How BotForge Prototyped a Customer Chatbot for BNP Paribas

In a six-month fintech accelerator, BNP Paribas Personal Finance asked how chatbots could work for its customers and its business. BotForge answered with a working proof-of-concept webchat.

BotForge for BNP Paribas Personal Finance

BNP Paribas Personal Finance

Client: BNP Paribas Personal Finance
Agency: BotForge, part of Cohaesus
Type of work: AI & chatbots
Sector: Financial Services
Scope: Discovery workshops, conversation design, Voiceflow prototyping, brand persona, training and documentation

BNP Paribas Personal Finance is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas Group, operating in 30 countries and serving more than 20 million customers daily. Through the Serendip Fintech Accelerator, it worked with BotForge to explore how conversational AI could simplify the customer experience and reduce call centre volume.

The Challenge

BNP Paribas Personal Finance set a clear question: how might it best implement chatbots so they succeed for its customers and its business? The goal was an AI-powered chatbot and IVR that let customers complete tasks, rather than one more channel feeding the call centres. The accelerator, organised with Bruntwood SciTech and SuperTech WM, ran for six months and focused on chatbot and IVR innovation.

The Approach

Discovery and conversation design. BotForge ran onsite workshops and regular virtual meetings on technology, operations and user personas. Using Voiceflow for interactive prototypes and Miro for collaboration, the team iterated quickly on five priority use cases:

Log-in support
Account details
Making a payment
Early settlement of loans
Electronic signatures

Brand persona and security. The chatbot's tone and voice came from Credito, the company's existing brand character, in line with brand guidelines built on responsibility, transparency, empathy and simplicity. The design protected sensitive customer and financial data and followed compliance and privacy rules.

The Bot Forge were able to take us into the modern world with their experience and understanding of AI tools… very engaging and easy to work with. I am confident The Bot Forge will be able to give us digital solutions that improve the customer journey and help to reduce OPEX in the process.

Simon Jones, Head of Operations, BNP Paribas Personal Finance

The Outcome

BotForge delivered a working proof-of-concept webchat covering all five use cases. It was presented at the Serendip Showcase Event in Birmingham, where it was well received and viewed as a success. Alongside the prototype came onsite workshops, training and documentation on conversational AI, and new Voiceflow and Miro workflows for fast design iteration. BNP Paribas Personal Finance is now better placed to cut operating costs and improve the customer journey with conversational AI.