Bank of America's Erica

Company: Bank of America, Charlotte, NC
Company Description: Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services.
Nomination Category: New Product & Service Categories - Business Technology
Nomination Sub Category: Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning Solution

Nomination Title: Bank of America's Erica

Bank of America’s https://promo.bankofamerica.com/erica/ Erica is the industry’s leading artificial intelligence-driven virtual financial assistant, available 24/7 for the bank’s more than 26 million mobile clients. Erica employs the latest technology in AI, predictive analytics and natural language processing to provide clients with personalized, proactive financial guidance and help make managing their finances easier.

Clients can engage Erica by voice, text or on-screen gesture within Bank of America’s mobile app. When Erica was rolled out to clients in June 2018, the tool assisted with servicing tasks, including:

-Searching past transactions by merchant, category, dollar amount and more
-Tracking trends in spending by category (e.g., groceries)
-Moving money across accounts or peer-to-peer with Zelle®
-Navigating the app and accessing key information, including routing numbers
-Viewing bills and easily scheduling payments
-Locking and unlocking debit cards
-Viewing FICO scores, budgeting information and accessing educational content via Bank of America’s Better Money Habits resource
-Scheduling meetings with specialists via phone or in person at the bank’s financial centers

In October 2018, Bank of America introduced Erica Insights, which provides clients with personalized, proactive financial guidance:

-Spend Path: provides a weekly snapshot of month-to-date spending relative to typical spending to help manage cash flow
-FICO® Score Tracker: ensures clients are aware of important month-to-month FICO® score changes and connects them to Better Money Habits content to help understand key impacts
-Subscription Monitor: helps clients keep track of regular recurring charges to better understand where their money is going and identify opportunities to save
-Recurring Charge Increase Flag: notifies clients when a recurring charge or membership fee has gone up unexpectedly, enabling them to take action if needed (cancel a subscription, reduce an expense, dispute an erroneous charge, etc.)
-Enhanced Bill Reminders: alerts clients of all upcoming Bank of America bills and third-party eBills, and helps easily schedule payments; the insight also provides an integrated view of all scheduled and recently paid bills.
-Preferred Rewards: lets clients know when they are eligible for Preferred Rewards, highlights the benefits of the three-tiered membership program and guides them through the simple enrollment process https://www.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards/my-rewards/

To help contextualize the investment Bank of America has made to ensure Erica delivers an exceptional customer experience, consider that since launch, the team has trained over 400,000 unique ways of asking financial questions in the system. That work is ongoing as we continue to expand Erica’s knowledge base and ability to offer personalized guidance to address increasingly complex financial needs.

Since client launch, completed in June 2018, Erica has attracted nearly 6 million users, who have completed over 33 million requests. Beyond the positive response in initial adoption, client feedback has also been exceedingly favorable, with over 83% of surveyed users indicating Erica is meeting or exceeding expectations. Actual comments from clients include:

-“Great to use when wanting to make a transaction but busy doing other items. So easy to just speak.”
-“Erica is exceptional. She handles my banking needs and interacts in a way where it feels like a conversation with a real person.”
-“She comes in handy when on a time limit. By using Erica, she brings you right to the information requested.”

With the launch of Erica Insights, clients are recognizing even more value, with 89% surveyed indicating Erica’s insights are meeting or exceeding expectations. Actual comments from users include:

“Erica saved me $600+ a year, I found various subscriptions once she warned me. I wasn’t using several anymore, changed others and found a few outside of what Erica was aware of. I wasn’t using the money before, so now I’m just automatically saving it.”
“Because of the recurring charges insight, I realized I was paying for two Spotify accounts and only using one. Somehow, I’d never noticed, even though this was going on for over a year. I was able to contact Spotify and get this resolved (and reimbursed!), all thanks to Erica!”

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief features and benefits of the nominated product or service:

-Erica is the industry’s leading tool of its kind, leveraging machine learning, predictive analytics and natural language processing.
-Erica assists with a range of everyday financial needs, but its full capabilities go well beyond that.
-For example, Erica looks at clients’ spending habits to identify trends and make recommendations for saving money. Its proactive, guidance-driven nature makes Erica unique and different.
-Erica is distinct in its ability to grow with clients over time and offer more personalized insights the more clients interact with it.
-Clients can interact with Erica however they choose: by voice, text or on-screen gesture.
-Erica understands the complexity and nuances of the English language — including the intent and context of a conversation.
-Since its launch, Erica has attracted nearly 6 million users and completed more than 33 million requests.
-More than 83% of surveyed users say Erica is meeting or exceeding their expectations