Absa Bank Zambia extends banking on a chatbot
Absa Zambia has added a chatbot functionality on WhatsApp to help advance their customer service.
The Absa chatbot is a Chat Banking initiative and a rebrand proof point meant to show that change that
would come with Absa to improve customer experience. The Bank realised that customers needed a
platform to interact with the Bank in the comfort of their places for simple queries even when the Bank was
closed.
The introduced chatbot capability assists with client engagement as well as providing an additional
channel to transact on. By enabling this capability on social media channels, such as WhatsApp, the
Bank is able to reach a wider customer base and the general audience and offer more convenient
banking interaction.
The chatbot is able to answer up to 150 frequently asked questions (FAQs) that are country specific to
support information that could be found on the website, call centre or branch. It is available 24/7 to retail
banking customers giving them an additional channel apart from traditional contact centre and an
opportunity to interact with the bank seamlessly.
It can be accessed via WhatsApp – +260762969977 or web based access. In instances where
the Bot does not have the answer, the customer will be referred to online resources (e.g. tariff guides,
internet banking), or to a contact centre agent or premier banker, (e.g. in the case of fraud where there
needs to be a more personalised and formal interaction).
By making the bot available to customers, they are able to self-service 24/7 which frees up call centres to
be able to better serve the customers who do need more specialised service via the channel. More
recently the chatbot has been updated with information on the various Covid-19 relief interventions put in
place by the Bank to assist impacted customers as well as all customer interactions are end-to-end
encrypted to offer a secure and enhanced customer experience.
The ChatBot is in its phase 1 stage with plans to keep enhancing its ability to assist customers do more
secure transactions via a social platform in the future.
With the coming of the chatbot, Absa Bank Zambia PLC continues to keep the pace in the innovation
front by providing a reliable banking channel that leverage on WhatsApp – a familiar platform which will
offer convenience and the ease of remote banking in the new normal.
Source: Absa Zambia
