Human touch over tech: Navigating new federal rules to end banking ‘doom loops’

The "Time is Money" initiative wants to remove complex automated systems currently hindering customer service. If enacted as is, financial institutions must provide easy access to live agents and disclose use of AI to improve service quality.

Financial organizations are rethinking their customer experience strategies in light of a new federal initiative that would require they provide access to live agents with just one touch point.

Announced last month, the “Time is Money” initiative aims to remove widespread customer service issues, including long wait times and ineffective automated systems. Financial services would need to provide customers quick access to live representatives and disclose if someone is interacting with a human or artificial intelligence during a chat. Additionally, they must do more to ensure any information dispensed by bots is accurate.

The goal is to remove the barriers caused by so-called “doom loops” and prioritize efficient customer routing to the right support.

“IVRs [interactive voice response systems], chatbots and such allow companies to offer self-service capabilities to reduce calls and chats coming into the contact center. That’s the point of them, right?” said Christina McAllister, a senior analyst with Forrester Research. “The problem is so many companies across all industries have over-indexed on deflection or containment at the expense of the customer experience.”

 

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