Artificial intelligence is attracting unprecedented capital investment, ranging from data centers and energy to compute infrastructure, research and business applications. How are credit unions thinking about AI’s medium-term impact on operations and members? How can AI enable proper transformation, efficiency gains, member acquisition and loyalty — while improving contact center and adjacent experiences?

I recently sat down with Tiffany Gschwendtner, SVP and Global CX Leader at TTEC Digital, to find out.

 

Tiffany, thanks very much for taking the time for this conversation. Can you start by introducing TTEC Digital and its service offerings to the credit union marketplace?

Tiffany Gschwendtner: Absolutely, and thanks for inviting me. TTEC Digital is one of the largest dedicated CX consulting and technology services firms globally, with over 40 years of experience in contact center transformation. We serve more than 200 credit unions, ranging from $80 million to $34 billion in assets, and offer tailored solutions that span:

  • Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS): Powered by the Genesys Cloud™ platform, our CCaaS offerings deliver omnichannel capabilities, seamless integrations and scalable infrastructure.
  • SmartApps: Our TTEC Digital SmartApps extend Genesys Cloud with prebuilt, outcome-focused capabilities that accelerate value from day one — turning complex CX challenges into seamless, secure and personalized experiences without custom build. Smart Apps offers a variety of functionality including authentication, routing, CRM integration and member journey insights.
  • CX transformation consulting: From member surveys and persona mapping to future-state design and AI design/strategy workshops, we help CUs reimagine their service models.
  • AI, data and analytics: We deploy conversational AI, predictive routing, and speech and text analytics to elevate member experience and operational efficiency — grounded in a modern, unified data estate that helps ensure AI is powered by clean, governed, and trusted insights.
  • Managed services and support: In a cloud‑first world, TTEC managed services focus on continuous optimization — combining 24/7 expert support with dashboards that help clients monitor platform utilization, feature adoption and ongoing value from Genesys Cloud.

 

That’s an impressive range of services. How does Genesys factor into your practice?

Gschwendtner: Genesys is central to our delivery model and best-of-breed solutions we offer for our clients. TTEC Digital is an Elite Genesys Partner, with:

  • More than 400 Genesys certifications and over 275 Genesys cloud deployments just in the last two years.
  • Multiple recurring years being recognized as the Genesys Migration Partner of the Year and Global Partner of the Year.
  • Deep integration of Genesys Cloud with our proprietary tools like InteractionSync, OneView and SmartApps.

Our long-standing partnership empowers us to deliver rapid, cost-effective and high-quality implementations tailored to credit union environments.

 

What are you seeing in terms of modernization and digital enablement generally, and adoption of AI specifically, in credit unions? Which areas are most impacted by AI? 

Gschwendtner: Member expectations have shifted dramatically — and credit unions are feeling it. Today’s members compare their CU experience not just to other financial institutions, but to the best digital experiences they have anywhere — Amazon, Apple and Netflix have set the bar for personalization, convenience and responsiveness.

Here’s what we’re seeing most clearly:

Members expect frictionless, on-demand service. They want to interact with their CU when, how and where it’s convenient — whether that’s mobile chat, text, voice or self-service. Long hold times or channel silos are no longer acceptable.

Speed and simplicity now define loyalty as much as rates or products.

TTEC Digital helps CUs modernize their omnichannel environments so members can move seamlessly from digital self-service to a live advisor without losing context. They expect personalization that feels human, not transactional.

Members want to feel understood — expecting their CU to anticipate their needs based on life events, financial behavior and preferences.  AI and analytics are enabling this shift by turning data into insights that support proactive, empathetic interactions.

 

How does TTEC help enable this shift for their credit union clients?

Gschwendtner: TTEC Digital supports CUs in unifying data across core systems and using that intelligence to personalize outreach, lending conversations and service journeys.

Members still value human connection — but only when it adds value. Self-service is great for routine tasks, but when a member reaches an advisor, they expect that conversation to be informed, consultative and emotionally intelligent.

The human touch now starts where automation leaves off.

We help CUs design hybrid experiences where automation handles efficiency and humans deliver empathy. Trust and security remain non-negotiable. With AI and digital expansion, members are highly attuned to privacy and data protection. CUs must strike the right balance between personalization and protection, using technology transparently and ethically.

TTEC Digital embeds compliance, consent, and data governance into every CX design we deliver. And the CU experience is now part of members’ financial well-being. Members view their credit union as a financial wellness partner, not just a service provider. They expect proactive advice, educational content and tools that help them make smarter financial decisions.

 

That’s an important observation: Members view their credit unions as financial partners. In that regard, how are credit unions deploying Genesys Cloud? And where do you see the CU industry in five years?

Gschwendtner: The most successful CUs are using Genesys Cloud, not just to modernize their contact centers, but also to reimagine the member experience — blending AI, automation and data integration to deliver smarter, more human interactions at scale.

