HSBC UK has launched a new voice-driven menu to assist its telephone banking customers, enabling callers to state their intent verbally and be directed to the correct team automatically, saving time for both customers and customer service colleagues.
The new service uses smart technology to recognise the reason for the call and navigates customers to the correct team for help, replacing the touch-tone menu and reducing the need for internal transfers. With the launch of the new IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system, customers will get the correct help, more quickly.
Kerri-Anne Mills, Head of Contact Centre and Customer Service at HSBC UK, said:
“The introduction of the new voice-driven menu, means our customers can now tell us what they’re calling to do, as opposed to using a touch tone “Press 1 for this, press 2 for that” system, making it quicker and easier to access their bank account and any additional support at a time when they may need us most.”
With this enhanced IVR service, customers will be able to identify and verify themselves before they are transferred to the correct team, providing the customer service agent with the relevant information to assist the caller.
While HSBC UK’s previous system only recognised around 16 different specific customer queries, the new platform uses advanced speech recognition that understands natural language and the nuances of how customer queries are phrased, as well as different accents.
As well as the speech-enabling service, a brand new self-serve option will be introduced later this year, meaning that customers can report their Debit or Credit card as lost, stolen or damaged via the IVR, without waiting to be transferred to an agent, saving the customer valuable time.
HSBC UK is encouraging customers with general queries to initially contact the bank via digital chat channels for support, now including Apple Business Chat, as well as on the HSBC mobile app and Live Chat on HSBC online banking. This helps the bank to meet the needs of more vulnerable customers at this difficult time.
