EBO’s AI Redefines Superior Customer Engagement at APS Bank
APS Bank partnered with EBO to implement an AI solution that would provide automation to enhance customer engagement, reduce wait times and increase operational efficiency. Today the Virtual Agent (aptly named AVA, short for ‘APS Virtual Assistant’) autonomously handles 80% of all chat interactions end-to-end, whilst upholding exemplary customer interaction standards and without requiring any human intervention. This has saved staff time, reduced load on customer care and provided customers with a 24/7 digital touch point that addresses their needs.
About APS Bank
APS Bank is a leading provider of financial services, with a legacy of over a century. Offering personal, business and investments solutions, the Bank’s distribution channels consist of a network of branches and ATMs complemented by a versatile electronic banking platform which serves both a retail and commercial customer base.
What Goals Did APS Have?
Increase customer retention, deliver 24/7 uninterrupted customer service and reduce loss of leads during out-of-office hours.
Mitigate reliance on manual processes and reduce load on customer care service agents which was leading to backlog and business inefficiency.
Signpost and direct customers to the bank’s rich digital resources seamlessly without overburdening human resources.
The Challenge
Leading banks, such as APS, are facing new economic realities as markets rapidly change and new customer needs emerge. As a result, the bank encountered escalating demands on its customer care centre, resulting in operational inefficiencies and increasing costs. APS approached EBO seeking an efficient solution that enabled the bank to offer human interaction at scale, alleviate the strain while upholding exemplary customer care standards at the same time.
The Solution
EBO introduced its advanced AI technology into APS Bank’s customer journey, to overhaul its customer service system, presenting a scalable solution that would adapt to evolving customer needs and preferences. Recognising the power of EBO’s AI in enhancing customer service, APS Bank’s Voice of the Customer Manager, Scott Lee Holloway, highlighted that:
"In today's world, technology plays a pivotal role in our daily lives. It's essential to approach the matter by prioritising your users' needs and consider AI as a tool to meet and fulfil those needs. Businesses that successfully embrace emerging technologies and utilise them toward customer success, will undoubtedly unlock key competitive advantages in their markets.”
EBO's team of product and AI conversational design experts worked hand-in-hand with the APS team to build a tailor-made AI Virtual Agent, named AVA. Surfaced on the bank’s website, today AVA can instantly address and handle incoming customer enquiries, round-the-clock. Its capabilities include:
Capabilities
24/7 Virtual Agent
AVA functions as an intelligent Virtual Agent, adeptly tackling a diverse range of queries encompassing internet banking, account opening, loan processing, and more. By automating routine tasks and providing instantaneous support, AVA reduces wait times, enhances customer satisfaction, extends service accessibility beyond conventional business hours and gives staff back time to focus on more complex tasks at hand. This also allowed the bank to capture leads that would usually be lost during out-of-office hours.
Streamlined Lead Qualification
AVA has been trained to answer a vast range of customer intents, from booking appointments to opening loans. AVA efficiently captures necessary data from customers, vets leads and channels them to the appropriate service channels, optimising resource allocation and enhancing operational efficacy. Should a conversation require human takeover, the Bank's staff can easily access the backend interface to handle the chat and continue the conversation seamlessly.
Insightful Customer Analytics
The solution comes with a user-friendly backend interface which provides staff with a vast range of data, captured from the customer dialogues. Not only does this do away with the need for complex Business Intelligence software but it also provides the bank with a deeper understanding of its customers, enabling staff to make informed strategic decisions based on analysis and predictions.
Continuous Improvement
Leveraging its NLP and machine learning capablities, the VA applies self-learning techniques to keep its language library updated. This allows it to continoiusly learn and gain more capacity to adapt and handle a wider range of tasks and enquiries. At the same time, EBO's NLP engineers carry out performance reviews on an ongoing basis to optimise the VA and ensure that its NLP recognises the user's intents effectively.
The Results
In the second half of 2023 (H2 2023), AVA autonomously handled 80% of all chat interactions end-to-end, without requiring any human intervention. This has saved staff time and increased operational efficiency. Furthermore, AVA achieved 93% of its predefined goals, facilitating account openings, appointment scheduling, loan applications and more. In turn this has relieved staff of repetitive duties, enabling them to concentrate on more intricate business demands.
