Has the IFSC code of your bank branch changed? Want to know your new branch IFSC code? You don’t have to wait on call to connect to a customer care executive. Just interact with the State Bank of India’s (SBI) Intelligent Assistant (SIA) chatbot to resolve all your banking queries at a much faster pace.
More and more banks in the country are trying to embrace technology and come up with new technologically-driven products to create a better customer experience. The SBI SIA is a well-equipped software platform with a very own chatbot that provides real-time assistance to customers. For example, if a customer needs to know a new SBI IFSC code, the same information can be obtained by interacting with the SBI SIA chatbot. Other banking queries such as bank product details, application process, product details, etc, can be obtained by interacting with the chatbot.
What are Chatbots?
Chatbots are nothing but a bot or a programmed robot with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. The bot is programmed to interact with humans, namely through the internet. The AI-powered chat assistant of SBI is also designed to address customer queries and help customers with banking tasks on a day-to-day basis just like how a customer care representative of a bank does. All chatbots are software programmed devices that are tuned to process, collect, interpret and respond to certain specific questions. It is nothing but an automated chat service interface that the customer can interact with through various devices.
How do Chatbots Work?
A chatbot will access information that is relevant from an exhaustive set of data interfaces by using AI. The bot is created in such a way that it can answer queries of customers within a few seconds. There will be no human involvement in this type of process on the other end, unlike the earlier method. The system will be fully automated, will run at a much faster pace and will be more efficient. The SBI SIA chatbot has been set up in such a manner that it can answer as many as 10,000 queries per second. To put that in numbers, this is around 864 million queries per day. The bank aims to cut down on its operational expenditure considerably using this new cutting-edge, technology-driven system.
In March this year, HDFC Bank launched its own bot: Eva, expanded as Electronic Virtual Assistant. Eva is an AI-enabled chatbot that has been designed to resolve customer queries across many channels instantaneously. Customers will get a human-like conversational experience while chatting with this bot through various channels such as the bank website, mobile app, etc. Customers can get information relating to bank IFSC codes, product information, and other banking details at a very fast pace. As per records, the Eva chatbot has answered as many as 2.7 million customer queries within six months of its launch.
In April, Yes Bank also introduced its AI-based interactive platform called Yes Tag. This platform was designed to provide customers banking services through a set of chat-related apps that will be enabled through various social media apps. Through this facility, customers can carry out various banking transactions and enquiries such as balance enquiry, fund transfers, cheque book request, etc.
Advantages of chatbots in banking
- They will resolve customer queries at a much faster pace and hence there will be no pending queries
- Enhances the overall customer experience
- Chatbots can offers service on a 24/7 basis and on 365 days a year, including on bank holidays and weekends
- Helps customers save time and energy
- The technology will help the bank bring down the cost of operational expenditure significantly
- The Chat Box can resolve multiple queries at the same time without any hassle
- More personalization of services for customers
- Provides customers more access to financial products and services in the banking industry
- Chatbots can help the banking industry prevent fraud
- This technology can also help banks increase their sales numbers
Challenges for chatbots in India
- Language processing limitations
- Not well equipped to give financial advice or solve complex problems
- Chatbots may not always give accurate information. There is scope for technical glitches or server related problems that could slow down service
- The fear that these technologies will cut jobs and replace humans in all sectors including the banking sector
The future of bots in the Indian Banking sector
More and more banks in India have gone on to use technology in the past year to drive customer satisfaction and enhance the quality of services provided. Now, there is an increasing adoption and demand for automatic banking services. Chatbots have been in the news and they have been launched by some of the most well-known banks in the country such as SBI, HDFC, Yes Bank, and the like. Various industry sectors have been adopting this technology. Some of the sectors in the Indian market include e-commerce, retail, and education, namely. The situation is not different for the Indian banking sector as well.
Some of the other banks in India that have launched such technology include DBS Bank, Axis Bank, and City Union Bank. Many banks believe that these technologies will complement the human executive services and provide customers a more enriching and fulfilling experience.
On a concluding note, technologies such as this can truly be empowering. One of the other advantages of this is the key data insights and consumer behavior pattern information that a bank can get. This data will help the bank personalize financial products and services.
Hence, once key data points about a consumer are gathered, the bank can put across relevant offers and products that the customer expects. This is just the beginning, the first of the many such cutting-edge technologies that may potentially change and revolutionize the way the consumer banks. Automation can change the way we purchase and buy banking services in the future. There is potential for much more and the future only looks more and more exciting.
