Scout’s honored to help: Meriwest Union launches a digital assistant called Scout
- Meriwest Union has launched its own digital assistant called Scout, with a whole marketing campaign designed around it.
- Credit unions have generally been much faster than banks at two types of technological adoption: APIs and digital assistants. Scout's launch is the credit union's attempt to pad out its digital offering.
With $2.3 billion in assets, 80,000 members, and 8 California-based branches, Meriwest Union has launched its own digital assistant called Scout.
The digital assistant is the credit union’s attempt to pad out its digital offering since its digital banking members were yielding 67% more profit than those who preferred in-person channels. The firm says that the digital assistant frees up their employees’ time and allows them to focus on more valuable tasks. It also ensures that consumers are catered to around the clock, as 30% of its interactions occur during non-working hours.
The credit union’s members most commonly ask the chatbot about basic account details, payment information, member services like linking accounts and reporting unauthorized transactions, and issues around account opening. The chatbot also has built-in off-ramps to digital destinations like a website or application, and the ability to connect members directly to representatives whenever needed. Kasisto’s conversational AI, KAI, is powering Scout.
