Our Clients Announced as Winners for Future Branches Innovators Awards

Future Branches introduced the Innovators Awards for the 2019 conference held in Austin, TX. Financial institutions were nominated for the following award categories: Outstanding Branch Design, Most Effective Branch Technology Implementation, and Best Revamped Staffing Model. While a Future Branches panel chose the finalists, the winners were selected by a live peer-vote of financial executives at the conference. We are proud and honored that three of our clients were chosen as finalists, and two were selected as winners! 

"The functionality of the modern branch continues to evolve, and banking executives have been tasked with integrating new technologies and experiences to attract and retain customers while minimizing cost," said Elizabeth Robillard, Senior Program Director, Future Branches. "The initiatives that they have undertaken exemplify the true spirit of innovation and transformation."

----------------

John W. Smith, CEO of DBSI+CFM, added, "As an organization dedicated to redefining banking, we're constantly finding innovative ways to help our clients remain relevant in today's changing market. Our formula is simple — identify the barriers getting in the way of a great client experience and applying solutions that solve for those objectives. Everything has a strategy and reason behind it. That's exactly why we see the massive results we do."

Winner: BCU for Outstanding Branch Design

The BCU branch design initiative needed to be small enough to fit inside a staircase corridor of a United Health Group (UHG) corporate office building, while still offering a full-service branch model that only required two full-time employees to serve the 2,200 UHG employees.  With a budget just under $500,000 and a short roll-out timeline of 36 weeks, BCU and DBSI created a 640 square foot micro branch that included:

• Design Components:
• Flex offices for private conversations
• Discovery bar for transactions and advisory conversations
• Beverage bar

• Technical Components:
• Tech bar equipped with tablets for advisory conversations
• Digital signage and interactive screens to increase member discovery of products and services
• Self and full-service ATM machine

Winner: Capitol CU for Most Effective Branch Technology Implementation

Technology is a huge part of Capitol Credit Union’s strategy to drive convenience for their members. Of course, finding ways to remain high-tech AND high-touch is no easy challenge. For Capitol CU, the answer was implementing NEXT, a core-integrated self-service kiosk that combines self-service, assisted-service, and full-service capabilities all into one solution. NEXT delivered outstanding results for the branch:

• 75% of one associate’s time spent on transactions is now shifted to NEXT
• Associates can focus on advisory conversations instead of low-value transactions
• Reduced the need for part-time scheduling adjustments to accommodate busier days in the branch

Finalist: Vantage West Credit Union for Best Revamped Staffing Model

Vantage West Credit Union had an ambitious goal of redefining their retail strategy and member experience through a series of newly transformed branches that include the latest technology, open designs, and flex service spaces. But as any banking executive knows, simply building a new design and adding the latest tech alone do not guarantee success. Instead, Vantage CU ensured that their front-line staff, the ones tasked with delivering this newly transformed model to members, understood the strategic intent behind the change, how to interact with members with all of these new key elements, and had talk tracks for engaging members in this new experience. 

Since the roll-out of this program, Vantage West has received 100% member satisfaction and perfect scores on every secret shopper survey.