Credit Union Australia

Credit Union Australia (CUA) is Australia's largest credit union with more than $1.4 billion in assets, 170,000 members and 41 branches across three states.

CUA has a responsibility to protect its members' Funds and doesn't have the financial resources of a large bank or insurance company for IT investments, so it is essential that technology investments are durable and able to stand the test of time.

Previously, CUA had been using a Fujitsu 9600 PABX for its telephony needs. The old system required replacement as it lacked support for ISDN connectivity and the capacity to integrate automation or a fully functional call centre solution.

CUA was planning a new LAN infrastructure with the move to the new head office, Cisco's IP telephony provided an integrated solution.

The Business Challenge
When CUA were looking to upgrade their infrastructure a major consideration was whether the proposed solution would be flexible and robust enough to support future needs – whatever those needs might be.

In the case, of the new IBM IP Telephony solution, it allows for significant expansion when required. For example, the volume of calls, number of PCs on the network and operator handsets can all be increased as required, within a single infrastructure.

The IBM Solution:
The IBM solution implemented at Credit Union Australia included both Cisco hardware and PSL call centre software. The solution entailed the complete replacement of CUA's telephony and data environment, and will initially be used in the company's head office, in Brisbane. PSL call centre software will provide a new windows based, graphic interface.

Deployment was completed in just one week and was finalised in May 2002.
In the light of CUAs' business requirements, an IP Telephony solution was logical and appropriate, as it integrated both voice and data into a single network.
Barry Los believed that "an integrated voice and data network was a good strategic move for CUA, providing a platform from which to deploy integrated cost effective applications in the future."

The Business Benefits
One of the key benefits of the CUAs' new IP Telephony solution is improved customer service via more effective call management processes.
Furthermore due to the architectural design of the IBM solution, CUA now have redundancy in the voice and data environment that was not previously available.
Future cost savings are also envisaged within the IT department managing a single, integrated network as opposed to the previously separate voice and data infrastructures.