MONETA Money Bank enhances customer care with NTT Czech Republic solution and Feedyou Platform, powered by Microsoft Azure AI

MONETA Money Bank, the fourth-largest bank in the Czech Republic, operates a network of 140 branches and serves 1.5 million customers. Business consulting firm Deloitte recognized MONETA Money Bank for its digitalization efforts, placing it among the top 10 percent of the world’s leading digital banks.

MONETA Money Bank’s leading role in digitalization is apparent in its problem-solving approach. From 2016 to 2022, the bank saw a 300 percent increase in contact center call volumes. “Many of these calls were about internet banking, password resets, and online payment limits,” notes Michal Kocinec, Project Manager at MONETA Money Bank. MONETA Money Bank decided to transition from a traditional call center system to a more intelligent and scalable solution. By relying on partner NTT Czech Republic and Feedyou Platform for efficient design, management and development of AI virtual assistant solutions, it implemented a new, efficient, artificial intelligence-driven (AI) voicebot. "We wanted to improve customer experience by reducing waiting times and handling customer requests faster," Michal Kocinec explains.

Evolving customer service

The bank started off with an interactive voice response (IVR) proof of concept with NTT Czech Republic and Feedyou. “That led us to Feedyou Platform and Azure Cognitive Services, specifically the speech-to-text and text-to-speech modules,” shares Michal Kocinec. “Our main goals were to lower the call duration, reduce the number of calls transferred to a human operator, and eliminate call dropouts, when a customer gets tired of waiting in the queue and hangs up. We also wanted to increase the overall happiness of customers with a first contact resolution.”

Soon, the bank was able to assess the voicebot’s capabilities, checking if the bot understood customers in their native Czech language and that responses were correct and accurate. The AI voicebot, named Tom, successfully answered 43 percent of calls. “Tom was also able to effectively handle 42 percent of all customer operations and successfully verify 37 percent of customers during the call, proving its ability to manage a substantial portion of customer interactions autonomously,” says Michal Kocinec.

MONETA Money Bank then scaled up implementation and enhanced the bot’s efficacy. “We analyze recorded calls via a Power BI dashboard,” points out Roman Klemisch, Process Specialist at MONETA Money Bank. “If the bot isn’t able to understand the customer because of an error we can solve, then we change the natural language processing (NLP) model.” This iterative approach ensures that subsequent interactions improve customers’ experiences.

Today, Tom acts as the bank’s concierge, determining what the customer needs. It efficiently manages as much as 25 percent of the total inquiries received, resolving tasks such as blocking lost cards, adjusting card limits, providing mortgage information, and more, all without intervention by MONETA Money Bank’s contact center agents. What’s more, it takes on average 96 seconds to solve each query. “When you’re seeking help, the last thing you want to hear is ‘You are fifth in the queue’. This is now a thing of the past for us,” highlights Michal Kocinec. “We are now able to verify customers seamlessly, support them with various operations, and answer their questions 24/7.”

Specializing customer service operations

With Tom effectively managing a substantial portion of customer interactions, the bank witnessed a remarkable transformation in its service delivery. In just three months, MONETA Money Bank’s bankers have saved over 4,000 hours. “We still see a growing number of incoming calls, but we can handle it with fewer agents. We were able to reduce contact center human resources by 10 percent,” Roman Klemisch points out. “Our bankers are now able to specialize in specific topics. Rote tasks are handled by the AI voicebot, while the unique, complex tasks are transferred to agents with relevant, verified information, meaning they can provide the utmost value to our customers.”

Embracing future innovations

MONETA Money Bank's journey with voicebot technology is far from done. As it looks ahead, the bank is committed to refining and expanding its capabilities. "By introducing the voicebot, we've also brought in a whole new technology stack. In the future, we will launch an AI chatbot on our primary website, aiming to replicate the success of the voicebot, Tom," Michal Kocinec adds. This new chatbot is expected to handle similar tasks, providing another layer of convenience and efficiency for customers. “With each innovation, we improve customer experience, saving them time and offering unparalleled convenience,” Michal Kocinec sums up. “MONETA Money Bank really wants to be a technological leader in the Czech Republic, and we are proud of our solutions.”