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Chat bots: So banking can be as easy as chatting
- By Kiran Kalmadi and Durga Prasad Balmuri
Imagine you are chatting with your friend Vikki about a new film, over a messaging app, when you suddenly realize that you need to transfer money to her and book yourself an Uber cab as you are heading out for dinner. In a regular scenario, you would log into your mobile banking app, authenticate yourself, enter the required payee details, and submit a request to initiate the transfer. You would then open the Uber app to book your ride. What would it be like though, if you could do all this without leaving the messenger? As it happens, that is now perfectly possible.
Enter chat bots*. With a chat bot integrated into your messenger, all you need to do is type a simple message like Send $100 to Vikki, to transfer money, and Get me an Uber, to book a cab -- all right within the messenger.
Since the beginning of 2016, the focus on chat bots has increased significantly. The likes of Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple are all investing in bots and looking at ways to integrate them into mainstream applications. Interestingly, the bot jargon gained popularity when in April 2016, Facebook announced that it was opening up its Messenger platform to third-party chat bots. This meant that people would be able to interact with bots in Messenger the way they talk to their friends -- all thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP), and some human help. In fact, many banks have recently started showing a keen interest in chat bots.
Today, banks from across the globe are exploring chat bots as a means to answer FAQs, educate their consumers, send them personalized offers, and help them with everyday banking activities like making enquiries about balances, transferring money, paying bills, etc. While the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) already has Luvo, an AI bot meant to answer customer queries, Bank of America and American Express (AmEx) are embracing Facebook Messengers chat bots. Bank of Americas bots will enable its customers to receive real-time alerts and important communication. The AmEx bot, meanwhile, is working on innovative ways of interacting with customers. Once a customer opts for AmEx bots, they will start receiving real-time notifications about their purchases, alongside personalized alerts like their cards benefits and purchase-related services. Just this month, Russia-based Tochka Bank, of the Otkritie Financial Group, launched a Facebook Messenger bot for a whole range of financial services. The bot will help the banks customers check their account balance, contact customer support, make payments, and help them find nearby ATMs via GPS.
Considering the variety of possible offerings, chat bots can not only be a convenient way for customers to interact with their banks, but can also help banks increase engagement levels and thereby improve loyalty. However, challenges like authentication issues and user errors mean that banks may initially use Messenger bots where authentication and funds are not involved -- like search, general enquiries, and education -- and with time, slowly graduate to live chats and alerts, and then finally include transactions that require authentication
This is just the beginning and the area is expected to see a lot more traction over the coming months. Until then, keep watching this space for further updates. Amidst all this, I forgot to ask Vikki - did you receive the $100 I transferred?
*Webopedia defines Chat bot as being short for chat robot, a computer program that simulates human conversation, or chat, through artificial intelligence.
This seems exciting initiative. I am keen to explore more on it.
Posted by: Manoj Katikar | January 24, 2017 5:12 AM
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The text includes two hundred and ten "o"s in total.
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