Client Story: Pioneer Appalachia Federal Credit Union

How a 38-person credit union partnered with Posh to serve members faster and give staff who wear almost every hat a single source of truth.

Pioneer Appalachia Federal Credit Union ($200–250 million in assets) serves its members out of five branches with 38 full-time employees on staff.

At Pioneer Appalachia Federal Credit Union, everyone rolls up their sleeves. Financial advocates handle new accounts, work the loan pipeline, and pick up call center shifts when the queue backs up. Tellers process remote deposits one hour and answer phones the next. It's a team built on flexibility, where even the CEO isn't above taking a call himself.

"Our CEO is answering call center calls," said Travis McGrath, Chief Operations Officer & SVP at Pioneer Appalachia. "It's where we operate very differently than most organizations. A lot of our staff are put in situations where they're answering questions they truly might not know the answer to." 

Penny, the First Line for Members

Pioneer's call center, staffed by three people, was fielding high volumes of repetitive inquiries, tying up time and resources.

"We had a lot of calls. It wasn't efficient," said Trevor Hyre, CEO of Pioneer Appalachia. "We had three folks in the call center taking calls about the most minor things, helping members reset passwords, resolve login issues, and handle routine account questions."

That desire to streamline service without compromising quality led them to Posh. Pioneer partnered with Posh to implement both Voice and Digital Assistants, which they named Penny. Penny now serves as a 24/7 front line for inquiries, saving time for staff and providing immediate answers to members.

"Posh has helped us reduce our costs," Hyre said. "Before we had Posh, we had a three-person call center team that answered every call and question. Now, because we know the questions that Posh can answer, we have a one-person call center."

The results are compelling:

• 380,000+ calls handled
• 67% containment rate
• Only 5% of chats marked as 'unsure'
• Reduction in call center staff from 3 -> 1

Penny ensures that the majority of calls going to the call center are those that require human attention, letting Pioneer's team focus on higher-value interactions.

"The majority of members like that it just works," said Jacob Losh, Marketing and Business Development Officer. "They don't have to wait on hold. They get answers quickly. It's shockingly personal for an automated system."

In addition to deflecting calls and reducing costs, Penny has become a helpful entry point for members to ask about Pioneer's products.

"We've seen members using chat to ask thoughtful questions and better understand what we offer," Losh said. "That kind of engagement shows how technology can support a more informed member experience."

One Knowledge Source Instead of Many

With Penny handling the member-facing side, Pioneer turned its attention inward, to how staff were finding answers of their own. Before Knowledge Assistant, information was spread across SharePoint, internal training materials and employee knowledge, which could make it harder to quickly locate the most current answer.

"There was a lot of back and forth, answering the same questions over and over again, but somebody would have a different answer," Travis said. "Knowledge Assistant gave us a baseline."

With employees supporting multiple roles, keeping information current and easily accessible across the organization was an ongoing priority. Knowledge Assistant became a central place where Pioneer could keep information readily available and easy to access, reducing the need for staff to call a coworker who might be away from their desk.

"You just flip a switch and then we load information in," Travis said regarding the Knowledge Assistant rollout. "I thought it was very straightforward, very easy." Staff have ramped up very quickly on utilizing Knowledge Assistant, and most recently, Pioneer brought Knowledge Assistant directly into Microsoft Teams, a change Jacob Losh, Marketing and Business Development Officer expects will boost usage simply by removing the extra step of logging into a separate site.

Answers for the Things You Don't Do Every Day

The clearest wins have come from account types staff don't handle often enough to have memorized: what's needed to open a sole proprietorship account, what documentation title work requires: routine information that just isn't top-of-mind.

“Frontline staff love having that knowledge readily available," Jacob said. "They don't have to second-guess themselves. They know exactly what they need." 

Where It Goes From Here

Looking ahead, Pioneer wants to keep building out its content library and get staff more comfortable relying on Knowledge Assistant. Jacob and Travis emphasized that technology should genuinely improve the experience for both members and staff. “Credit unions have to be willing to adapt as member expectations continue to change,” they said. “Institutions that are too hesitant risk falling behind, while the right technology can help employees serve members more accurately and efficiently.”

When Jacob and Travis reflected on their experience with Posh, they said what stood out most was how Posh handles feedback: “You’re very open to it. You listen to what we want to see, and then you actually implement it.”