'Worst gimmick in history': HSBC trumpets success of Pepper robot

Armed with new numbers, HSBC is touting the success of its Pepper robot deployments at select branch locations. Pepper, which was first rolled out 14 months ago at HSBC's flagship Fifth Avenue Manhattan location, was added to bank locations to supplement the activities of human workers, helping customers find more information about products or directing them to additional resources when necessary. According to Jeremy Balkin, HSBC USA’s head of innovation, the bank’s Fifth Avenue branch, which first introduced Pepper last year, has seen a 41% increase in new account openings. In an address to attendees at New York's Finovate conference, Balkin noted that the branch has had five times more foot traffic and the investment paid off in the first three hours Pepper went live. For skeptics who called the robot a gimmick, Balkin called it the “worst gimmick in history,” owing to its achievements in driving more customer engagement and business for the bank. “The results continue to be staggering and sustainable,” he said during his keynote address on Wednesday. “When was the last time a customer walked into a bank branch not only with a smile on their faces [but] with a selfie uploaded onto social media?” Pepper functions like an interactive kiosk, but it has a human look with arms and a moving head, and it can talk. The robot stays stationary in branches for now. The bank believes Pepper better serves customers than a kiosk because customers want interactions that feel human, even if that interaction comes from a robot. Pepper is designed to guide customers in the right direction when they walk into a store, and it offers advice on tasks they can do through an ATM, such as check deposits and other simple day-to-day transactions a human teller would handle. Pepper also doubles as a mobile banking center with a tablet on its chest that customers can use. For customers seeking Instagram fame, the robot can dance and take selfies. According to J.P. Gownder, principal analyst at Forrester Research , Pepper is a far cry from a full-service automated banking assistant. “Pepper doesn't do a whole lot, inherently; the robot is expressive but not very smart,” he said in an email to Bank Innovation . He added, however, that Pepper might get more people to interact with it than a static kiosk. “In that sense, it’s magnetic for interactivity.” In addition to the human touch that Pepper provides in branches, HSBC is hoping the robot can cut down on wait times. Balkin said the average wait time to reach someone in a branch is about four minutes, but customers interacting with Pepper are finished in about 57 seconds. The bank also uses Pepper to drive traffic from offline to online, as the robot can text customers links to web-based digital banking task flows. SoftBank Robotics developed Pepper the Robot, which stands 4 feet tall and weighs 60 pounds. For now, the robot is assigned to branches in Manhattan, Seattle, Beverly Hills, Silicon Valley, Toronto and Miami. Balkin said HSBC is being careful about where it rolls out the robot, owing to different comfort levels with robots depending on the market. Gownder believes banks should be cautious before onboarding the robot. Even though Pepper’s friendly demeanor can be inviting and create more interactions, it isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. “I recommend that organizations conduct a pilot that looks very carefully at the customer journey and where in that journey the robot might add value, then test it,” he said. Bank Innovation Build , on Nov. 6-7 in Atlanta, helps attendees understand how to “do” innovation better. It is designed to offer best practices, to guide the innovation professional to better results. Register here and save with early bird rates ending September 27th .

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