Associated Bank's Journey to Modernize Branch Workforce Management with Verint
Results
90% adoption and schedule adherence, leading to increased colleague engagement.
3% increase in customer satisfaction, resulting in an all-time high NPS within the first year following implementation.
High single-digit percent reduction in branch operating hours while also achieving sizable staffing efficiencies.
Opportunity
Associated Bank Customer Success Story Solutions Associated Bank is a regional Midwest bank headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The bank operates more than 220 branches in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois as of December 31, 2020.
“We are continuously analyzing customer behaviors in our channels in order to align our delivery model and workforce capacity to match customer demand,” says John Halechko, Executive Vice President, Director of Branch Banking at Associated Bank. “We need to take advantage of efficiency opportunities in our branch channel while increasing the effectiveness of in-person interactions.”
Solution
Two years ago, Associated Bank began evaluating modern branch workforce management (WFM) solutions to replace its legacy system. Zac Wolff, Business Manager, Branch Banking, explains, “We completed a vendor selection process through various discovery calls, reference calls, and requirements discussions to identify the best solution and provider. Ultimately, we selected Verint Branch Workforce Management solutions.”
The Verint Branch Workforce Management solutions included Verint Workforce Management Branch Forecaster, Verint Workforce Management Branch Scheduler, and a branch field study.
The branch field study preceded the labor model development and software implementation. The study observations, data, and analytics:
- Validated the model inputs.
- Supported the integrity of the Verint Branch Workforce Management solutions’ outputs; provided actionable insights for the line of business leaders and branch colleagues.
Initially, the implementation of Verint Workforce Management Branch Scheduler was piloted in 10 percent of the branches. Following the pilot, primary schedulers were trained in person. Secondary schedulers were trained virtually. The solution was then deployed across Associated Bank’s entire branch network.
Wolff adds, “Communication throughout the entire process was critical to our success. All levels of leaders were informed throughout the entire process. End users participated in product demonstrations during software selection and in key project meetings throughout deployment. Both senior leadership and end users were involved in the reviews of inputs.”
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"Using the Verint Branch Workforce Management solutions has provided us the ability to not only take advantage of efficiency opportunities, but also allowed us to move to branch-based job share initiatives and changes to our hours of operation—a significant financial win overall."
Benefits
The Verint Branch Workforce Management solutions enabled Associated Bank to evaluate various what-if scenarios and to continuously optimize its branch workforce by answering questions like:
- How do we make sure that our workforce is more flexible?
- How can we limit unused capacity?
- How can we put the right people in the right places?
Following the implementation, the bank was able to significantly increase the number of its all banker model branches, which are run with only platform colleagues—a banker plus a branch manager or an assistant branch manager.
The bank also leveraged Verint Workforce Management Branch Scheduler and Verint Workforce Management Branch Forecaster to institute a pooled/float resource model and made adjustments to its branch operating hours.
Associated Bank was one of the first banks to close its branch lobbies in Wisconsin in March of 2020 in light of COVID-19. Within the first two weeks following the lobby closures, the bank was able to understand how its customer patterns changed.
The Associated Bank workforce management team began forecasting and running what-if scenarios to identify excess capacity where branch resources were available to deploy in other areas of the bank.
During the pandemic, one of the biggest benefits Verint Branch Workforce Management solutions afforded Associated Bank was the ability to schedule branch colleagues for job share functions, as some of the banker resources had excess capacity for back-office support, branch operations, or call center support. Verint software enabled branch colleagues to see their job share schedules for back-office and call center functions, as well as their customer-facing schedules.
Additionally, when customer appointments doubled, the Verint Workforce Management Branch Scheduler integration with the bank’s appointment booking solution helped ensure the right colleagues were in the right place at the right time.
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