Glia Announces Winners of Inaugural Catalyst Awards at Interact 2024

Glia, the leader in customer interaction technology, today announced the winners of the first-ever Catalyst Awards, celebrating forward-thinking companies that are successfully redefining how they interact with customers.

The awards program highlights innovative, creative and impactful deployments of Glia Unified Interaction Management. Glia honored innovators across five distinct categories during its annual event, Interact 2024, in San Antonio, Texas.

“We are proud to celebrate this dynamic first cohort of Catalyst Awards winners at Interact 2024, showcasing different yet equally powerful ways they are enhancing customer and employee experiences,” said Dan Michaeli, CEO and Co-Founder of Glia. “These five businesses are setting new standards for service interaction strategies, driving measurable success and impact. Their stories are strong examples of how Glia is empowering companies across the globe to reimagine how they interact with customers, creating efficiencies and lasting loyalty.”

Details of the 2024 Catalyst Award winners include:

• New York-based Quontic Bank received the Visionary Award, recognizing the bank’s innovative strategies that are breaking down silos to deliver a truly unified customer experience.

Leilani Devery, VP of Customer Success for Quontic Bank, said, “Implementing Glia at Quontic Bank has led to significant improvements in budget, efficiency, employee and customer experience. This implementation has allowed us to manage our entire customer service operation in-house. This shift has resulted in better control over the customer experience, improved service quality, and reduced operational costs.”

• Pennsylvania-based Service 1st Federal Credit Union stood out for its balance of AI efficiency and human empathy, winning the Harmonizer Award. The credit union has strategically blended automation and human interactions to create a superior member experience.

“Glia Call Center and the Glia Virtual Assistant have transformed our member experience,” said Chris Court, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer for Service 1st FCU. “We've achieved a 37% self-service call handling rate, significantly reduced average abandonment and handle times, and seen a 39% reduction in average wrap-up time. Glia has allowed us to enhance our live agent support with AI, handling member questions and after-hours requests while maintaining the exceptional service and empathy our members praise us for.”

• Portland-based Umpqua Bank took home the Pacesetter Award for its dynamic digital-first transformation. Serving customers across eight states, Umpqua Bank is known for its strategic use of technology and understands the importance of continuous innovation without sacrificing the ever-important personal touch. 

Lauren Livick, Product Manager for Umpqua Bank, said, “Our digital-first transformation with Glia has revolutionized customer support at Umpqua Bank. We've successfully transitioned from a standalone app to an integrated digital banking experience, offering instant chat, audio support, and after-hours assistance. This shift allows us to maintain our signature personalized service while meeting modern expectations for quick, efficient support.”

• Denver-based Covered Insurance is empowering its employees to excel in the digital age, prioritizing employee engagement and productivity. The company received the Energizer Award, acknowledging its success in leveraging technology to enhance the employee experience.

“Glia has improved employee experience and efficiency at Covered Insurance. With features like auto-accept and multi-chat handling, we've seen a 55% decrease in wait times and improved our service level to 96%,” said Garrett Gomez, Agency Sales & Service Director at Covered Insurance. “Our team is energized by the modern interface and real-time engagement tools, boosting both productivity and satisfaction.”
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• The Prodigy Award recognizes an organization that has made exceptional progress in innovation within the first year of adopting Glia. Serving more than 62,000 members, Kansas-based Azura Credit Union was named the winner in this category for its quick, effective innovation and impressive time-to-value.

Brooke Hamilton, VP Digital Member Experience for Azura Credit Union, said, “Not only was our implementation fast, but so was our time to ROI. By implementing Glia Call Center and Digital Customer Service, we were immediately positioned to seamlessly bring chat, video, and audio to our entire membership regardless of physical location. Operationally, we desire to reduce our wait times and abandon rates in all channels. This was achieved in less than 30 days after launching Glia Call Center and instantly for our video banking.”

Monday at Interact 2024, Glia unveiled powerful new AI innovations that drive efficiencies and more seamless experiences for customers, agents and managers.

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