Ziv Avraham, manager of customer journeys and content of ONE ZERO (photo: PR)
Meet Ella, the digital private banker of ONE ZERO Bank, whose role is to help customers manage their money in one place, easily and with care for all their needs.
"From today I will manage the account for you", Ella will promise in the first correspondence between her and the client.
Ella is actually a chatbot, i.e. software that specializes in conducting textual conversations with humans, while trying to do so in a way that looks as natural and human as possible.
"Managing assets and money is a complex thing that requires time, effort and understanding in many financial fields. We chose to face the challenge and build an advanced system and the first of its kind in the world," says
Ziv Avraham, ONE ZERO's customer journey and content manager and the
one who created the way Ela thinks and expresses herself.
"The model of the digital private banker was inspired by the image of the personal finance manager who provides financial asset management services, which was available only to affluent customers," he explains.
"Ella takes care of everything in a personal, courteous and immediate manner, accompanies the client in economic growth processes and, of course, makes sure to update him on every important matter related to his account.
Just as artificial intelligence systems are integrated into other leading technological fields in the world, so too is the world of traditional banking beginning to change. This is the future. If a human service provider can learn how to take care of a customer in an excellent way, there is no reason why it (the chatbot) cannot learn to provide 24/7 better and faster service."
What can these actually help the customer?
"Our approach speaks of the fact that the client does not need to understand finance too much, the bank takes care of all his needs. The client also does not need to come to the branch. This is different from the traditional approach. The banking system is based on artificial intelligence and every service that is provided in the bank today - what a human clerk knows how to do - these knows how to give. For example, you want to consult with her about opening a savings plan.
She will ask you all the questions a clerk would ask: for what purpose, what is the amount of the deposit, for how long do you want the savings to be. Ella knows what savings tools she has and will match you The most accurate product. It can also handle operations related to foreign exchange, for example currency conversion. Ella will ask you how much you would like to convert, perform the conversion and then inform you that it has been done."
Zero mistakes
Avraham adds: "One of the significant advantages compared to a human banker is that a question cannot be wrong. The information she will give is the most accurate and every word she writes is professional and precise. Ella also saves time for the customer, controls his account. Whereas for us, from the bank's side, it does order to the same extent.
We can provide an efficient response to customers in the same orderly manner and with less personnel. If until now companies, businesses and service providers treated chatbots as a help to the company, then with us it is the opposite: with us the bank actually provides help to these. The bank was built on the basis of these , the human factors behind the scenes make sure that nothing is missed and respond to those."
However, in which cases can it get stuck?
"Since we are a relatively young bank, there are still places where Ella will not know how to respond. If, for example, you have a certain charge on a credit card that requires clarification, then Ella will transfer the handling to a human representative who will contact the customer and connect him to the credit company."
Avraham concludes: "Ella saves manpower and optimizes the work of the existing workforce. In the end, everyone is satisfied: the customer also receives faster, more accurate service and at times convenient for him; and we at the bank save a lot of small talk and can focus on handling more complex issues.
By the way, despite From the very first moment Ella is presented to clients as a digital banker, in their experience with her they forget for a moment that she is not a real woman. Many clients call the bank and ask to speak with Ella because of the phenomenal service she gave them. Today it is clear to everyone that the accepted way of working has changed and that organizations and companies are moving in a better and more serviceable direction ".
Tal Geva, Director of Service and Customer Experience at Migdal Insurance Company (Photo: Tal Harmoni)
be a human being
After you've gotten to know these, it's time to get to know Dory.
Dori is the personal assistant of Migdal Insurance Company's chatbot, who will try 24/7 to help and answer you through WhatsApp correspondence on questions related to your finances, the possibility of checking the receipt of a loan, issues related to withdrawing funds, filing a claim, updating details and sending documents via WhatsApp.
"If in the end a customer still wants to speak with a telephone representative from the call center, then through the bot he can also coordinate the day and time that is convenient for him," says
Tal Geva, director of customer service and experience at Migdal Insurance Company
.
"Approximately 65% of our inquiries are closed by the bot and customers do not need additional help," he notes.
"There are more complex and very specific questions, for example about your management fees or changes in yields that happen in the market, for which the bot did not know how to provide information and the answer will be given in front of the insurance agent or the pension consultant. The bot does not 100% replace the human service provider, but it knows how to handle inquiries The frequency and everydayness. Dori was born about a year ago. We recognized that there are a lot of inquiries about recurring issues that don't really require a human representative to explain."
Are the customers already used to Dori?
"If in the past we would have said 'bot' and it would have sounded annoying and people would have said 'leave me alone from bots, let me talk to a human being', today customers want an answer here and now. It no longer matters to them whether it is a bot or a real person, the main thing is that he knows how to give The appropriate answer. This is also related to the development of technology and all the advanced solutions. Our surveys show that there is a high probability of desire from the customers."
"Besides all the technological development, we do not rule out the fact that there are still populations, among them older populations, that need a human representative, and we have a very large set of service representatives. Not everyone gets along with the bot or likes bots, so we also have additional channels. This is some kind of evolution that is happening If 10 years ago we didn't think we would do anything against a bot, today a large percentage of the activity is done against it."
