MEA Financial depends on Bandwidth to keep banks happy coast to coast

MEA Financial needed a partner that would provide excellence in both voice and messaging, after exploring the market they consolidated both services with Bandwidth, and now they say “we’ll be a customer of Bandwidth for a long time.” 

Making the switch to Bandwidth 

MEA worked with other big players before switching to Bandwidth, but they became frustrated with feeling like their business wasn’t valued. Getting support was painful and response times were slow. Not only that, when MEA’s team asked questions about strategy, they got vague, unhelpful answers. 

And logistically, things were complicated because they used a patchwork of suppliers for voice and messaging. They knew there had to be a better way.

Industry guidance from a trusted partner

MEA guides each customer to the best channels for their use cases, so when 10DLC numbers became available, MEA started looking into their potential. But 10DLC was brand new at the time, and they had trouble finding a vendor who would be straight with them about whether it was a smart choice. “Bandwidth was the only vendor that was upfront and honest about the amount of information available on 10DLC, and their honesty helped us make the right decision at the time” says Derrick Cox, Vice President of Text & Voice Solutions.

A fresh way to look at throughput

While other vendors were limiting MEA to sending one toll-free message per second, Bandwidth’s experts met with Cox and his team to figure out how many total account notifications, balance updates, and transaction alerts flow through MEA’s system each month. From there, Bandwidth was able to calibrate the right throughput to meet demand without unnecessary lag time.

Unmatched support is an extra trust factor

MEA Financial puts their customers first. That means they focus on providing timely, expert support, and they want the same from their vendors. And just as Bandwidth’s transparency created trust in a forward-minded messaging strategy, Bandwidth’s outstanding support provided a major “trust factor” for MEA as they searched for support that matched the VIP treatment that they extend to their own customers.

Talking with customers on their terms

Not every consumer uses a service like telephone banking, where they dial their bank to check a balance or review transactions. But many do. And for those customers, having reliable telephone IVR systems is crucial for having trust in their bank. MEA knows that, which is why they turned to Bandwidth for their IVR as well as a full suite of SIP Trunking, toll-free, 10DLC, and short code messaging. Consumers have more choices than ever, and they’ll choose the banks that meet them where it’s most convenient. 

Nationwide reliability for local banks

MEA is thrilled to offer their customers an alternative to traditional on-premise phone systems, because those onsite connections can get knocked out by storms and other local disasters. Bandwidth’s SIP trunking on the other hand, offers nationwide reliability. When we talked to him, Cox said “Your service uptime and reliability are so important to us, and we haven’t had any major service interruptions with Bandwidth.”

Fair prices with full transparency

Like all companies, MEA Financial has to be conscious of mounting costs. Which is why they appreciated the transparent sales process. “Bandwidth lets us provide services at a cost all of our customers can afford” reported Cox.