Thanks for its NLP and machine learning capabilities, AVA is continuously learning, and its language library is constantly updating. As a result, the recognition rate at which AVA understands customer’s requests and queries is 86%. This continues to improve as more conversations occur ensuring that effective communication and resolution takes place.
By implementing AVA, APS Bank has achieved significant improvements in customer experience, operational efficiency, and staff productivity. The AI-powered solution has not only addressed immediate challenges but also provided a foundation for future innovation, scalability, and growth in the rapidly evolving financial services landscape.
Results
0%
of AVA's predefined goals achieved
0%
recognition rate
0%
of all chat interactions handled end-to-end
Empower your banking experience with EBO’s AI
Daniel Cassar
Head of Project Delivery and Digital Innovation at APS BankAt GasanMamo, we’ve been in business for over 70 years. In this period, we’ve seen the rise of many exciting new technologies that are aligned to our core belief: that of constant improvement. However, none of these have been as radically transformative as Artificial Intelligence and automation. We believe that AI will provide a better service to support our customers and will transform the digital journey they will take with us. We’ve chosen EBO as the solution provider to help us with this next step.
Mark Mamo
General Manager at GasanMamo InsuranceWorking with EBO is like ‘a breath of fresh air’. They have a deep-seated ‘can-do’ ethos to delivering successful solutions and our collaboration functions as a true partnership. The EBO Virtual Assistant is a new technology for us with great potential as it integrates directly with our Electronic Patient Record. We initiated a pilot with EBO on e-Consent and are already lined up for rolling out pre-assessment and appointment modules.
Andy l’Anson
IT Programme Manager at Shropshire Community Health NHS TrustThe experience of working with EBO on our Virtual Assistant has been very positive. EBO and Servelec listened to our feedback and helped design AI solutions that benefit our patients by providing an alternative way they interact with the trust.
James Mariott
Digital Change Manager at Somerset NHS Foundation TrustI think where we really found the stress is on the admin. A lot of our service users are calling us, which means that our lines are continuously busy and admins miss some of the calls, as they are on the phone with another service user at the time. It means that people are trying to get in contact till the late evening when the services are closed. It really opened up our eyes to see that there are other ways our clients can communicate with us and there are other ways that we can communicate with the clients. It actually works for them.
Shona Richards
Digital Transformation Project Manager at East London NHS Foundation TrustOur booking officers absolutely love our Virtual Assistant Alex, since it does the legwork and they can focus on the patient. Over the last six months, Alex has helped save 24 hours of staff time every week. Our callers come from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, so we worked with our communication to make sure Alex understands all our patients and the different ways they communicate.
Kim Hale
Digital Change Lead at Somerset NHS FTEBO is a trusted partner of Microsoft, because a lot of what we see with thousands of customers that we work around the world is very much aligned with EBO’s mission and vision. They empower caregivers; they empower administrative staff, and they empower patients to have better access to information. 84% of Healthcare Executives believe that AI will revolutionise the way we obtain information.
Ruthy Kaidar
Director, Healthcare Industry Sector at MicrosoftInsurance companies are at a pivotal stage of the industry’s development. AI technology is starting to disrupt the orthodox nature of business processes. MAPFRE Middlesea is a customer-centric organisation and we continually seek new and better ways to serve our customers. We’ve chosen EBO as a partner to help us adopt innovative technology that allows us to scale and deliver services more efficiently and effectively for our customers.
Peter Bugeja
Head of Technology Solutions & Digital at MapfreIt is indeed a pleasure to work hand-in-hand with EBO in developing our AI profile and competence. Apart from providing excellent technical expertise, EBO has consistently supported, trained, and maintained a close relationship with all of our team whilst overseeing the development, deployment, and successful marketing of our AI platform. Such support is unique and provides us with the confidence and motivation to further develop this exciting Artificial Intelligence revolution together with EBO, and be able to provide a holistic and efficient experience to our clients.
Jean Claude Muscat
CEO at Saint James Hospital GroupVirtual Agents save the one thing that nobody has anymore – time. And time is money. This is how we can help our Forex customers to be more agile, save money and be more profitable.
