NetherlandsFinance and insurance2023 – ongoingING
Generative AI customer service chat assistant
ING's generative AI chat assistant, piloted with 10% of Dutch app users, served 20% more customers in its first seven weeks
Problem
ING's earlier rule-based chatbot resolved roughly 40-45% of queries. The Dutch business handled about 85,000 phone and chat interactions a week, and nearly 16,500 customers a week still needed a live agent.
Approach
ING worked with McKinsey's QuantumBlack to build a generative AI assistant in seven weeks and launched it in September 2023 to 10% of Dutch customers using the support chat in the mobile app. Custom guardrails block answers on sensitive matters such as mortgage advice and investment recommendations, and risk and compliance staff took part throughout. The Dutch pilot was designed as a blueprint for about ten markets.
Results
Takeaway
ING built a pilot for a limited group of customers as a model for expansion to other markets. It set a goal of doubling chatbot performance within six months but did not report whether it reached that target.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Finance and insurance
- Business function
- Customer service
- Innovation type
- Process innovationProduct and service innovation
- AI technology
- Generative AIConversational and voice AI
- Adoption
- Co-developed with a partner
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
ING reports that Global Finance named it one of the four most innovative banks, citing its generative AI chatbot. It says thousands of customers had used the chatbot since its September 2023 launch and that the pilot could serve as a blueprint for ten markets. It mentions a path to doubling the chatbot's performance in the following six months.
The marketing publication compares generative AI customer service results at three companies. For ING it describes the pilot with 10% of Dutch app chat users and the result that the assistant served 20% more customers than usual in the first seven weeks. It notes the work with QuantumBlack and the plan to scale across ten markets.
CTO Magazine reports that ING handled about 85,000 weekly interactions in the Netherlands, nearly 16,500 customers a week needed agents, and its older chatbot resolved 40-45% of queries. It describes the seven-week build with McKinsey, the guardrails against mortgage and investment advice, and the 20% result in the first seven weeks. It quotes ING's chief operating officer and a McKinsey senior partner.
Full details are in the original sources.
