When a major French banking group like BPCE calls on Living Actor™ technology to automate user support, the results are spectacular, with qualitative optimization of customer service calls and impressed colleagues! Let’s get a little better acquainted with CloE, the Virtual Banking Assistant for the Caisse d’Épargne Group, Crédit Foncier and BCP.
A dual problem
Given the growing complexity of banking products and services and increasingly strict banking regulations, the support needs of the 35,000 retail employees of the Caisse d’Épargne Group have exploded, generating more than 200,000 calls per month to banking assistance platforms. To make things more complicated, organization of the Caisse d’Épargne network is decentralized. Each establishment independently manages its support center and knowledge bases, using procedures that are unique to each region.
To face this dual challenge, the choice of an Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA, also known as a “chatbot”) was obvious. Indeed, it presents numerous advantages. It enables pooling and leveraging the knowledge of the various branches of the Caisse d’Épargne Group, personalizing responses depending on the specifics of each establishment, providing the end-user with “self-care” access to this knowledge and even controlling the performance of the device. As a result, CloE was created, based on the Living Actor™ solution.
CloE: the 24/7 virtual banking assistant
CloE’s journey began in 2013, and she has been progressively deployed at the various branches of the Caisse d’Épargne Group since 2014. Each establishment decides on the timetable for deployment and can choose from a series of options.
CloE relies on a centralized knowledge base, which is nourished by her administrators, located at various user support centers. This knowledge is replicated within each of the establishments, which can then adapt the responses to suit their specific circumstances.
Accessible at all times with a simple click, CloE offers voice and text responses, which she illustrates, if necessary, with screenshots or supplemental documents. CloE avails of equally significant reporting capabilities, permitting detailed analysis of all her dialogues and the assessments provided by users. These analyses are essential to her day-to-day improvement, notably through the use of the latest innovations in artificial intelligence.
Last, but not least, CloE is proactive: she can communicate information to users through her “push” functionality, eliminating the need for certain support calls and communications regarding important developments and events.
Results that go beyond simple user support
CloE has contributed to changes in the organization of the bank, in the user support profession and for the users, themselves.
First of all, in terms of organization, the deployment of CloE enabled compiling more than 2,000 business processes, which can be immediately accessed and consulted by everyone. In the words of Caroline Gourhand (Caisse d’Épargne, Brittany/Loire Region) and Nathalie Chwal (Caisse d’Épargne, Aquitaine and Poitou-Charentes), who are responsible for managing CloE, “CloE has enabled us to pool the combined knowledge of the Caisse d’Épargne Group in a single tool. We have established a collaborative organization with a common goal: to enhance CloE through continuous improvement of her knowledge!”.
Second of all, when it comes to user support, CloE has made it possible to mutualize the support workload and to provide vastly improved responsiveness in updating knowledge.
Of those responsible for managing CloE, 91 percent are satisfied with the administration tool. Advisors are able to utilize the time that is freed up to handle the most complex calls, providing more value added. “We’re proud to have played a part in bringing this project to life. Given the ability to pool assistance questions from the commercial networks, the cooperation between establishments and the sharing of experience from the experimentation phase through the implementation phase, we can truly say, Bravo, challenge met!’” stated one of those responsible for managing CloE at the establishment level.
Last of all, for users, CloE is today at the heart of the banking assistance business and has become an indispensable ally of the Caisse d’Épargne advisors, 85 percent of whom recommend her. CloE prevents the need to call for support, helps save time, is always available and… she’s always in a good mood!
And now?
CloE is presently an essential part of the day-to-day operations of the entire staff of the Caisse d’Épargne Group. For example, as the host of educational videos, she has become the Caisse d’Épargne Group’s Digital Transition Ambassador.
And with a number of recent and upcoming deployments at other establishments within the BPCE Group, in reality, CloE’s journey has only just begun!
Point of view
Marc Aubry (Caisse d’Épargne IT), Director of Change Management
“If many establishments have made user support one of the major focal points of their Quality Action Plans, the fact remains that none of them can escape from the underlying logic of that support: the skill of the teams that are mobilized, the availability of the key players to respond to agency requests in a timely manner and, of course, cost control.”
“The choice of a virtual banking assistant is a natural outgrowth of these objectives and constraints. And there’s all the more reason to include a digital dimension.”
“In this context, Living Actor offered an optimal solution not only to respond to all our concerns and constraints, but also to guide and support us in the execution of this project for transforming the way we work. CloE has enabled us to ramp up our capacity to support our end-users, while freeing up time for the support teams to handle the more complex cases.”
Point of view
C. Gourhand
N. Chwal
“The success of the CloE project was made possible by three definitive actions: the pooling of knowledge, a roadmap to change customized to each Caisse d’Épargne establishment and animation throughout the learning process.
In other words, an Intelligent Virtual Assistant obviously relies on technology that’s on the cutting-edge of innovation, but also on a development and administration team that’s involved throughout its life cycle!”
Caroline Gourhand (Caisse d’Épargne, Brittany/Loire Region) and Nathalie Chwal (Caisse d’Épargne, Aquitaine and Poitou-Charentes), Supervisors responsible for managing CloE