PostFinance has set up a virtual assistant on its website – the first Swiss financial institution to do so. The chatbot is available around the clock and generates automatic replies to customers’ most frequently asked questions. It was developed by the IT service provider ELCA. The virtual assistant’s launch has been successful and it has already been widely accepted by customers.

For the time being, PostFinance’s virtual assistant only operates in German. It replies automatically to repetitive customer enquiries and is unrestricted by the Contact Center’s opening hours. The virtual assistant was developed by the IT service provider ELCA and is based on Nuance’s standard product “Nina Web”. Various additional services which have only just been developed have been set up to process natural language. These services aim to optimize the virtual agent’s speaking comprehension, improve dialogue management, provide more context and improve its ability to process enquiries. The development phase lasted eleven months.

Fast, precise answers

“PostFinance wants to make it as easy as possible for their customers to manage their money and their financial affairs in general. Because the virtual assistant answers repetitive questions automatically, our customers receive information quickly and at consistently high quality. This means that our staff at the Contact Center can focus their attention on more complex customer concerns”, explains Sylvie Meyer, Head of Retail and a member of PostFinance’s Executive Board.

PostFinance regularly feeds new content to the virtual assistant based on the questions asked. In addition, it continues to learn over time thanks to feedback from users. It currently recognizes three quarters of all enquiries from the initial contact and is able to give the customer a suitable answer. This means that the virtual assistant has been widely accepted and the number of enquiries per day is constantly increasing.

“We have met legal and technical requirements.. We are particularly proud of the fact that we are making customer services that are already available more accessible, such as the location search for branches operated by Swiss Post or Postomats. This means we have connected the digital world more closely with personal advice,” says Cédric Moret, CEO of ELCA, enthusiastically. ELCA is one of the largest independent Swiss suppliers of IT solutions and is a market leader in the following areas: IT business consulting, software development and maintenance, and IT system integration. Over 850 experts are working on solutions to reduce complexity, shorten innovation cycles and increase customer satisfaction.

Further development planned

With the launch of the virtual assistant a success, progress is already being made on its next stage of development. It will be equipped with more capabilities and more closely integrated into PostFinance’s existing systems: for example, the chat with a customer advisor.

Try out the virtual assistant

Contact

Johannes Möri
PostFinance Media Spokesperson
079 354 08 39

Silvia Finke
Senior Communication Manager
ELCA Informatik
076 360 12 01