A large credit union takes its call center remote in just two weeks to keep employees safe during the pandemic

“Our partnership with Spectrum Enterprise is not just for today. It’s for the future.”— Janaki Rao, CTO and senior vice president, Premier America Credit Union

In March 2020, the Premier America Credit Union (PACU) management team found themselves navigating how to operate in the midst of a pandemic. They needed to safeguard the health of members and employees, continue to provide an exceptional member experience, and keep all their staff employed. 

To achieve these goals, their call center employees would have to take member calls remotely. However, PACU’s legacy on-premises phone system couldn’t support a remote call center. PACU CTO and senior vice president Janaki Rao had talked with his connectivity provider Spectrum Enterprise about their Hosted Call Center solution previously, and decided it was time to make the move. He called his account manager Sam O’Grady and said he needed the solution implemented in just two weeks. 

A dedicated team rises to the challenge

O’Grady met with his colleagues. Because PACU already had the fiber connectivity required to support the solution, they could eliminate some of the steps typically required for deployment, and fulfill Rao’s request.

In just two days, they executed a successful POC demonstrating how member calls would be routed to PACU employee laptops. PACU quickly created a VPN that would enable employees to tunnel into the network and access the solution’s capabilities. Then, existing call flows were modified. With a lot of skillful planning, Spectrum Enterprise and the PACU IT team met the two-week deadline. 

PACU sees immediate results 

Besides allowing employees to service members from homes, Hosted Call Center increased their productivity with real-time analytics and tools that enable them to better manage call queues. And, the credit union has repurposed branch location employees as remote-based call center agents. 

No matter what new technology projects they tackle — planned or unexpected — PACU is prepared because they have a trusted partner that can step up to big challenges.