Discover and Google Cloud Develop GenAI Tools for Contact Centers

Discover Financial Services has collaborated with Google Cloud to provide generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to Discover’s contact center agents.

The rollout of the GenAI tools began in early 2024 and will continue across Discover, the companies said in a Tuesday (April 9) press release.

“By using Google Cloud’s generative AI tools, we will raise the bar for customer support interactions, ensuring fast, personalized and effective service every time,” Szabolcs Paldy, senior vice president of operations at Discover, said in the release.

One of the capabilities provided by the GenAI tools is intelligent document summarization, in which the tools analyze and summarize complex policies and procedures and provides agents with information and insights to answer customers’ questions, according to the release.

The tools also deliver real-time search assistance that allows agents to use natural language to access knowledge bases and find relevant information during live interactions, the release said.

Early results have shown that the use of these tools enables agents to reduce call handle time and improve search time by as much as 70%, per the release.

Discover plans to continue expanding the capabilities of the GenAI tools to include phone call transcription, categorization of incoming requests by topic and customer sentiment analysis, according to the release.

“Our collaboration with Discover showcases the real-world impact of generative AI and sets a new standard for customer care in the financial services industry,” Yolande Piazza, vice president, financial services at Google Cloud, said in the release.

GenAI is changing the nature and quality of how consumers interact with brands, PYMNTS reported in June 2023. The technology is bringing customer service to its next horizon with the ability to detect emotion, offer advice and complete entire transactions.

In another recent development in this space, Bank of America said Monday (April 8) that its virtual financial assistant, Erica, is now engaging with clients 2 million times per day. This virtual assistant delivers personalized insights and guidance as well as answers to clients’ inquiries.

In November 2023, Siena said it raised $4.7 million to continue building its autonomous AI solution for customer service. This solution, Siena AI, autonomously handles up to 80% of customer interactions across 100 languages and channels that include email, text, social direct messages (DMs) and comments.