Q&A with Credit Union Australia

Q&A with CUA’s David Velasquez: when a small change produces big wins

The logistics of agreements aren’t always easy. That’s especially true when the agreement is more complex—like, say, accepting a loan. Credit Union Australia (CUA) knows this all too well. As the largest member-owned financial institution in Australia, the organisation provides banking, health and general insurance to over half a million Australians.

Recognising their members faced a cumbersome process when trying to accept personal loans through CUA’s call centre, the organisation turned to DocuSign to make a small change that yielded some big results. We sat down with CUA’s Senior Manager of Operational Excellence, David Velasquez, to talk about what those results look like and how they partnered with DocuSign to achieve them.

Q: What was the main challenge that led you to consider DocuSign as a solution?

A: We always have a problem in mind before we even consider adopting new technology, so we didn’t look at DocuSign until we conducted research and listened to our members on how we could improve. Throughout this process we realised there were specific member experience issues that needed a solution.

Some of those issues were concentrated in personal loans. All personal loans need to be accepted by the member before they get the funds in their account. Now, if a member is physically at one of our branches, this is no problem—the member can sign straight away with the teller.

But, for other channels, the process was much more complicated. The member would have call and wait for their call to be answered and they could only call within standard operating hours. And once they were on the phone to an operator, one of our people would have to read a script that lasted around 15 minutes and needed to be recorded. For joint applications, each applicant would have to listen to the call. It was obvious this process needed to be streamlined. Our research tells us that members expect easy interactions in every channel and as an organisation we’re committed to listening to our members to improve their experience. We knew we needed to make a change in our processes to deliver a better experience.

Q: How did DocuSign help CUA solve those issues?

Our members now have the option of accepting loans through DocuSign, allowing them to complete contracts in a matter of seconds rather than days or hours. They still have the option to visit a physical branch or contact our call centre, but they can also complete the contract through DocuSign at five o’clock in the morning if they want to. It’s empowering our members to interact with CUA on their own terms, in a way that suits them. Clearly, the option works for most members—about 80-90% of our personal loans are now accepted through DocuSign, while the rest choose to complete the contract at a branch or phoning in.

Q: How has the DocuSign integration enabled your organisation to do business faster or more cost-effectively?

Team members are getting time back and are putting it back into the sales funnel to focus on our members. It’s a win-win because it frees up our people to focus on higher-value tasks while ensuring our members have easier access to human help when they want it and a digital option when they don’t.

Secondly, we used the move as an opportunity to simplify our forms. It reduces the chance for human error and improves the overall experience members have with us.

Q: It sounds like a win for both CUA and its members. Are there any broader benefits?

Yes, it’s helped make operations more sustainable and reduced our footprint. The percentage of members travelling and physically going into branches to accept loans has reduced, since 80-90% of our members are accepting personal loans through DocuSign.

Q: How and why did you choose DocuSign for this solution?

We did it the old-fashioned way: a competitor analysis. DocuSign was simply the more efficient solution for us, but we also really liked its envelope model. We have a lot of users, so it was more cost-effective to buy envelopes.

Q: Does CUA have plans to expand how it uses DocuSign?

Building on the success of its integration with our application system, we’re looking to integrate DocuSign with our home loan system. We’re also actively looking at other opportunities across the business.

Q: “Digital transformation” can be a daunting prospect for some organisations. What advice or insights would you give to others looking to take similar steps?

My takeaway is that you can get a big win from a small step—change doesn’t always have to be radical or earth-shattering. With the DocuSign project, we didn’t have to make a huge change in our existing systems. But, with a little investment on our end, we were able to give our members a far better experience and deliver some tangible results.

Results