For many enterprises, rapid growth brings a critical challenge: how to maintain exceptional customer service without expanding headcount at the same pace. This was the situation facing Propel Holdings, a financial technology company on a mission to expand access to credit with transparency, speed, and care.
Since going public in 2021, Propel has grown across multiple lending brands and business units, including Customer Service, Loan Origination, and Collections. As volumes surged, contact center leaders needed a way to:
- Manage rising demand across both voice and chat channels
- Sustain quality and compliance in a regulated industry
- Gain deeper visibility into customer interactions and performance
- Free agents from manual, repetitive tasks to focus on higher-value conversations
A People-First Approach to AI
Propel had already seen the value in transforming their business with AI in underwriting, and identified the contact center as the next frontier for innovation. However, their position was clear: AI should empower agents, not replace them.
By partnering with Cresta, Propel embraced a thoughtful rollout designed to keep both customers and agents at the center of the experience. Together, the teams identified high-impact automation opportunities across account management, payment inquiries, and application support. These were all use cases where AI could deliver immediate value, without compromising customer service.
As Brad Sherk, VP of Operations & Shared Services, put it:
“It wasn’t just a software contract. It felt like a shared mission. They, like us, want to empower our customer service agents and put humans at the center of AI power.”
Cresta in Action
Propel deployed Cresta’s unified platform across its contact centers, leveraging three key solutions:
- AI Agent for Chat: Containing nearly half of customer inquiries, while seamlessly escalating complex cases to live agents.
- Agent Assist & AI Summaries: Cutting after-call work in half, while providing consistent, accurate call notes and reinforcing best practices across the team in real time.
- Conversation Intelligence: Delivering 100% call monitoring, turning every conversation into insights for compliance, coaching, and continuous improvement.
Results that Scale
Early results show how Propel is achieving efficiency without compromise:
- 58% containment rate across AI Agents
- 50% reduction in after-call work (3 minutes down to 90 seconds)
- 100% call monitoring for full compliance and visibility
- The ability to support 30-40% forecasted growth in contact volume with minimal headcount increases
As Propel President & COO Gary Edelstein summed it up:
“We’ve already seen the impact Cresta is having on our teams and customers, driving faster, smoother interactions–and this is just the beginning.”
Propel is expanding its Cresta deployment across additional brands and teams, with a full planned rollout of AI Agents underway. The company remains committed to responsible growth, using AI to scale efficiently while equipping its teams to deliver better experiences for customers and employees alike.
