How Banking Leaders Can Build AI-Empowered Teams through Talent Transformation

Why Talent Transformation is the Key to AI Adoption in Banking

In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, banking leaders are focused on integrating AI into their operations. They have, correctly, identified the key to success is investing in technologies which automate manual effort.

However, while the journey to radical automation lies ahead of us, most banking operations leaders still struggle with the challenge of building AI-empowered teams through talent transformation – which can often deliver significant benefits for a fraction of the cost, time and effort. This means upskilling existing teams to work effectively with AI, ensuring that they are equipped to leverage AI to enhance productivity and accuracy. It also carries the enormous benefits of requiring very limited (if any) banking system integration, making this a true light touch implementation opportunity.

AI has the potential to revolutionize talent transformation in operations across banking, offering significant benefits. I have seen many successful implementations where empowering teams with AI yields significant impact to the business.

Customer Service

In high volume customer service environments like banking, AI agents like worxogo Nudge Coach are used to support teams to improve responsiveness, adherence to key service metrics, and consistency in performance. These AI agents provide daily, personalized nudges based on individual performance journeys, helping agents improve target achievement on metrics like First Call Resolution (FCR), Average Handling Time (AHT), and quality benchmarks – without additional supervision/oversight. Some banking leaders have seen improvements upwards of 20% with significant reduction in individual agent variability.

Back-office Account Servicing

In back-office ops, like account servicing, claims processing etc, AI agents like the Nudge Coach enhance task ownership and accuracy. These systems provide real-time, behavior-based nudges that help teams focus on daily execution, manage SLAs better, and reduce rework. They offer a lightweight way to embed performance coaching into daily work, without any additional data entry. Utilizing the existing performance data to build personalized improvement paths for the agents is one very clear improvement

How to Engage Teams for Successful AI Implementation

To build AI-empowered teams, banking leaders must prioritize engaging their workforce. Time and again, we have seen this as a key factor in the successful deployment of AI in an operation. This involves providing clear communications, which brings employees on a journey to seeing AI as a partner in their success, rather than an enemy to be resisted. By leveraging AI in training programs that focus on agent skill improvement, employees can learn to see AI as an enabler, which will support their work and success.

AI Summarisation

Using AI to generate the automated transaction or interaction notes, eliminates a task which is time consuming, and prone to human error. With an AI-powered alternative, agents can instead review and correct an automated summary quickly – giving them the time to focus on more value-added activities. It also builds agent engagement, by eliminating a repetitive task.

AI Recommendations

Today, many next best action tools are powered by simple business rules. In other operations, next best actions must be remembered by agents – perhaps with the help of a paper aide-memoire. This mean that in many cases, customers get an inconsistent or untailored solution. AI-powered recommendations can remove this uncertainty – and help agents by giving them clarity.

AI nudges

AI nudges represent a category of AI designed to work alongside employees, acting as their enabler or coach. Unlike dashboards, which simply highlight what’s wrong, or recommendations which take away personal agency to “decide”, AI nudges proactively engage employees without making them lose their agency. More than just reminders, these nudges are actionable tips tailored to each employee’s performance patterns and motivational profile. The AI functions as a performance coach – transforming the way teams receive feedback by making it daily, easy to understand, and behavior-focused, and ultimately motivating individuals to take meaningful action. For supervisors and managers, the AI enables managers to truly become coaches. It surfaces performance insights, personalized to each team member who needs attention, and simplifies feedback and recognition.

By engaging employees in this way, banks can ensure that their teams are willing to collaborate with AI systems and deliver on innovation.

Banking Case Study: Real Results from AI Talent Transformation

Several banks have successfully transformed their teams by integrating AI in their talent transformation, leading to measurable improvements in productivity, employee satisfaction and other metrics:

A leading bank’s Global Capability Center (GCC) deployed AI nudges to improve productivity and streamline their back-office operations. The teams were managing high volumes of tasks across customer service and account servicing functions. The bank introduced personalized, daily AI nudges through the Nudge Coach that acted like a digital performance coach for each employee. These nudges provided simple, actionable tips that helped agents prioritize, adhere to processes, and close cases faster. Managers received real-time visibility into team performance and could identify individuals needing support, making coaching more targeted, timely and more frequent. The results were significant: an 18% increase in productivity, better SLA compliance, and a visible improvement in employee engagement.

Future-Ready Banks Start with AI-Ready Teams

Talent transformation is crucial for banking leaders aiming to build AI-empowered teams. By focusing on engaging and upskilling existing employees, banks can harness the full potential of AI technologies across various areas, from customer service to risk management. Real-world examples demonstrate the transformative impact of AI on team productivity and operational efficiency. As banks continue to embrace AI, investing in talent transformation will be key to staying competitive in the digital age.

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