How Copilot helps certainly one of Canada’s largest credit score unions

When Adi Bhatia, a department supervisor at Island Financial savings, a division of First West Credit score Union, lately needed to step in to assist certainly one of his colleagues, he realized he wanted to know all of the monetary particulars and procedures for the upcoming appointments on his calendar.
 
Beforehand, this meant sifting by paperwork and cross‑checking particulars mid‑dialog, pulling focus away from members of the credit score union. However now, because of Microsoft Copilot, making ready for the conferences, even on brief discover, was a snap.

“Up to now after I would cowl a colleague’s appointments with members, I’d must spend time gathering all of the background data from our techniques,” Bhatia says. “Now, we will use Copilot and search to see what they’re coming in for. You’ll be able to rapidly discover these procedures earlier than, reasonably than when they’re right here in your workplace. It’s streamlined the method, so we’re undoubtedly spending extra time with the members reasonably than wanting within the system and trying to find every part when they’re sitting right here.”
 
First West, British Columbia’s third-largest credit score union with greater than 280,000 members, lately turned the primary enterprise Canadian monetary establishment to deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot to each workforce member throughout its group. Greater than 1,300 workforce members now have Copilot embedded within the Microsoft suite of instruments, giving First West a strong AI increase to help its members.
 
This daring digital transformation is designed to make sure that the human contact is amplified at its branches, simplifying processes and procedures to create deeper connections with First West members — whether or not they’re in department, on the cellphone or on-line.
 
“Our goal is about empowering our members, our communities and our groups to flourish — creating well being and optimism in Canadians’ monetary lives,” says Launi Skinner, CEO at First West. “Expertise performs an enormous half in enabling us to supply customized recommendation and construct genuine, human-to-human relationships primarily based on belief. Having sooner entry to higher knowledge and saved member data elevates our workforce’s means to supply tailor-made monetary recommendation that’s really impactful.”
 
By integrating AI into lots of the instruments the groups use, Skinner factors out the cultural shift that’s enabling First West groups to be extra modern and member-focused: “Copilot strikes the executive load out of the best way so our advisors might be totally current with members. Meaning sooner solutions, clearer plans and a stronger human connection throughout each channel.”

Making the leap

The trail to Copilot was a fast one for First West. A few yr in the past, members of the management workforce attended an indication on how the AI assistant may increase and assist work features, sparking instant curiosity. From there a couple of individuals started testing the software inside the First West ecosystem. By the top of 2024, 200 to 300 licenses had been handed out to early adopters inside the group to see how Copilot would work in a wide range of roles.
 
These early adopters helped First West as they examined methods to make Copilot match the wants of the group. One proof of idea revolved round unstructured knowledge – text-heavy data that isn’t organized in a straightforward method.
 
“Our groups use a wealth of data,” says Darrell Jaggers, chief transformation officer at First West. “We didn’t add extra locations for them to look. We made the knowledge we already belief findable and actionable. In seconds, Copilot turns a search into a solution, orchestrating our content material — insurance policies, procedures, assets — into clear, instant steps, so advisors can transfer with confidence and keep centered on the members in entrance of them.”
 
One of many components that First West launched throughout the rollout of Copilot was a retail lending agent, the place it was in a position to take the voluminous out there assets – paperwork, procedures, updates – and put them into an AI agent for workers that rapidly offered options.
 
“Inside seconds, advisors know precisely what to do subsequent,” Skinner says. “The response was pure pleasure — individuals had been saying, ‘Wow!’ This wasn’t only a step ahead; it felt like reaching the summit. It’s the answer they’ve been hoping for all alongside.”
 
The successes First West had with its early adopter group made it simpler for the management workforce to roll out Copilot on a wider scale over the previous six months, as many staff had been excited to attempt the instruments that had the group buzzing.

Demand for Copilot was natural, says Paul Brodeur, chief working officer at First West. “Everybody knew somebody that was utilizing it. And so, it turned type of like a ‘What’s happening over there and the way do I get into that?’ And I believe it actually created an pleasure and want to have Copilot. In change administration, it’s a far simpler course of to have individuals asking for change than having change carried out to you.”
 
By beginning with that consumer group after which having them work, study and share collectively, “we may begin demonstrating some fast wins the remainder of the group may have entry to, and I believe it was a extremely thrilling solution to roll it out to the total group,” says Brodeur.

Crunching the numbers

For First West, mortgage renewal is a crucial a part of their enterprise. In accordance with Brodeur, between Sept. 1 and the top of this yr, First West could have extra mortgages up for renewal than it had all final yr. The method might be complicated and time-consuming for its staff. Up to now, they must go right into a Microsoft SharePoint website and search by dozens of paperwork to assist with the method.
 
Now, First West has constructed an agent on prime of SharePoint that permits advisors to question the paperwork rapidly and get the step-by-step particulars for renewal.
 
“We’re conservatively saving (time) per renewal,” Brodeur says. “As a result of often what occurs is that if an advisor isn’t 100% sure a few course of, they go to their closest colleague’s desk and ask them. And so, now it’s not simply their very own time they’re utilizing as much as search for data, they’re truly utilizing up a colleague’s time as properly. So, to free that up has been highly effective.”
 
In department operations, Bhatia highlights that workforce members leverage Copilot’s search capabilities to retrieve a broad set of associated insights, enabling extra holistic preparation for member interactions.
 
“Once we question Copilot, it brings again the total image — insurance policies, checklists, associated circumstances — so advisors prep holistically for member conferences,” he says. “That 360‑diploma view boosts confidence: they will spot the subsequent greatest query to ask and clarify choices clearly.”