The State Bank of India has decided to strengthen its alternative channels through a revamp of the services offered through its contact centres as brick-and-mortar expansion has plateaued for the country’s largest lender.

The SBI on Monday said its revamped contact centres will offer more than 30 banking solutions in 12 languages, available 24x7 to the bank’s customers.

An easy-to-remember 4-digit toll-free number (1800- 1234 or 1800-2100) has been introduced to simplify the process further.

Customers of SBI will be able to avail of an array of services related to accounts, ATM cards and cheque book, emergency services (ATM card or digital channel blocking), access to digital products and support, and product information.

The bank said it has provided revamped, simplified scripts, and soft skill training to resolve most banking queries effectively over a phone call to all the customer support representatives.

In the future, the bank aims to explore embedding advanced AI/ML-based technologies, including conversational IVR, and voice bots.

Currently, the contact centre of SBI manages around1.5 crore monthly calls, with around 40 per cent self-serviced through the IVR, and the rest managed by over 3,500tele-caller representatives operating through four toll-free helpline numbers.

“While customers are continuously moving to digital channels, we have seen that ‘voice’ continues to be a preferred channel for certain customer segments.

“Hence, we started this journey of reimagining and building a next-gen ContactCentre, under Project Dhruvain 2021,” said SBI chairman Dinesh Khara.

“We are looking at the contact centre not just as a service channel but as the bank’s new(virtual) circle that will drive business objectives. The bank is getting higher conversions on pre-approved loan offers with the contact centre outreach.