelerated the shift from physical locations to remote communications. Now, Generation Z workers – purpose driven, tech savvy, and impatient with the traditional workforce (hence “The Great Resignation”) – are dropping out of corporate jobs one by one, prompting the New York Times to recently write: “Quitting is hot right now.”
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Eltropy, the digital communications leader steadily rising as the platform of choice for credit unions and community banks everywhere, is helping CFIs through the current labor crisis by providing Video Banking capabilities with the June 2022 acquisition of the leader in Video Banking, POPi/o, to augment in-person branch staffing. The Video Banking capabilities empower hundreds more credit unions to maximize their resources and serve members anytime, anywhere, in their channel of choice.
Community banks such as Coastal Heritage Bank in Massachusetts is one example of the hundreds of community banks who accelerated their move to digital communication channels in the wake of the pandemic. When faced with the question of how to expand its hours to meet customer needs, during a time when the U.S. is experiencing its biggest labor shortage in a generation, Coastal chose to invest in a digital solution to allow for flexibility in hours and the locations in which the platform is accessed, to serve a wider base of customers.
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“After we initially saw high adoption rates by our customers in rolling out our digital platform, we also saw significant success in managing our business remotely without the need to hire more staff,” said Scott Ambroceo, SVP of Administration, Operations & Digital Banking, Coastal Heritage Bank. “Now we’re bringing on a full video experience and other messaging tools with the help of Eltropy. And while we’re just scratching the surface, we can see the power of this platform in the near and long term to expand our efforts and attract and retain more relationships through a secure and convenient digital communications platform.”
To meet the needs of more members without relying on additional in-branch staffing, community banks and credit unions are introducing “video rooms” into their branches. Here’s how it works: A member walks into an existing branch, explains their need to the teller, and based on the need may be immediately escorted into the branch’s designated video room. Here they jump on a live video conversation with a loan officer from the bank’s centralized lending team located at another branch, the corporate headquarters, or even working from home.
“Video Banking is rapidly transforming community banks and credit unions into nimbler, more comfortable places to associate with their members,” continued Garg. “This is the answer to the staffing shortage crisis. It’s changing everything and allowing these local banks and credit unions – bedrocks of our American communities – to not only survive but thrive in the new world we live in.”
Eltropy, combining all the best-in-class digital communication capabilities into a single platform, now works with more than 550 community financial institutions with end-to-end virtual branch capabilities.
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