For the second consecutive year, Consumers Credit Union has been named a national winner at Mastercard’s 2nd Annual Community Institution Segment Awards. This year, Consumers was recognized in the Innovation category for our outstanding efforts in payments and in our community, citing how the organization rapidly changed its member service model during the COVID-19 quarantine to more than double the number of digital sales representatives (DSRs) who served our members through Interactive Teller Machines (ITMs) in the drive thrus and some offices. By condensing the training for these positions down to one day, within two weeks, Consumers quickly and safely maintained and, in some cases, increased member transactions and sessions, resulting in closer relationships with members during our State’s quarantine.

At the start of Michigan’s “Stay Safe Stay Home” order, Consumers was in a fortunate position to be able to transition most staff to working remotely with relative ease. This allowed our teams to focus on pivoting the majority of our member services to the call center and serving members through our ITMs in the drive thrus. ITMs function as ATMs in addition to giving users access to a remote teller who would serve someone just like being in an office. Teller access through the machines also offer extended hours 9 a.m. – 7 p.m., M-F, and 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Traditional training for a DSR was three days: one day to shadow an established DSR, one day to take calls with a trainer, and a third day taking live calls on their own. Through a dedicated team from IT, HR and Operations, the set up for a remote DSR was knocked down to one day, including just about an hour for IT to establish a VPN connection for the new DSR and add the necessary programs to their workstation. Administrative staff distributed additional equipment including: webcam, headset, connection cords and background.

Thanks to the dedication of our retail and support teams, as well as a longstanding commitment to being a technology-forward company, Consumers was able to safely continue member service and doubled the number of ITM transactions between February and April.

Consumers’ previous “Doing Well by Doing Good” Community Segment Award in 2019 was in recognition of our ArtPrize participation to support and raise funds for Kids’ Food Basket.