Have you heard
"Due to higher call volume..." anytime recently?
Nobody wants to be on hold for 15 minutes, only to realize nothing can be done.
Since the pandemic, digital banking has increased from 49% to 67%,
redefining what a banking experience really is. Banks are well aware that
customers may contact them through different channels, but from a customer's viewpoint,
it's not about the channels. It's about their relationship with the bank.
The customer would love an agent just to know the context of their inquiry without being subject
to 20 questions. 81% of organizations compete on the basis of customer experience.
Fortunately, banks already have most of the assets and technology in-house to begin delivering
experiences customers really enjoy. A major overhaul isn't necessary. Banks can get a lot
of mileage out of straightforward organizational and technology tweaks.
I'll lay out three key areas that can help. Optimizing and scaling responsiveness, leveraging data and trusting AI.
Let's start with optimizing and scaling responsiveness. So you've been on hold for
15 minutes. Why? At this point, most banks simply don't know. And that's because they
may not have the information they need to fully understand the context of the customer's inquiry.
Most banks have simple chat bots designed for simple questions or identifying keywords within
a specific context, but a virtual agent with conversational AI can handle a lot more than
that. Banks should be asking questions like, Do we have channel integrations? So the conversation can
flow from in app to web to a phone call with the customer. Do we have sentiment analysis to pick
up on frustrations, happiness, or emotions? Is historical conversational data easily
accessible to provide context from the previous interactions? The objective is to really hear a
customer and understand if it's a trivial task or a question that could be automatically addressed
or it's necessary to root the customer to the proper associate. This gets the customer to
the right answer or to the right person in a much shorter amount of time. Now that your
customer has reached the right agent, be sure the agent is armed with the information they need.
On this channel, we've discussed a data fabric a few times, so if you haven't heard about it,
check out the link above. A data fabric architecture consolidates disparate data sources,
allowing enterprises to access and leverage all data. It doesn't matter to a customer
that the data they needed to open a new credit card or apply for a new car loan
aren't in the same place.
They view it as a single experience.
It's just like a friendship. The relationship is built on all interactions.
To a bank, though, this relationship is complex.
Critical customer behavior, information and records are spread across unique databases.
A data fabric provides the ability to connect and aggregate that data without moving it. It also
helps with regulatory concerns of your business applications with governance and privacy controls.
So instead of your agents calling and leading with questions, they will already know. For example,
the caller has a half completed loan application, recently changed their address and increased
their spending 20% year over year. It gives the agent the relationship context today's customers
expect. Now that your customer is speaking to a well informed agent, now is the opportunity to
really wow them. Business analysts, data science teams and application developers are using AI to
provide things like life event predictive models, automate loan application processing or prevent
payment frauds, but only works if you and your customers trust its recommendations. That's why
77% of global I.T. professionals agree ensuring trust within their AI is critical to its adoption.
So trustworthy AI is built on five pillars fairness, robustness, privacy, explainability,
and transparency. So, for example, a real wow factor would be an AI model notifying the call
center agent while on the phone that the customer is pre-approved for a credit card with more
benefits than what they originally called in for. With a trusted AI model that can remove biases is
regulatory compliant and can explain its results. Banks can quickly turn an ordinary customer
interaction into one that is truly enjoyable. The reliance on digital banking experiences
presents a unique opportunity. They can boost their responsiveness to client inquiries,
build AI models that better understand and predict client expectations all based on data they already
have. It can replace a stressful, friction filled task for agents and customers alike
with an experience that can really wow them. To see upcoming videos on more
ways to transform your business and learn more about technology. Please like and subscribe.