KeyBank is teaming up with IBM’s Watson to prototype a digital conversational experience, as part of its goal to combine the physical and digital experience for bank customers.

Justin Hunsaker, the head of omnichannel experience at $170.3 billion KeyBank, highlighted the prototype and other new Keybank initiatives during Bank Automation Ignite today.

The prototype with IBM’s Watson is one example of what Hunsaker called “CX automation and the pursuit of the phy-gital experience,” referring to the combination of an in-person and digital experience. The new prototype takes an automated, digital technology — a chatbot — and transforms it into a more conversational experience that provides “insights on the fly,” he said.

“We’re very excited to see what clients think of this, and we’ve already started testing it internally,” Hunsaker said of the prototype.

Hunsaker’s talk at the event focused on the importance of using design to humanize new financial services technologies.

“If banks cannot truly be customer intimate, they are doomed to be just dumb commodities acting behind the scenes, like utilities,” Hunsaker said in his pre-recorded discussion. “This shows two starkly different futures: one where banks maintain relevance through customer intimacy, and one where fintechs have turned banks into an API of behind-the-scenes utility.”

Eighty-five percent of Americans say they will continue to use digital tools to complete some or all their financial transactions, even after the pandemic, according to KeyBank’s 2020 financial resiliency survey. The challenge for banks will be how to create customer intimacy through both physical and digital experiences.

“We need to stop focusing on things that clients don’t care about, like fees and hold times, and checking accounts and savings accounts, and we need to focus on what really matters to them,” Hunsaker said. “Can they afford a bigger house? Can they send their kids to college? Have they saved enough for retirement?”

One example Hunsaker gave of a digital and physical experience the KeyBank has enhanced is HelloWallet, the personal finance software the bank acquired in 2014.

During the past three years, KeyBank has rebuilt key aspects of its HelloWallet application on top of the Oracle Banking Platform, and gave bankers touchscreens that allow the banker and customer to interact side-by-side, rather than across a desk with the computer faced away from the customer.

The new system, KeyBank’s Financial Wellness Review, leads the customer through a series of questions, then makes recommendations for the banker and customer to discuss together. Customers who interacted with bankers this way gave the bank higher net promoter scores (NPS), a measure of how likely customers are to recommend a company to a friend.

“We’ve seen great benefits,” Hunsaker said. “Over 1 million reviews conducted so far, almost 15-point NPS increased for clients who went through the experience, who were also almost twice as likely to deepen their relationship with Key.”

Bank Automation Ignite runs through Wednesday.

Bank Automation Risk Summit, on June 15-16, is an all-new event that will explore automation in regulatory compliance and risk management for financial institutions. At the virtual event, attendees will gain valuable intelligence on new practices, methods, processes, tools, and data for improved risk management planning and performance to drive better results and fewer risk failures. Learn more and register at www.bankautomationrisk.com.