Regions Bank is using AI technology from IBM Watson to improve its customer service.

During a presentation at Banking Automation Summit, presented by Bank Innovation, last week, Amala Duggirala, enterprise chief operations and technology officer at Regions, said call wait times have decreased 40% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite twice as much call volume.

“When we talk about the contact center, it is our friend and the most critical channel for any organization,” Duggirala said. “This is the prime channel for us to be on top of our game.”

The AI technology from IBM Watson, which the bank initially adopted in April 2019, has helped route calls to the appropriate department and feed information to the agents before they take calls, creating better call experiences and faster resolutions. IBM’s customer service technology, offered through its Watson Assistant platform, uses AI to guide representatives to relevant information during customer interactions. Watson Assistant can also take on more routine customer inquiries like updating personal information. Duggirala stressed the importance of call center operations, not only for clients but also for employees acting as the first line of communication. 

According to Duggirala, 85% of calls at Regions are handled by interactive voice response and around 5% are handled by automated solutions. Even for the remaining calls, however, the Birmingham, Ala.-based bank required about 800 agents. Regions, which has $129 billion in assets, also introduced a live chat feature and courtesy callbacks to help with customer satisfaction. 

Key to Regions’ approach is showing the value of new solutions early and often. According to Duggirala, the bank started showing efficiency results to stakeholders four to six weeks into implementation. “Quantifying the benefits and getting the stakeholder buy-in along in the journey really made a dramatic influence for us,” she said.

Regions is the latest bank to use IBM for AI solutions. In March, U.K.-based TSB Bank used IBM to launch an AI-powered chat tool called “Smart Agent.” In May, HSBC, another U.K.-based bank, introduced AiPEX, which uses AI-powered insight from IBM Watson to pick stocks and rebalance portfolios based on market data. 

See also: BAS 2020: Regions upgrades consumer lending system with automation

“Some of [our clients] might not be overly familiar with artificial intelligence or machine learning technology. It might be the first time they have encountered it, and we felt strongly that IBM Watson was a household name,” Dave Odenath, senior vice president of HSBC Global Banking and Markets, previously told Bank Innovation. “It’s something that has been in the media and has had a bunch of landmark achievements.” 

According to Duggirala, creating a good experience for call center employees is crucial for banks. “The biggest challenge in a contact center is attrition,” she said. “People come and you train them. They become the best agents and, all of a sudden, they leave. Then you are dealing with retraining them all over again.”