Slaven Bilac, CEO and President “Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”— Dale Carnegie, American writer and lecturer.
Using someone’s name appropriately in a conversation can not only make the listener feel more important but also make the conversation more personalized. And, considering how personalization of services has become a go-to approach for formulating customer attraction and retention strategies, such subtle touches will only add to any customer-facing organization’s gratification techniques. Bearing such aspects in mind, Slaven Bilac sets out to help financial institutions become a more tailored banking partner for consumers through his company—Agent IQ. The CA-based company with deep expertise in customer engagement helps financial institutions augment their end-user experience by making the services more personalized through digital and physical channels.
However, in the pursuit to guiding financial institutions scale such growth, Bilac believes that demystifying the present customer engagement landscape is crucial. Today, with enhanced digitalization, banking services have improved by leaps and bounds. At the same time, it has also led to a drastic reduction in human interaction. Oftentimes, while trying to address grievances, customers are directed to a chatbot, which conducts clumsy conversations and offers only partially-satisfying results. To remedy this, Agent IQ’s namesake AI-based platform brings forth a unique combination of technology and one-on-one personalized interaction with the bankers. It ensures that the customers are allowed to select the bank executive they would like to interact with and also connect them with the same banker every time in order to maintain the flow. Sometimes, if the same banker is unable to answer, a subject matter expert can join the conversation to help the customer with their queries.
Equipped with the capabilities of conversational AI and augmented intelligence, Agent IQ fosters real-time two-way communication, which is more personal and gives a customer a sense of control, increasing their trust in their bank. The platform extracts common threads from similar conversations and provides suggestions to the banker to make for faster and more consistent consultation. “We continue the customer conversation right from where they left off and eliminate redundancy,” explains Bilac.
Equipped with the capabilities of conversational AI and augmented intelligence, Agent IQ fosters real-time personal two-way communication, at a time where customers are looking to their banks for advice, solutions and comfort
With the experience of working with several financial institutions under his hood, Bilac also understands that the first 45 to 90 days after the opening of a new account is critical for both customers and banks. The customers require support in understanding the operation of their bank accounts while the banks work toward making an impactful first impression. “Hence, a customer onboarding can reinforce the positive journey process can either make or break a deal,” he says. In order to help banks accomplish this feat, Agent IQ provides continual support during the initial days of customer onboarding. Personal conversations during the onboarding period have been found to lead to higher customer satisfaction scores and higher product holding and utilization. They ensure that banks are adept with the resources and understand their customers completely. “Every customer has a banking goal in mind, and it is their bank’s responsibility to understand those goals and build meaningful banking services around them,” Bilac continues.
Bolstering the concept of personalized banking, Agent IQ has carved success stories for several financial institutions and plans to move ahead with similar veracity. As COVID-19 has impacted most bank operations and forced lobby and branch closures at the same time as customer demand for answering difficult financial questions is peaking, Agent IQ provides a unique combination of human touch and personalized advice in a safe and social-distancing compatible form. “Banks see Agent IQ as critical infrastructure as it enables them to engage and service their customers at a time when traditional models are challenged.” concludes the President-CEO.
As a current partner of the Q2 Innovation Studio with numerous successful implementations, Agent IQ's platform seamlessly integrates into the Q2 Digital Banking Platform. This integration enables customers to choose and interact with their personal banker at their convenience and from any location. The enhanced collaboration encourages financial institutions to directly engage with Q2 when acquiring Agent IQ's Lynq.
“We are pleased to extend our partnership with Agent IQ, enabling our clients to purchase a fully integrated solution directly from Q2,” said Roger Amador, vice president of business development at Q2. “The expansion of our partnership through Agent IQ’s Lynq solution will help bring modern relationship banking combined with a customer-centric engagement model and AI automation to our bank and credit union customers. We look forward to working more closely with Agent IQ and continuing to grow Q2’s rich partnership ecosystem.”
Enhanced by AI technology, the Lynq platform effectively lowers operational expenses and empowers customers to independently manage various routine tasks. This capability allows staff to focus on delivering more valuable advice and support. Through Lynq's AI-augmented insights, it identifies customer concerns, enabling bankers to personalize their advice and thereby enhancing overall product holdings.
“We are pleased to be a part of Q2’s journey in building stronger, more diverse communities by strengthening the financial institutions that serve them, including delivering a more digitally consistent banking experience to associates and account holders alike,” said CEO & Co-Founder at Agent IQ, Slaven Bilac. “As a leading financial experience company, Q2 is paving the way to a more fulfilling banking experience through efficient and scalable tools that allow for true relationship management, maintenance and development. Leveraging Lynq provides an anytime, anywhere digital connection between Q2’s customers and their account holders, improving communication and engagement to create happier, more loyal and more profitable relationships.”