In an era where customers demand fast, personalized, and 24/7 service, businesses not only need good products but also smart operational solutions. Especially in the financial sector, the pressure to serve tens of millions of customers every day has forced many corporations to turn to technology to reduce the load. Bank of America (BoA) - Bank of America is one of the pioneering organizations applying AI assistant to customer service, and has achieved outstanding results thanks to “virtual assistant” Erica.

The Importance of AI Assistant in Customer Service

AI is not just an automation tool but is becoming a “second brain” for businesses. For large corporations like BoA, investing in AI assistants addresses a series of challenges: Reducing pressure on customer care centers, optimizing operating costs, and improving user experience at a scale of tens of millions of customers.

In a context where customers are increasingly accustomed to finding instant answers, traditional solutions such as hotlines or emails are no longer sufficient. AI assistants emerge as a flexible support channel, operating 24/7 and capable of handling a huge volume of interactions without expanding staff.

Erica - Virtual assistant changes the way BoA serves customers

Bank of America (BoA) is one of the largest banks in the United States and is among the leading financial groups in the world. With tens of millions of individual customers, hundreds of thousands of businesses, and a network of branches spanning the globe, BoA always has to handle a huge volume of transaction requests and customer support every day.

Erica, short for e-RICA (Electronic Robotic Intelligent Conversational Agent), is directly integrated by BoA into the mobile application. This is not just an automatic answering chatbot, but an intelligent AI assistant, capable of "understanding" and "acting" based on each customer's financial data.

What is special about Erica is its ability to provide a comprehensive solution for personal financial management needs. When users need to check balances, find transactions, or reset passwords, Erica can respond immediately. Not only stopping at answering questions, Erica also proactively sends smart alerts, such as reminding customers when spending exceeds normal levels or when the account is at risk of negative balance.

Another bright spot is that Erica knows how to suggest and guide: From budgeting, opening a savings account to supporting handling emergency situations such as freezing lost cards. In particular, customers can perform simple transactions such as transferring money or paying bills using just their voice or text - a convenient and friendly experience.

Source: Financial Brand

The success that Bank of America achieved

After only After several years of implementation, Erica has become one of the most popular AI assistants in the financial industry. Millions of requests are processed automatically each month, helping banks save huge operating costs for customer care centers.

Not only stopping at savings, Erica has quickly reached more than 30 million users, processing hundreds of millions of requests. This proves that customers are completely willing to trust and use AI for personal financial matters - an area that is considered sensitive and requires absolute accuracy.

More importantly, Erica helps BoA improve the customer experience. Instead of waiting, customers receive instant, personalized responses based on real-world data. Satisfaction increases, loyalty is strengthened, and the bank gains a sustainable competitive advantage in the market.

Lessons for SMEs in applying AI

The BoA case study shows that AI is not just for large corporations. Vietnamese SMEs, with limited resources and competitive pressure, can absolutely apply AI to optimize operations. While Erica serves end customers directly by answering and processing automatic requests, GTG CRM is designed to support business owners to manage more effectively through data analysis and strategic suggestions.

For example, SMEs often spend time handling repetitive questions from customers, such as product prices, inventory status or return policies. GTG CRM can suggest appropriate responses for business owners or employees to use, saving time and ensuring consistency in communication. Furthermore, GTG CRM analyzes data from sales platforms such as Shopee or Lazada, providing insights and action suggestions to increase business efficiency.

GTG CRM - Bringing AI Assistant Closer to SMEs

Unlike Erica, which is designed to interact directly with end customers, GTG CRM's AI Assistant acts as a “GPT Chat dedicated to businesses”, supporting business owners in managing and developing their businesses. As one of the outstanding features of GTG CRM, this virtual assistant allows users to ask questions about the business situation in natural language, for example:

• “How much revenue did you make this week?”
• “Report on the effectiveness of your Facebook advertising campaign last week”
• “How many new customers did you get this month?”
• “Which customer groups need more care?”

The AI Assistant not only provides instant answers based on business data, but also analyzes it to suggest specific actions. For example, if an advertising campaign is not effective, the AI can suggest adjusting the budget or focusing on a potential customer group. If a group of potential customers is detected, AI will suggest a suitable care scenario.

GTG CRM platform also integrates AI content creation, including content creation for social posts, content creation advertising, Google Ads, Landing Page, ... even creating suitable illustrations, suggesting customer answers, …

Conclusion

Bank of America’s case study with Erica demonstrates that AI assistants are a strategic lever, helping businesses save costs and improve efficiency. Erica supports end customers in managing their personal finances, while GTG CRM empowers Vietnamese business owners with data-driven insights and strategic suggestions. Despite their different target audiences, both leverage AI to automate, analyze, and optimize, delivering superior value. For Vietnamese SMEs, GTG CRM is an opportunity to turn AI into a real competitive advantage, helping manage businesses more effectively in an increasingly fierce market context. Get started with GTG CRM to optimize operations and drive growth today!