Finance / Banking

Bank of America: Handling employee IT and HR questions

Company
Bank of America
Country
United States
Adoption stage
In operation
Source published
Date basis
The date the source was published. It can differ from the date adoption started.
How the source was checked
Read the full source text

The work problem

Bank of America has 213,000 employees. They often needed technical support such as resetting a mobile device password or activating a device, and those questions piled up on the IT support centre phone line. Many also asked where to find health benefits information or payroll and tax forms.

Technology and data

In 2020 Bank of America released Erica for Employees, an AI virtual assistant for staff. It turned the technology behind the customer-facing Erica, added to the mobile app in 2018, back towards internal use. Employees looking for technical support during the pandemic took it up quickly. In 2023 the bank widened the range of answers to subjects such as where to check health benefits and how to find payroll and tax forms. The company said its way of running AI includes human oversight, transparency and accountability for every outcome. It said that this year it plans to widen the search and support range further while using AI and generative AI together.

Results

Bank of America said more than 90 percent of employees now use Erica for Employees. In the same announcement it said calls to the IT support centre fell by more than 50 percent. Chief Technology and Information Officer Aditya Bhasin said AI is changing employee efficiency and the level of operations. The company explained that using AI at global scale raises both employee productivity and customer service.

Limits and open questions

The source does not give the share of questions handled automatically by type, or how many enquiries are left for human agents. Using generative AI in Erica for Employees is written up only as a plan for this year.

Sources

Compiled from public sources. These are not results from ATF Works customers.

Read original (opens in a new tab)