Rio Grande Credit Union Signs Five Year Extension After Successfully Leveraging Engageware’s Employee Knowledge Management Solution

Bill Clark

Engageware, the industry-leading provider of customer engagement solutions, today announced Albuquerque, N.M.-based Rio Grande Credit Union, has extended its contract for five more years to further utilize Engageware’s Employee Knowledge Management solution. Rio Grande Credit Union is taking an innovative approach in leveraging this technology to enable employees to provide consistently exceptional member service.

Since its initial implementation in 2019, Engageware’s Employee Knowledge Management solution has been thoroughly embedded within Rio Grande’s existing technology infrastructure and business applications, providing employees immediate access to the credit union’s institutional knowledge and content, such as policies, procedures, product information and key training material. This user-friendly solution has streamlined the credit union’s onboarding process, reduced the need to manage and update information across multiple sources and eliminated duplicate documentation.

“Management has seen a notable difference in employees’ ability to self-serve and operate independently with greater confidence,” said Diane Sanchez, Training Manager at Rio Grande Credit Union. “Before Engageware, employees had difficulty locating essential documentation such as policies or procedures. It was challenging to ensure universal access to the most updated, accurate content. Now everything is centralized across departments and branches, ensuring every employee has the information they need right at their fingertips. We consider Engageware an extension of our team – and their in-depth knowledge of the credit union industry has proven invaluable. Launching their knowledge management technology was the best project we’ve undertaken – our employees are not only more efficient, but they are also more confident and in turn, are able to provide our members a more engaging, personalized experience.”

Rio Grande uses the Employee Knowledge Management solution, internally branded as ‘Ask Howie’ in support of its broader strategic initiative to support employee training and onboarding. Each credit union employee has a development plan within the system, outlining their first six months of employment and their training areas. The credit union has designed “schools” for employees depending on their specialty. Five school agendas have been built into the customized solution to support tellers, new hires, onboarding members and consumer lending officers. Additionally, soon to launch is a Call Center Member Resource School, further enabling the credit union to harness the knowledge management solution within the contact center.

With universal employees circulating throughout each credit union branch, every employee must learn the necessary processes and procedures. Now, everyone has convenient access to the same materials, enabling new hires to learn on their own time and at their own pace. This has provided consistency in training and onboarding of all employees as well as assurance that they have instant access to the most up-to-date information. As a result, employees are able to serve members more quickly and efficiently, creating an overall positive experience for members and employees alike.
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Bill Clark, CEO of Engageware, said, “When we surveyed more than 3,500 financial institution managers, we found that 63% were spending between 30 to 40% of their days answering frontline employee questions. This is not only an inefficient way to operate, but it also directly impacts the overall member experience, as well as the credit union’s bottom line. Employee Knowledge Management empowers employees, providing the tools they need in a user-friendly, accessible manner, thus fostering stronger member engagement and providing the experience that members expect. Rio Grande is a forward-thinking institution, and we look forward to partnering with them for years to come.”

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