What do you foresee for the future?
"In my opinion, every company in Israel and in the world will streamline processes and reduce the number of employees due to the introduction of technology. We will not be in a situation in the future where a business providing service will only have bots, but the mix will be different, there will already be a balance between the number of employees and the number of bots. Human service will never disappear, but will remain for cases The very personal ones that really require a human touch."
Orli Bar Sheshat, director of headquarters and customer experience in direct financing (photo: PR)
A song for a man
"Our bot is called Shir, and he is a man. We decided to give up the fact that the personal assistants are always women," says Orli Bar Shesht, Head of Staff and Customer Experience at Direct Finance.
"Shir is the personal assistant that helps the company's customers via WhatsApp correspondence on various topics, such as financial information about a loan, receiving documents, arranging payments, it reflects the balance of the loan. When the question is more complex than general information, for example if I want to understand what the payment consists of on a specific date, This is already a question for the human representative. Since the beginning of the Corona virus, this bot has been used by us and there is a significant number of customers who complete their process with the bot."
Bar Sheshat adds: "Our main goal was to give the customer 24/7 service, something that is currently impossible to do. The savings in employees due to the bot is really minor, there is no significant savings in employees, at least not at this stage. This was not the motive either. The bot is used between 7%-10% of all the company's customers. I assume that the bot segment will grow, but it's very tricky, because there are also bots that are very observant. When it's a stupid bot that doesn't really understand the customer's needs, it creates frustration. One of the things that most led us throughout This process is simplicity. That is, not to make it quite sophisticated, but one that will give the appropriate answer to the specific question. We want to simplify the process for the customer and not complicate it."
Gil Eini, Director of Information Systems at the Fatal Hotels chain. (Photo: Public Relations)
bring me a towel
The Fatal Hotels chain currently has a correspondence chatbot in the chain's reservation center, in the event departments and also in the private terminal at Ben Gurion Airport.
Next month a voice bot with free speech recognition should be launched online.
"For example, as soon as the guest wants a towel, shampoo or conditioner or to have his room cleaned, he will simply press zero, tell the bot what he needs, and the bot will know how to take care of about 50%-60% of the calls in a fully automatic way," says
Gil Eini, systems manager Information on Fatal Hotels chain.
"As soon as you press zero on the phone in the room, the bot - whose name will probably be Or and she will be a girl - will say: 'Good morning, I'm the digital representative, how can I help?'. Then you say in free speech what you want, and you can also ask questions such as when it opens The pool, when is breakfast, and the bot knew how to answer. In case you asked a question that the bot doesn't understand, it will immediately apologize that it can't help you and transfer you to a human representative."
According to Eini, a voice bot in free speech recognition has several advantages: "First of all, the waiting time is zero," he says.
"The bot, i.e. the digital representative, not only answers the guest, but also initiates a service call that goes through an automatic system to the phone of the specific service provider who needs to handle the call and, for that matter, bring you the towel.
Also, for every automation process we introduce, we spare no expense in the employees, but thereby increase their satisfaction and leave them in the end to perform valuable tasks and not repetitive tasks. If, for example, one of the guests says that her husband has a birthday and she wants to organize a surprise party for him, I prefer that the service representative take care of it. The service representative will feel the same way who contributed more than just being an intermediary between a customer who asks for a towel and a farmer."
Do you think bots are the future?
"Unequivocally. We already see the buzz around GPT chat today, and that's where the technology is going. The technology of the bots will keep getting better and will occupy a bigger and bigger part of our lives. We at the David Fatal network, the owner, and Abia Magen, the CEO, are also constantly pushing to technological leadership".
Contrary to all the predictions that predict a bright future for bots and many companies and organizations that already use their services, there are also those who think otherwise.
Mittal Harosh, manager of the Live area and direct banking sector at Bank Mizrahi Tefahot (photo: elite beauty)
There is no substitute for a person
"Contrary to the prevailing trend among many companies, Bank Mizrahi Tefahot presents an opposite approach and holds that alongside innovation and digitization, at the end, there is no substitute for a human factor and a listening ear for the customer," says Mittal Harosh, manager of the Live area and direct banking sector at Bank Mizrahi Tefahot.
"At the bank, we use the advanced technology available to the bank and the existing sophisticated digital means to simplify the interaction between the customer and the banker, and not as a substitute for conversations and meetings between them. The connection can be made through technological means, such as the app, but it will still be with a real banker and not with a bot that provides answers Automation without knowing the customer. The penetration of technology into the world of banking undoubtedly saves time and makes life easier for many customers. However, banking is about our financial security and is based on trust and human connection.
We are the only bank that does not have bots and the response using all tools, including digital, is human.
There is no substitute for humanity.
The value of an expert personal banker who knows the client and knows how to match him with exactly what he needs - is something that digitization cannot replace."
Of money
Tags
bot
artificial intelligence
tower
Direct Insurance
Fatal
Mizrahi Bank