Axis Bank’s AI backed chatbot helps to reduce email volumes

Today the banking experience has evolved from navigation to conversation with enhanced self-service channels. Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private sector bank, has deployed a conversational interface for customers, ‘Axis Aha’, an AI and ML powered chatbot. The 24×7 chat and voice enabled banking assistant helps the customers in account transactions, payments, managing cards and queries. Customers can simply speak or text “Axis Aha!” and get a response.

This is an initiative towards voice banking, which offers the customers, hassle-free transactions and inquiries. “The idea is to convert these bots to the personal Relation Managers (RMs) for the entire mass. We are aggressively focusing on the personalisation in order to stay relevant to the customer, rather than targeting them through just emails which are generic in nature,” says Praveen Bhatt, Head – Digital Banking & Customer Experience, Axis Bank in an exclusive interaction with Express Computer.

Previously, the bank had about 300 email agents, which has now gone down to 70-80 agents. Alongside, the self-service channels have also marked improvement. The AI backed solution not only elevates consumer experience and engagement, but has also resulted in drop of email volumes, since the traffic has moved to the chatbots.

The voice and chat interface also provides customers an opportunity to query on multiple banking needs. “Such cutting-edge solutions are useful when we cater to NRI customers or working-class customers who want the information available after 8 pm in the late evening or before 9 am in the morning. We are taking away the stress from banking and trying to make the experience much simpler and conversational,” Bhatt adds.

Currently available on the home page of the bank’s website, Axis Aha will gradually be extended to the mobile banking and internet banking application.