Bank of Guam Taps Generative AI to Scale Digital-First Support

“Hafa Adai” (pronounced as HAH-fah-day) is the traditional Chamorro greeting in Guam and the first words you hear when you call customer service. More than just a simple greeting, it’s an expression that embodies the spirit of the island nation and the Bank of Guam. 

Affectionately called ‘The People’s Bank’, the organization is guided by a unique culture that places the ideals of exceptional service, value, and familia at the heart of its operations. Since its founding in 1972,the Bank of Guam has played a vital role in the community connecting individuals and businesses to capital, particularly in rural areas where larger banking institutions may not operate. 

Serving the Western Pacific Region poses a unique set of challenges, from remote access through technology to climate instability. Customers are also traditional in many senses, but the Bank of Guam team recognized the opportunity they had in front of them to leverage technology to overcome systemic risks, increase resiliency, and better serve their local communities and people.

Expanding 24/7 availability needed AI and automation

Outside of its network of 24 branches and over 80 ATMs throughout the region, the Bank of Guam provides many options to bank 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Customers can use its online, mobile, and voice solutions to bank from anywhere, depositing checks, transferring funds, and making bill payments are just a few of the services they enable.

For the bank, its Digital Customer Service Project was an opportunity to keep innovating on its service delivery model and to automate some of the manual processes that hampered productivity. So the team implemented a digital customer service system to manage phone, on-screen chat, and voice, with agents following a multi-engagement model whereby they are cross-trained on requests.

As the Bank of Guam scaled, the volume of contacts increased. But with 60% of all issues still coming through voice, the organization faced a dilemma: how to balance customer preference for voice, while concurrently managing an increasing number of live chat requests. 

Pivoting to self-service first for containment and deflection

With interface.ai, the bank has been able to make a traditional channel much more digital. The virtual assistant, named Cara, is the first line of response for all voice inquiries, lowering the average wait time, average handle time, and cost of interaction. 

Cara is also deployed across the website to handle routine questions and the impact has also been significant. 76% of all live chats are now handled through Cara, with only 14% requiring assistance from a live customer service representative. But anytime a customer would like to speak to a human agent, that option is readily available to them with a seamless handoff for live conversation. 

AI as a stepping stone to proactive service delivery

It’s pretty remarkable with 24/7 staffing and a lean team to field such a high-volume of interactions with the level of care and consideration that the bank provides. By introducing Cara, the contact center was able to focus more of its agents’ time on challenging problems and high-value interactions. 

Rather than only taking inbound requests, the team is looking forward to incorporating proactive outreach to issues that may need a more personal touch. For instance, checking-in after confirming card receipt or touching base to ensure that the online banking experience has been a positive one. Giving time back to agents who in turn put the focus on customers is part of what makes their service model so powerful, getting to know customers and better understanding their financial goals. 

An investment in service that is second to none

When it came to balancing the efficiency of its agents, the self-sufficiency of its customers, and the personable experiences that they were known for, Bank of Guam turned to interface.ai for its generative AI solutions. And the ability of interface.ai to connect and work well with the bank’s other customer service tools has been a big win for the contact center team. 

The Bank of Guam connected interface.ai to its phone and core banking systems, and leveraged its integration with Glia to power the intelligence behind its chat system. This enabled not only a great  experience for customers interacting with self-service options, but it also enabled a seamless experience for agents as they accessed past conversation histories. 

Between the decrease in average wait times, the decline in call abandonment, and the increase in self-service, Bank of Guam has improved the customer experience, all while saving on costs. But perhaps most importantly, they’ve tapped into the power of AI in a way that embodies what is uniquely personal and different about them, the ‘People’s Bank’.