KFH Transforms Customer Service Levels with Microsoft Artificial Intelligence AI and Chatbot Technologies

‘AI chatbots can support and scale business teams in their ability to serve customers,’ says Mandani

Kuwait: Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has launched an artificial-intelligence AI chatbot built on Microsoft technologies, in a move that promises to drive digital transformation by improving customer engagement and empowering KFH employees.

The chatbot will be available to customers 24/7, on KFH’s most popular engagement channels, including the company’s website and mobile app. Meanwhile, employees will be empowered to achieve more, as AI will be employed to reduce workloads, allowing customer-service agents to attend to more complex issues and leave standard queries to be resolved by the AI system. The solutions will also incorporate more efficient ways to analyse customer enquiries, and facilitate wider and deeper data insights.

“KFH’s digital transformation journey has served as a beacon for the sector region wide,” said Group Chief Retail and Private Banking Officer at KFH, Waleed Khaled Mandani. “We aim to reap the rewards of the Fourth Industrial Revolution through a phased rollout of leading-edge, enterprise-class communication, productivity, business intelligence and analytics tools, as well as building our own data centre by the end of this year. Microsoft has proved to be the perfect partner to help us pursue our digital ambitions, because the company’s cloud environment offers the ideal mix of agility and scale.”

Mandani added: “KFH’s “Baitak Assistant” Chatbot is the latest stepping stone on the phased journey KFH is taking. KFH has already moved to the Microsoft cloud, adopting Office 365 and Dynamics CRM, and adding an advanced layer of security to daily operations through Enterprise Mobility and Security. Dynamics CRM has allowed the automation of multiple service requests at both branch and department level; a more structured sales process, with improved visibility of the pipeline by senior management; and better contact centre efficiency.”

“Digital transformation helps organisations achieve more through engagement of customers, empowerment of employees, optimisation of operations and the reinvention of business models,” said Charles Nahas, General Manager- Microsoft Kuwait. “AI chatbots can support and scale business teams in their ability to serve customers. This technology’s potential as a mean to increase customer satisfaction and slash costs is grabbing the attention of businesses across sectors and adoption rates are soaring.

“Chatbots can be embedded in social engagement channels including SMS, enterprise mobile apps and websites. This means your customers can reach you how they want, when they want, and with no waiting times – because a single bot instance can deal with thousands of customers simultaneously. And all of this occurs with less of a burden on your own workforce, which is freed up for more innovative tasks.” Added Nahas.

KFH also has plans to use the Baitak Assistant chatbot service internally, to assist employees with business processes and operational queries. Other benefits to the Chatbots include consistency in customer experience and information received; the ability to adopt new messaging platforms quickly and cost-effectively; and flexibility in marketing options.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH)

KFH was established in Kuwait in 1977 and is enlisted in the Kuwait Stock Exchange. KFH Group is a global pioneer in the field of Islamic banking services, where it offers a wide array of Islamic products and services, not to mention a high standard of innovation and customer service.

KFH manages its operations in the GCC, Asia, and Europe through over 480 branches, including KFH-Turkey, in order to offer services for the bank's customers in Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Germany, and the UAE.

KFH's mission is to achieve highest levels of excellence and innovation in the field of customer service, while developing common interest for all those concerned with the financial institution. KFH's vision is to spearhead the global development in Islamic financial services, and to upgrade the bank into the level of becoming the most sustainable profitable Islamic bank in the world.

KFH's values include cementing leadership through all its businesses, including leadership in the Islamic banking services worldwide, through innovation, superior customer service and the development of its employees. In addition, KFH is committed to all its procedures, and to setting up long-life partnerships with the concerned authorities.

For more information, please visit: www.kfh.com

© Press Release 2018