Over the past few years, the banking system has undergone some changes due to digital payments and other digital services. The introduction of these technologies has provided ease of banking by enabling self-service and reducing branch visits. However, there are moments when customers feel nervous while visiting a bank or speaking to a contact center agent. These visits could take a considerable part of their workday or result in less-than-optimal solutions. 

Given the pace of digital transformation across industries, customers demand customized, personalized, fast and dependable experiences from the banks. It might be evident that the world will never be the same once we leave behind COVID-19. The customers have become much more conscious about their savings, investments, insurance and other expenses. This trend is a significant opportunity for the banks to build a good relationship with their customers. However, the key to ensuring this good experience is a 'cut-above customer experience'.  

The increased customer interest in financial planning has impacted on the number of enquiries in banks. Traditionally, these contact centers were manually managed. And there were several deficiencies in its overall functioning. For example, the contact center agents work with heaps of non-contextual and dated data to respond to customer calls, emails and chats. Often there were cases where the customers shift banks due to suboptimal banking experience. To address these challenges, banks need to transform their contact center experience. Here is where Artificial Intelligence steps in as a savior. 

AI-powered contact centers 

Today, most banks provide online platforms such as websites, smartphone applications, ATM kiosks etc., for undertaking banking transactions. Thus, the majority of bank transactions are self-served by the customers. The beauty of AI is that it understands the customers' behavior, preferences, and needs after every transaction. It makes every experience personalized and meaningful. With data analytics and AI, banks can offer a deeply personalized, omnichannel experience to their customers.  

AI-based contact centers help streamline transactions like money transfers, account balance checks, fraud reporting or placing any other service request. With these options, customers no longer have to fiddle on their banking platform to reach the correct page or section to place a bid. Also, these capabilities can be enabled in multiple languages so that customers from a vast demographic can use digital banking services. 

AI customer providers also offer several tangible benefits. The bank's operational costs come down as the transactions are happening online. The AI capabilities aid banks in understanding customer behavior better and offering more relevant product solutions. Banks can also improve employee satisfaction by using contact center AI to increase customer lifetime value and reduce operational costs. As the technology takes on several iterative customer requests, the employees can now concentrate on meaningful and complex projects. With the help of Ai, they also experience a reduced workload. The time saved could also resell these employees for future requirements. Mentioned following are some of the benefits of using Ai-powered contact centers by financial organizations: 

• Personalization 
• Accuracy 
• Stronger relationships 

Getting started with AI-grounded contact centers 

AI is an integral aspect of digital transformation in the financial sector. The first step is to identify a technology partner with the experience and capability to integrate contact center AI into the digital infrastructure. The partner should provide support at every step of the journey. The contact centers are about managing the customer queries and operation costs. They enable the banks to impact customers' wonderful experiences and lead in a highly competitive space. 

Sources:

Outlook India