NICE Enables UK’s Oodle Car Finance to Better Serve Vulnerable Customers
CX company NICE is helping Oodle Car Finance, a fast-growing car finance and loan company in the UK, identify and meet the needs of vulnerable British customers through NICE’s AI-driven CX solutions. Using NICE Enlighten AI for Vulnerable Customers, Oodle is providing its frontline contact center agents with real-time guidance to safeguard fair treatment for at-risk customers and ensure regulatory compliance by the company.
In the UK, a vulnerable customer is anyone susceptible to harm because of personal circumstances, as defined by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the government agency that regulates the UK’s financial services industry to protect consumers. Using Enlighten AI, NICE says it is now possible to objectively and accurately identify such customers on every voice and digital interaction. Pre-built compliance and agent AI behavior models derived from large interaction data sets make it easy to ensure FCA compliance, NICE officials explain.
Related Article: NICE Features New AI-Powered Robotic Process Automation
In the case of Oodle, NICE’s technology enables Oodle contact center agents to adapt their behaviors and drive higher volumes of fair outcomes for vulnerable customers. NICE makes it possible for Oodle to pro-actively identify vulnerable customers, with the analysis of every voice contact occurring automatically without requiring manual effort, enabling the identification of vulnerability indicators among customers.
The NICE solutions also provide post-call and real-time interaction guidance for frontline agents, improving their responses to consumer vulnerabilities and agent soft-skill behaviors. With Enlighten AI, Oodle is able to align with FCA guidance as well as achieve lower operational costs by improving multiple key performance indicators (KPIs) related to agent hold times and first-call resolution, Oodle officials said.
“At Oodle, our enduring goal is to provide an exceptional experience for all our customers,” said Jessica Bates, COO of Oodle Car Finance. “[NICE’s] solution enables us to rapidly and automatically incorporate the visibility and guidance needed to effectively support customers in vulnerable circumstances, ensure fair treatment, and deliver exactly the service they need, when they need it.”
With dual headquarters in Ra’anana, Israel, and Hoboken, New Jersey, NICE is the maker of CXone, a cloud-native platform for the contact center. Enlighten AI is the company’s purpose-built AI for CX to drive business outcomes and improve experiences for customers and employees alike.
Workvivo Launches EX Platform at Virgin Group
Irish-based Workvivo has launched its employee experience (EX) platform at Virgin Group, the British multinational venture capital conglomerate, bringing together 60,000 Virgin employees across nearly 40 companies, five business sectors, and five continents under one platform.
Designed with a strong focus on the Virgin brand, the Virgin Family Workvivo platform enables Virgin employees to connect with one another, using communication and engagement at the core. On Workvivo, employees can hear directly from leadership and from one another, drive social connection across the company, encourage collaboration, and boost brand knowledge. Through the Workvivo app, Virgin employees are also able to access company news, shout-outs from colleagues, community spaces, and exclusive insight into other Virgin companies around the globe.
Related Article: EX Platform Provider Workvivo Raises $22 Million in New Funding Round
Nikki Humphrey, chief people officer at the Virgin Group, said the company is delighted to partner with Workvivo. “Having connection and collaboration opportunities at our fingertips really has brought our people closer together,” Humphrey remarked. “Not only that, but it’s helping us to drive an extraordinary people experience where people can develop, connect with like-minded colleagues across the world, and personalize the platform according to their interests.”
John Goulding, founder and CEO of Cork, Ireland-based Workvivo, said that Virgin is using the Workvivo platform to give all employees a voice. “What they have done with the thoughtful branding is truly world class, and it’s been inspiring to see them make this platform their own.”
The Workvivo platform unifies employee communications, engagement, intranet, and measurement features in one app, simplifying communication and increasing engagement by empowering employees to be heard. Acquired by software and technology firm Zoom Video Communications in April 2023, Workvivo is used by global organizations with employees in more than 100 countries across various industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, and retail.
IBM and UK Bank NatWest Collaborate to Enhance CX for Bank Customers
IBM and UK bank NatWest are collaborating on a generative AI initiative that provides enhancements to the bank’s virtual assistant, Cora, and gives the bank’s customers access to a wider range of information through conversational interactions. NatWest—short for National Westminster Bank and a major retail and commercial bank based in London—will be among the first in the UK to deploy generative AI with a virtual assistant in its digital services.
Harnessing the power of responsible and ethical AI forms part of the wider strategy of NatWest. By leveraging IBM’s enterprise-grade AI and data platform, watsonx, teams co-created a digital concierge (Cora+) that transforms the chatbot’s capability into a more interactive and conversational experience for customers, as needed.
To accelerate the pace of innovation and delivery, the IBM Client Engineering team worked alongside the NatWest business and technology teams to rapidly co-create, test, and validate the outcomes, aiming to safely and swiftly deliver a viable generative AI digital assistant.
The result was Cora+, which is able to access information from multiple secure sources previously inaccessible through chat alone, including products, services, information about the bank, and career opportunities. With Cora+ customers can ask questions and receive responses in a more natural, conversational style, and immediately view or bookmark for later use links provided to the requested information . Customers will also continue to have the option to speak on the phone with branch representatives during business hours.
Wendy Redshaw, chief digital information officer of NatWest Group’s Retail Bank, described NatWest as a relationship bank in a digital world, building trusted, long-term relationships with customers through meaningful and personalized engagement.
She added, “Building on Cora’s success over the last five years, we’re working with companies like IBM to leverage the latest generative AI innovations that will help make Cora feel even more ‘human’ and, most importantly, a trusted, safe and reliable digital partner for our customers.”
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
