Reimagining customer service for a global financial services organisation

How can AI create a better service experience for everyone?

Our client, a global financial services organisation, was struggling to keep pace with rising customer demands. Limited self-service options and an outdated case-routing system meant a high volume of routine enquiries was reaching service agents. This had the effect of overwhelming the support team, slowing response times and driving up costs.

Here was an opportunity to deploy innovative technology, including AI, to deliver a dramatic shift in performance. The ambition was to reduce agent-handled cases by 50%, improve customer satisfaction and streamline the service experience all round. Our team collaborated with senior leaders to drive a complex, global programme to design and build a solution and, ultimately, hand this over to be used and expanded independently.

A customer-centric service model built on AI

Our first step was to partner with the client to rethink their entire customer service model, which shaped support for customers in 170 countries. We focused on creating a seamless experience, using automation and AI to ease the burden on agents and empowering customers to resolve routine issues without delay.

Using the Salesforce AI solution, Einstein, and custom-built large language models (LLMs), we automated the classification and routing of customer cases. This ensured customers were connected to the right agent with the right skills – minimising handoffs and speeding up resolution times.

We also introduced a robust self-service system, allowing customers to find answers to their questions through enhanced FAQs, interactive tutorials and AI-driven chatbots. This not only reduced the number of cases reaching agents but also improved the overall customer experience by providing instant solutions.

To ensure the solution was sustainable, we united teams across the business to align on over 50 service improvements and a clear roadmap for the future. We also guided the client in selecting the right technology partners and ensured strong governance to steer the transformation. Our supportive expertise, particularly during the critical cutover phase, ensured everyone was ready for change.

Empowering agents with new tools

With the new service model in place, the improvements were dramatic. Automated case classification and routing reduced the number of handoffs between agents, improving first-touch resolution by 44%. For complex queries, the intelligent routing system we developed ensured cases were sent directly to the best-suited agent, cutting the time to resolve these cases by up to 80%. The new tools empowered agents to handle cases more efficiently, improving not just response times but also job satisfaction.

A future-ready solution that scales with growth

This transformation did more than just solve the immediate problem – it laid the groundwork for sustainable future growth. By using AI to classify highly complex cases against multiple assessment criteria, the system ensures these cases are routed to agents with the right skills and competencies. AI also automatically summarises cases and brings up the most relevant knowledge articles, so agents can resolve issues more quickly and accurately.

Self-service tools have reduced case volumes by letting customers address their issues faster, leading to improved customer satisfaction with quicker resolutions and a smoother service experience. The built-in large language model has enhanced internal agent support, enabling agents to handle a wider spectrum of cases more confidently and efficiently. With agents focusing on high-value cases that require expertise, our client is in a strong position to deliver high-quality customer support as it scales.