The calls that suit an assistant
- Questions that have the same answer every time, such as opening hours, branch details, card replacement steps and loan application stages.
- Looking up status that the caller is already allowed to hear.
- Booking, moving and cancelling appointments with an adviser.
- Collecting the details a person will need, so the person starts with the context.
The calls that must reach a person
- Anything that moves money, or changes who can move it.
- A report of fraud, or a caller who sounds frightened or pressured.
- A complaint, a bereavement or a vulnerable customer.
- Any request the assistant is unsure about. It should say so and hand over.
Guardrails to check before you go live
| Risk | What a good setup does |
|---|---|
| Card numbers, PINs and security codes spoken aloud | Never ask for them, never repeat them, and keep them out of the transcript |
| Fraud reports | Hand over to a fraud desk first in line, with the context of the call |
| Bulk money movement | Refuse, then hand over to a person |
| Prompt injection (a caller trying to rewrite the assistant's rules) | Detect it and refuse, and review those calls afterwards |
| Wrong or invented answers | Answer from your own documents, and send unsure cases to a person |
Hand-over that works
A hand-over fails if the person has to start again. The person should see what the caller asked and what the assistant said. Routes should be set by what the caller mentions, for example fraud to the fraud desk, a card to card services, and a loan to loan officers.
What to measure
- How many calls were fully resolved by the assistant, and how many were handed over.
- How quickly calls are answered and how many callers hang up while waiting.
- How often a hand-over was avoidable. This tells you where to improve the assistant.
A note on compliance
No assistant, and no starter configuration, makes a bank compliant by itself. Your compliance team still reviews the wording, the rules and the records, and signs them off. Use a starter pack to begin with sensible rules, not to skip the review.
How the SSONE banking pack starts you off
The banking starter pack loads knowledge topics for lost and stolen cards, fraud reporting, balance and statement questions and loan enquiries, for you to replace with your own documents. It ships guardrails against spoken card numbers, a card security code before the keyword, bulk money movement, PIN disclosure and prompt injection, and example routes to a fraud desk, card services and loan officers. Callers can book appointments that show in your calendar, and a Banking Operations Health board shows calls resolved by the assistant, calls escalated, answer time and abandonment. The pack is configured around PCI-DSS and KYC settings, which does not make an organisation compliant by itself.