Artificial intelligence can be a double-edged sword. It brings convenience, but it can also bring a lot of frustration, especially when you’re trying to get help at your financial institution.
Royal Bank of Scotland is the first such institution to implement “hybrid bots.” These bots combine AI-powered FAQs and bot conversations with actual, living people.
The program – called RBS Assist – allows the bots to quickly transfer customers to a representative if it doesn’t understand what the customer needs. Live testing on the technology began back in January.
RBS Assist was launched through a partnership with LivePerson, a provider of cloud mobile and online business messaging programs. The idea, according to LivePerson, was to streamline customer service interactions and reduce the amount of frustration some customers encounter when a bot can’t help them. They’re often forced to call a support line or go somewhere else for help.
LiveEngage is the open platform that serves as a foundation for the investment bank’s digital communications. It integrates cloud-based AI and advanced self-service software from Nanorep. The system works by handing off conversations, back and forth, between human agents and bots, allowing the bots to take on routine administrative tasks while the human agents tackle more complex, meaningful interactions and better understand what customers are looking for.
The solution includes natural language processing techniques combined with machine learning algorithms, which allows RBS to analyze every line of text its customers enter during a conversation. Bot conversations are rated in real time as positive, negative, or neutral, which allows them to determine when human intervention is required.
“Good customer service should strike the balance between automation and human interaction,” says LivePerson chief executive officer Robert LoCascio. “For now, bots aren’t ready to be the primary agent, but they’re very effective at routine, simple tasks. We believe a combination of humans and bots, with seamless handoffs, is needed for great customer service, and it is exciting to work with RBS and see these hybrid bots out in the world.”
