How Sound Credit Union turns AI into elevated member experiences

Background: A member-first approach to AI in banking

For Sound Credit Union (Sound), AI is not about replacing human connection. Instead, it is a tool to better understand member needs, remove friction from everyday interactions, and empower employees with the real-time data they need to deliver exceptional service.

As consumer expectations in financial services evolved, Sound saw an opportunity to leverage AI and advanced conversational analytics to elevate both the member and employee experience. Partnering with TTEC Digital, the credit union adopted a deliberate, phased approach to innovation, first building a strong foundation of visibility and insights before scaling into advanced AI capabilities.

The challenge: Overcoming visibility gaps in the contact center

Sound is deeply committed to delivering exceptional member experiences. To continue exceeding member expectations, leadership recognized the need to address several operational challenges.

• Understanding member intent: Identifying the exact reasons members contacted the support center.
• Operational bottlenecks: Pinpointing where service friction occurred and how AI could resolve it.
• Data-driven decision making: Moving away from guesswork to use richer, real-time data for workforce planning and contact center routing.
• Resource optimization: Optimizing staffing levels to handle call volumes efficiently without relying heavily on expensive overflow resources.

The solution: A strategic AI roadmap with TTEC Digital

Rather than implementing multiple complex tools at once, Sound worked with TTEC Digital to design a strategic roadmap focused on measurable business outcomes.

1. Building a strong cloud foundation. Sound began by migrating its contact center operations to Genesys Cloud, establishing a modern, agile infrastructure capable of supporting advanced AI integrations.
2. Deploying AI-powered analytics. Sound integrated a suite of advanced Genesys capabilities:

• Genesys Copilot & Topic Miner: Allowed the team to move past basic category tags to auto-discover and map over 100 unique member intents.
• Speech and Text Analytics: Provided deep-dive visibility into the voice of the customer.
• Sentiment Analysis: Enabled the team to track member emotions and identify service opportunities or friction points in real time.

3. Continuous optimization. TTEC Digital helped Sound evaluate emerging AI technologies, prioritize deployment phases, train internal teams, and ensure that every AI capability is directly mapped to a superior member experience.

The results: Elevated service and data-driven operations

By combining AI-powered insights with a member-centric service strategy, Sound evolved its contact center into an efficient, insight-driven operation.

• Reduced average answer speed, connecting members to agents faster.
• Lowered call abandonment, ensuring more members get the help they need.
• Successfully categorized 100+ intents, driving smarter routing and self-service.
• Enhanced workforce planning and resource allocation through AI-powered analytics and forecasting.
• Reduced reliance on overflow contact center resources while maintaining service levels and supporting continued growth.
• Expanded the value of contact center insights across the organization, helping other business units use member interaction data to drive improvements and make more informed decisions

Sound is demonstrating how financial institutions can use AI to strengthen relationships, improve operations, and create better experiences for those they serve