My career journey: from branches to bots

December 3rd marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), a day that focusses attention on the well-being of all people with disabilities, raising awareness of the challenges they may face, and securing their rights across all elements of society. Our former Branch Manager, David explains how a health issue was the catalyst for a major career shift, moving from face-to-face customer contact to a role in Cora, our digital chatbot.

After 12 years working in the branch network, David is now putting his customer service experience to good use in a different role – as a Cora Conversational Analyst.

“By the time I left branch banking I had 40 employees across three different locations,” explains David. “I knew my skills lay in customer service, and I thought that meant I was locked into branch banking.

“But when my health took a dip, and I ended up having to use a wheelchair, It forced me to take a step back, consider different options, and realise just how big this bank is.”

Making the change

David knew he wanted to continue to work in a customer-focussed role, where he could make a real difference to customers’ lives. He’d always been interested in the role of digital within Retail Banking, so decided to explore other career paths within the bank.

“Digital technology is changing the world around us – including branch banking,” says David. “It’s moving at such a fast pace.”

As the world around us changes, so too does our behaviour. Organisations across all sectors are having to respond to those changes. And sometimes that means making difficult decisions.

“Banks everywhere are closing branches,” says David. “I understand how important it is for us to future-proof ourselves.”

Upskilling

David decided to use the bank’s resources to build his digital knowledge. “There’s more learning than ever available now around things like AI – including the bank’s AI hub, and it’s all free.

“It’s easy to remain locked into the world we’re already in, but I’d encourage everyone to include an element of learning that takes them outside of their current role. I learnt so much.”

It was this future-ready mentality that helped David to understand how he could put the customer service skills he valued so much, into practice in a different role; by joining the Cora team.

“At first, I did question how my skills matched up to the role. But, as I prepared for my interview, I saw how all my customer service examples were relevant,” he recalls. “Serving customers is ultimately what we’re all here to do after all. It gave me more confidence, and I began to see how I could make a real difference in the team.”

Two years on, and David has no regrets about the path his career journey has taken him on.

“Don’t get me wrong, it was a steep learning curve. You can’t walk into any new job knowing everything, but I’m amazed at how much impact I can still have on customers.

“From the data I review I know that one piece of work I was involved in recently actually benefitted 10,000 customers in one week! That gives me a real sense of satisfaction.”

The Conversational Analyst role is incredibly broad and varied, with colleagues getting involved in lots of different aspects of Cora, from shaping customer journeys and improving conversations, to looking ahead to discover ‘what’s next’ which is the focus for David and his team.

Helping our customers

“I work with technical teams, software engineers, and partners like IBM. My transferable skills are in customer service, communication, and regulatory compliance. When we’re looking at all this new technology, we have to consider the full impact on customers, and that’s where I really fit into this team.

“At the moment, I’m working on the pilot of Cora+, our GenAI chatbot. Because this technology is still very new, and we’re currently in the pilot stage, there are lots of guardrails in place to help manage any potential risks. These ensure we’re keeping both our customers and the bank safe, and delivering accurate, helpful information every time. One of these guardrails involves a colleague reviewing every single Cora+ response.

“To be able to do that, you really need somebody with a customer service background,” explains David. “A software engineer might be brilliant at making everything work, but they wouldn’t necessarily know if Cora’s giving the right answer, or if that answer could be better. That’s where I add value. Then I feed back to the software engineers so we can keep improving.”

For David, the possible opportunities for GenAI to enhance the way we work, and the way we serve customers is really exciting. But he understands that not everyone feels this way.

“I know a lot of people are afraid of GenAI and worry about its impact on jobs,” he says. “But for me, it’s about how we best use GenAI to improve our service, speed up our processes, and free up human time to work on the important tasks. That’s what I now do in my role, and I’m really proud of the difference I’m making for both customers and colleagues.”