Table of Contents
Between legacy systems, shifting markets, and regulator requirements, the financial services industry faces challenges in adopting new technology.
But evolving attitudes toward digital adoption, the proliferation of AI, and recent surges in tech investments have influenced traditional financial institutions to look critically at their contact center operations. Time is money, as they say, and every dollar counts. In an age of deft disruption, financial institutions, especially at the enterprise level, urgently need to embrace the new era of customer experience.
And while AI is at the heart of this transformation, one trend is exceedingly leading the way: AI agents
In today’s evolving CX environment, where legacy chatbots fail consumers’ insatiable need for personalized experiences, banks and financial firms are sustaining success with AI agents. Below we highlight how three different financial institutions are revolutionizing their contact center operations with voice assistants.
3 ways AI agents improve contact center operations in financial services
1. Remove complexity from customer calls
When it comes to financial-related matters, customer calls contain a high level of variability and complexity. Not only is money woven into every single aspect of life, it is also a subject that many people feel uncomfortable discussing. These two aspects bring a layer of emotionality and urgency to customer requests, especially when queries involve fraud, card theft, or unrecognizable charges.
This level of nuance makes it crucial to have a dynamic AI agent that is both understanding and helpful. The agent needs to give callers the freedom to speak in their own words, including non-technical language, tell stories, and interject when they want.
Legacy voice technologies typically sound robotic, offering keyword-driven experiences that make customers feel restricted in how they explain their queries. When a bank’s customers trust that a voice assistant understands them and provides a genuinely helpful response, they engage in the conversation further rather than insist on speaking to a human agent. With an AI agent handling repetitive calls, contact centers can reduce high call volumes and use the time gained back to strengthen agents’ skills.
Improving CSR well-being and work-life balance is attainable when a contact center has a firm grasp on call volume. Want to know how a popular retail bank resolved 30% of its calls with a customer-led AI agent? Read this case study now.
2. Improve NPS scores through reduced call volume
Even in the age of AI, many contact centers in the financial services space still utilize outdated IVR systems. Not only do these antiquated systems fail to handle high call volumes, they negatively impact the overall customer experience.
As customer preferences evolve, so do their expectations for problem resolution. If a bank or financial firm is still working with decades-old or simpler technology, they are likely unable to handle complex and difficult to manage queries. If the information provided falls outside of the IVR system’s set of identified keywords and pre-defined, rigid workflows, a customer could spend minutes attempting to navigate a call menu. Further, if a frustrated customer says anything in an attempt to get to a human agent, the IVR could misroute their call.
As mentioned above, time is money, and the same principle applies to the customer. Every minute spent waiting in frustration is an additional minute human agents will have to spend on damage control. Contact centers can utilize AI agents to field customer service calls and act as a filtering system that protects human agents’ time and energy.
AI agents can answer a range of frequently asked questions on topics like, card activation and replacement, how to add a card to a digital wallet, and online banking queries. For call types that fall outside of automation, AI agents can route callers to the right department and even ask clarifying questions if need be. Information the customer provides can then be summarized and shared with human agents, preventing repetitive questions from being asked. These warm handoffs create a great experience and can directly impact customer satisfaction metrics, like NPS, leading to higher scores.
UniCredit’s voice assistant, Mia, automates 27% of all calls, increasing NPS by a staggering 14%. Vedran Mrvica, Head of Contact Center, is ecstatic over PolyAI’s ability to alleviate the pressure of high call volumes, “Our customers can now get information quickly in their local language… I’m really proud of what we’ve created together.” And that’s not all—dive into UniCredit’s case study to see the full scope of where they started to where they are now.
3. Empower agents for revenue generating activities
As much as the financial services industry has nuanced customer issues to handle, call centers are also regularly inundated with simple requests. The time agents spend on low-value calls (such as password resets, order tracking, or FAQs) varies. In our whitepaper, How to calculate the ROI of a customer-led voice assistant, we found that 30-60% of agent time is spent answering queries that could easily be resolved online or through other, cheaper channels.
High call volumes and an unending stream of repetitive calls negatively impact agent morale, act as a catalyst for attrition, and diminish job integrity. Having a dedicated and seamless way to handle low-value, routine calls, especially out-of-hours, is crucial in creating an environment of career expansion for human agents. With an AI agent handling mundane tasks, time gained back can be spent on strengthening agents’ skills and prioritizing business-impacting initiatives, like driving revenue, improving customer loyalty, and influencing business strategy.
When a contact center deploys purpose-built voice AI and strategically weaves automation into crucial areas of support operations, agents can dedicate their time to higher-level work and even have a more clearly defined career path. John Murphy, Director of Customer Service, Atos., believes the contact center serves as a gateway into the business, “The call center tends to be an entry into the organization. It’s allowed us to develop people into other roles. Working in the call center, they get to know all the products inside out, and they get to move into high-risk transactions teams or fraud prevention roles.”
A reduction in agent call volumes by 30% is possible for any contact center. This case study highlights how PolyAI helped Atos. create additional capacity to focus highly skilled agents on complex customer queries.
Contact centers drive growth with voice assistants
The potential for an AI agent to improve contact center operations and efficiency through low-level task automation is not an empty promise or passing trend. As the quantifiable results and relevant use cases continue to roll in, this groundbreaking technology is sparking a fundamental shift in how financial services contact centers operate.
When financial institutions like the ones mentioned above embrace AI agents, they move closer to driving cost reductions, improving customer experiences through personalization, and achieving operational excellence.
In an industry that is all about the bottomline, reporting tangible results ensures the C-Suite sees how impactful the contact center is in driving business decisions and growth. PolyAI can help resolve over 50% of customer service transactions and consistently deliver the best brand experience—get a personalized demo today.
