With the help of Microsoft’s Azure Cognitive Service and Bot frame, the NAB employee chatbot saves $1.2m within 7 months. According to the bank’s Head of Technology for Workplace Support Services, Raj Giuliani, the IT desk regularly receives requests for support from the workforce. According to him, the top issue that impacted the workforce at NAB was self-serviced.
To resolve these issues NAB decided to build the chatbot. After comparing four chatbots, NAB decided to collaborate with Microsoft’s Azure cognitive services and Bot Framework. Guliani says, ‘’ we looked at the user interface and user authentications, the integrations that were required. We wanted to achieve scalability and usability at NAB. The key criteria on top of that were the security of our data. And then additional considerations from a cost perspective.’’
NAB developed and deployed a master chatbot for employees
Since Microsft is already part of the cloud journey, it was much easier to collaborate with them for bots. Therefore five-year multicoloured partnership was sign with Microsoft in 2020. It helped to boost its resilience, innovation and speed. To collaborate across the workforce, the bank uses Microsoft 365 and Microsoft teams that help enhance productivity.
Also, NAB closely worked with Microsoft engineers and architects to develop a master chatbot for employees. Employees use the Teams app on their smartphones and computers to access NAB Bot. Meanwhile, the bot is also available as a web interface with access restricted to NAB employees. The NAB Bot help answer the most frequently asked questions. And easily transfer employees to a live chat with its 24/7 support staff.
NAB is one of the few large enterprises to use Azure Cognitive Services
This made NAB one of the few large enterprises to use Azure Cognitive Services using private endpoints. Giuliani says, ‘’ It was a remarkable achievement (moving from public to remote endpoints) because it was new territory for all of us, including the Microsoft engineers that we were allocated. The journey becomes a lot easier and more seamless because of the workshops.
He also added, Microsoft’s engineers were very transparent and open to share their knowledge with us, and that helped us get where we are today.’’