  • AI-driven experiences: This will be the new norm; these experiences will become foundational for CUs, not just a feature or nice to have. 
  • Agent-assist and auto-summarization: AI will be able to handle post-call documentation, freeing agents to focus on member engagement.
  • Predictive routing and sentiment analysis: Real-time analytics will help guide interactions based on member emotion, history and intent.
  • Conversational AI and self-service: Bots can handle routine inquiries, while AI surfaces knowledge articles dynamically.

TTEC Digital is already deploying these capabilities through SmartApps and Genesys Cloud integrations, and we expect them to be standard across CU contact centers by 2030.

 

Can you elaborate a bit more about how CUs will think about their technology investments and how they’ll prioritize them?

Gschwendtner: We expect to see CUs invest heavily in:

  • Data lakes and warehouses to unify member data across channels.
  • Business intelligence (BI) dashboards and analytics to track member journeys, operational KPIs and fraud signals.
  • AI readiness assessments to close data gaps and prepare for large language model (LLM)-based transformation.

The TTEC Digital roadmap includes AI Gateway and observability tools to help clients implement and manage AI, as well as additional solutions to help benchmark and evolve their data maturity. We expect CX strategies will shift from cost to loyalty, and CU leaders will increasingly view the contact center as a growth engine, not a cost center. We expect:

  • Member journey orchestration to become a board-level priority.
  • Voice of Member (VoM) and Voice of Employee (VoE) programs to guide experience design.
  • Personalization at scale using AI, CRM systems and behavioral data. 

TTEC Digital’s CX consulting practice is expected to play a key role in helping credit unions define and measure success across these dimensions. Regulatory and security demands will intensify, and with rising fraud and data privacy concerns, CUs will need:

  • SOC2-compliant platforms and processes
  • Real-time fraud detection and voice biometrics
  • Secure integrations with third-party apps and cloud services

TTEC Digital is already embedding these capabilities into its SmartApps and managed services offerings.

 

How can credit unions continue to differentiate and add value to members as generational shifts occur? Are you seeing expanded wealth management offerings, for example, or product extensions and innovations? And how can CUs best deploy technology to extend and solidify their brand’s impact and value?

Gschwendtner: Younger generations, especially Gen Z and Millennials, are redefining expectations around financial services. They value:

  • Digital-first experiences
  • Personalized engagement
  • Social and environmental responsibility
  • Transparent pricing and product innovation

TTEC Digital sees this as a call for CUs to evolve from transactional service providers to experience-led relationship brands. Some of our strategic recommendations would be for CUs to:

  • Invest in AI and automation to scale personalization.
  • Modernize their tech stack to support omnichannel engagement.
  • Design for emotional connection, not just functional efficiency.
  • Use data to drive loyalty, not just transactions.
  • Position brand as a trust anchor, especially in moments of financial uncertainty.

Evolving Our Partnership to Meet Customer Needs

Genesys Cloud has expanded over the past couple of years to include branch deployment options, seller enablement, CX Cloud for Genesys and Salesforce integrations and what we might call true omnichannel orchestration — enabling seamless digital, voice, bot and other interactions.

Banks are increasingly taking advantage of these capabilities to reduce tech debt and latency — and to meet customer expectations. Credit unions have many of the same issues as the banks, e.g., cost to maintain legacy siloed systems that no longer meet customer or prospect expectations. Our general point of view is that agent headcount can be up-skilled and made more efficient while also deploying elements of Genesys Cloud AI to the front office.

How does TTEC Digital view these opportunities in credit unions? How is your CU practice responding to this challenge and how is Genesys enabling your practice in member acquisition and loyalty?

Gschwendtner: TTEC Digital is actively helping CUs modernize their member acquisition strategies by aligning technology, data and experience design to meet the expectations of Gen Z, Millennials and digitally fluent members. Key initiatives include:

  • AI-powered personalization
  • Digital front-door strategies that meet members where they are and minimize friction.
  • SmartApps Cloud for CUs that are built for Genesys Cloud, with the roadmap updated every quarter at a minimum. This includes tools for authentication and fraud prevention, core banking integration and member journey mapping.

It’s incredible to have two powerhouses together — Genesys and TTEC Digital — to drive transformation for our clients. We are at an exciting inflection point in some ways. Many CUs are carrying technical debt and struggling with siloed legacy systems that no longer support modern member expectations.

TTEC Digital views this moment as a major opportunity to help credit unions modernize responsibly to reduce complexity while improving member acquisition, onboarding and loyalty. Through our dedicated CU practice and our SmartApps Cloud suite we’re helping CUs streamline authentication, boost agent productivity, enable self-service and personalize engagement across channels.

Whether it’s conversational AI for acquisition journeys, or unified knowledge and agent assist to strengthen loyalty, we bring the strategy, tools and implementation expertise to make the technology meaningful. Genesys provides the platform; TTEC Digital brings the credit union-specific execution that drives real outcomes.‑specific execution that drives real outcomes. 

Get details about TTEC Digital and its SmartApps Cloud suite and then discover how the TTEC Digital and Genesys partnership can help your organization.

Want to learn how Genesys Cloud can help your org enhance experiences for its customers, members and clients? Get get a demo today.