Media Marketing VIDEO 018 - Christoffer Malmer, SEB (Sweden)

So the background behind this is very much our willingness to engage with and work with new technology, really try it out together with our customers, and see where there is room to enhance the customer experience and make both the customer experience more pleasant and swift and easier for customers, and also for our employees to allow them to focus on the really value-added part of the customer interaction. So what we've done is that we have allowed our customers to chat directly with our chatbot who's called Alda. She's actually named after the first female employee of the bank, which also happens to be the first female employee in the bank ever in Sweden. So either would be on our website and answering questions that customers then can go on and ask. So we're really at the phase we can start to put into more frequent use artificial intelligence into the hands of our customers. I really think this is the beginning of trying to leverage and scale artificial intelligence and combine it and complement it with the broad customer experience and provide a breadth of value creation across different channels and different technologies, blending digital and personal.

Yes, what happens in your branch offices? It's a very good question. So this is another concept of really trying out what it is that our customers really want. The background is really that we sat down with nearly 40 customers of different nature—private individuals, small and medium-sized corporations—and said, 'How would you like a branch to work for you? How can we add value? What should it feel like when you enter the branch? What would you like to express exactly?' And we got very clear messages back. They said: 'We want to be seen and recognized as we meet with you. We want to feel that you really care and take a genuine interest in what we do. And we want to be able to really kind of log into your network, give me opportunities, inspiration, give me access to what you have to offer.' So what we've designed is a multi-core experience center rather than a bank branch, which is really built around different zones. A welcoming zone where we can help customers straight away as they come into the branch. We have an experience zone where they can take part in events and activities, really logging into the knowledge network of the bank. And then we have the creative zone where we sit together with customers and co-create. This could be that we are developing new apps, for example. I will ask the customer to sit down and say, 'How would you like this feature to work for you?' Or it could be a company that sits there and says, 'We are writing up our business plan.' Well, let us do that together. And then we also have advisory rooms here, so you can come in and within a short space of time immediately get an advisory meeting. And the advice might not be in the experience center, but then you would do a remote advisory session. You step into a room and view a screen, and you would then have an advisor connected to that screen so that you can go through your personal finances. Could I have a tea? You can definitely. You can have a coffee, and we have a small area just outside where on a sunny day like today people will be having a coffee outside. So it's really giving a comfortable and welcome feeling. We have a kids' corner where you can set the kids down with iPads so they can—you get a bit of spare time with your personal advisor when you talk about finances. And being a kid? The office is open from 8 o'clock in the morning till 8 o'clock in the evening, and it's open on weekends. It's really trying to make banking accessible. This was one of the first feedbacks we had as well: difficult to go to a bank during my working hours, I would like it to be accessible when I have time. So this was another part that we try to accommodate.

Very good question. So this is really a prototype, if you like. So what we've done is taken bits and pieces. Some things that work really well: the welcoming zone where we have a high table with iPads that are folded into the table—we can do quick, easy helping out with other digital errands or other errands. So this we have in a number of branches now across the country. They took that thing, others have taken on more to the creative zone or the experience zone. So we're really kind of learning from this experience and constantly asking the customers: 'How do you think about this? How does this work?' And things that we think are working well, we try and incrementally roll out in other branches.