From queues to quick answers: how GenAI helps banking customers

We’ve come a long way since the days when you had to stand in a long queue for just about any interaction with your bank. Banking apps are now ubiquitous, and they offer a high level of self-service to take care of customers’ routine needs.  

But there are still times when you have to contact your bank – for more advanced reasons, or when your query requires a more personalized approach – and it’s likely that you don’t look forward to navigating through endless phone menus or automatically being placed on hold.

The good news is that this is another area where GenAI is making it easier to do business.

Just like your banking app, a GenAI agent or bot is always on duty, even when the banks are closed. But unlike with the app, which also requires navigation, you get to talk to a machine that understands you.

You’re also not limited to the standard menu options on the app – instead, you can ask questions like, “Why was there a charge on my account?” or “How do I set up mobile alerts?” The GenAI agent will understand and promptly provide clear answers in conversational format, or even take action for you without you having to lift a finger.

GenAI is your new personal banking assistant

To create virtual customer-service agents for our clients in the banking industry, we have combined NTT DATA’s global expertise in building custom GenAI agents that optimize digital experiences (DX), and in the integration of our leading voice services, with Microsoft’s suite of GenAI products.

Everything comes together in a three-part ecosystem: the customers, the virtual AI-DX Agent they will engage with, and the human contact-center agents.

1. Ease of use for customers

When customers contact the bank’s contact center through email, a web chat or a service number, the virtual AI-DX Agent will pick up their query or answer the call – and language barriers are no challenge, as the AI-DX Agent can translate in real time.

While the AI-DX Agent is attending to the issue, it can give real-time progress updates – “Just a moment, your request is being escalated” or “I’m working on it!” – to the customer, which means they’re not kept waiting impatiently for an update.

The AI-DX Agent can also help to educate customers on the self-service actions they can take on the bank’s app, for example, or recommend ways of saving money.

2. What the virtual AI-DX Agent does

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is Microsoft’s powerful GenAI tool for smart workplace collaboration and communication across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

We use the development platform Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft Power Platform to build customized AI-DX Agents, which then work seamlessly with other Microsoft products like Dynamics 365 Contact Center, the full-service customer-service platform.

The AI-DX Agent can handle queries on any of the communication channels available to a bank’s customers. For example, instead of immediately forwarding every call to a human agent, it can automatically find answers to frequently asked questions from the bank’s knowledge base.

So, when customers ask questions like, “Where is my closest ATM?” or “What are the opening hours for my closest branch?”, the AI-DX Agent will consult the knowledge base and give a clear answer.

The same goes for self-service requests, such as making transfers, resetting online banking passwords or checking account balances. The bot can act on these requests immediately without involving a human agent.

Throughout these processes, top-notch security features built into the AI-DX Agent will protect the bank and the customer’s data.

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3. Human agents can now work more efficiently

If a customer has a more serious or complex request, such as a technical issue with their online banking, the AI-DX Agent will capture the details and context and escalate the call to the right human agent.

For a large, multinational bank, this might be a customer-service agent at a centrally located contact center that uses Dynamics 365 Contact Center to manage calls. The human agent will receive the full context of the call from the AI-DX Agent without having to ask the customer for the details again.

Similarly, some types of requests, such as a customer wanting to apply for a home loan, can be routed to a local branch of the bank for their attention.

A strong partnership

Using GenAI in this way to streamline the customer experience in banking shows the power of NTT DATA’s long-standing partnership with Microsoft. We customize and deploy Microsoft’s innovative GenAI technology in our banking clients’ operations, train their employees, and work with them to review and update their business and contact-center processes.

Over time, as customers interact with the AI-DX Agent, we make sure it learns from its experiences so it can offer more relevant solutions. And we analyze its output to identify customer issues for which better solutions are needed.

For the customers, it’s like having their own banker on call. And less customer stress means more brand loyalty – a winning situation for any bank.

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