4Front Credit Union Found a Partner That Knew What They Needed Before They Did

Luis Pardo, Chief Experience Officer, has a rule: know the problem before you buy the solution. As Chief Member Experience Officer at 4Front Credit Union, he's seen too many technology decisions go sideways because someone fell in love with a tool before they understood what they were trying to fix.

It's what makes his experience with Posh unusual. Because one of the most valuable things Posh brought to 4Front wasn't something Luis went looking for at all.

Starting With Voice

4Front's journey with Posh began where most do, with a recommendation. An executive on the team had worked with Posh at a previous organization and brought that experience to 4Front.

At the time, the credit union was running a traditional IVR system. Calls that the contact center couldn't handle were routed to branches. It was a setup that worked well enough for a smaller organization, but it wasn't built for where 4Front was heading.

The leap to Posh Voice, and Penny, as members know her, wasn't a small one. Going from a legacy IVR to an AI voice agent is a significant change for any institution, let alone for the members on the other end of the line.

"Members had an adjustment," Luis said. "But we are an organization that is intentional about being forward thinking. We introduce new technology to our members often so they have come to expect it."

The Results Followed

4Front now holds a voice designed containment rate of 70%, and NPS scores are at their highest point. For Luis, Penny isn't just handling volume, she's made the contact center smarter about why members call in the first place.

"The fact that our voice containment rate continues to improve means less demand for our agents, less stress," he said. "For folks that work on Posh Voice, they've gained insights into why people call, and how to better answer those questions. It has set us up for other AI technologies."

Extending Intelligence to Digital

Alongside Voice, 4Front deployed Posh Answers to extend that same intelligence into digital self-service, giving members fast, accurate answers across their web experience and keeping the low-complexity, low-emotion needs out of the queue entirely.

The philosophy is simple but deliberate.

"Our self-service tools are there for the low emotion needs," Luis said. "And our amazing humans are there to help with high complexity, high emotional needs. Allows us to leverage technology for the more basic transactions."

The Product They Didn't Know They Needed

The Training Simulator came to 4Front differently. Luis didn't go looking for it, the Posh team brought it to him.

"Our purchase of Training Simulator is a bit contradictory to some of my philosophies on technology and software," he said. "I always want to make sure we have a clear problem to solve before looking for a solution."

Posh proposed a 30-day proof of concept. Luis agreed. And what happened next surprised him.

"Once we tried it, it actually uncovered a problem we didn't know we had."

A Problem Nobody Knew to Name

In a sales and service environment, there has historically been only one way to practice difficult conversations: with another human. A manager. A peer. Someone sitting across from you in a role play that nobody really wants to do.

"I personally thought that this was always just a problem that existed and there was no better way," Luis said. "What was unexpected to me is that it started addressing a problem I didn't realize we had, that people don't want to practice with other humans. They prefer being able to sit down privately and practice a scenario over and over again until they feel they got it right."

The timing mattered. 4Front was in the middle of a training and learning transformation. Luis had recently reorganized the team with a clear goal: consistent, omnichannel onboarding across the contact center and branch network. Previously, a contact center hire and a branch hire might be trained by entirely different people with entirely different approaches.

Training Simulator fit directly into that vision. New hires could practice independently, including during high-volume periods when senior agents couldn't step away to coach without cutting their own productivity in half.

Practicing the Hard Conversations

The scenarios 4Front built aren't just transactional. They're designed around the moments that define the member relationship, fraud calls, identity theft, the conversations where a new hire who hasn't yet developed natural empathy can practice getting it right before ever speaking to a real member.

"That is a very vulnerable time for a member. They often come to us scared, sometimes embarrassed. With the AI Training Simulator, we can put those scenarios in place, really ratchet up the requirements on empathy and understanding. That way folks can practice with the simulator instead of practicing on our members."

What's Next

4Front is already planning the next chapter. The Training Simulator, currently deployed in the contact center, is headed to the branch network, where facial analysis and body language recognition add a dimension that matters even more in face-to-face interactions. The member solutions team, which handles high-stakes conversations with members in financial difficulty, is ready to adopt it next.

4Front is also exploring using the simulator as part of the hiring process, running candidates through real scenarios to surface the soft skills that a traditional interview can't always reveal.

A Partner That Understands the Work

For Luis, the throughline across all of it is trust, in the products, and in the relationship.

"The team at Posh truly understands credit unions," he said. "They knew the Training Simulator could help us before we even knew we needed it. You can see that knowledge reflected in every product they build."

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