How I Improved Sales and Customer Retention Using AI

Work brings new opportunities and challenges, and sometimes it is not always easy to know whether you should try and figure things out yourself or if you can spend time from your colleagues to help you solve tasks. What is great is that there are tools and techniques to assist you and in this article you can read how one of our Ayfie team members used the new Ayfie Personal Assistant to figure out what would usually be a classic situation where several resources internally would have spent time to assist him. However, in this case, the process turns out to be very different. 

Hi, my name is Egil Kvamme and I am the CRO at Ayfie. At work as Chief Relationship Officer, I’m responsible for following up our existing clients and their agreements, as well as partners and our mutual clients. Consequently, I have weekdays that take place in a variety of languages such as Norwegian, English, German and French. Furthermore, I receive leads from organisations that are from all kinds of industries that use a variety of technologies and systems, and some are very specific to their industry. As a person, I can understand a lot, but at the same time I cannot understand everything. Of course, I have many colleagues I can get help from; however, they are spread across home offices and different locations. At the same time, they also have their regular tasks and daily challenges, which makes it ineffective to disturb them until I have tried to solve the task myself. This is one of the areas where the new AI technology such as ChatGPT, packaged in the solution "Ayfie Personal Assistant", makes a fantastic difference for me, 

When a tricky situation is turned around using AI and you acquire new insight from it

The other day I received a follow-up to a meeting from a customer within the Banking & Financial Services sector, he wrote in the email: “I can confirm that VPS uses Mod10 for the calculation of the check digit in VPS account numbers”.

It’s difficult for me understanding what he is talking about in the email and how I can help. I can then choose to call a colleague, start an online search, or call someone with industry experience, or ask the customer to explain better what he means. I choose instead to save everyone time and seek assistance via ChatGPT, or to be more specific, I uploaded the email in our Ayfie Personal Assistant and asked, “what is my customer referring to”, with the email text copied in.

I thought further: "Hmm, this sounds familiar compared to other algorithms we have created to identify bank account numbers and credit cards, but is it the same?" Again, I’m confronted with the same choice, call a colleague, procrastinate a bit and steal time from others or talk to my new AI Personal Assistant. Maybe she can get me on the right track? I tried with the question: “Is there any chances the same algorithm is used to create IBAN number, credit card number and bank account number?” And yes, the Mod10 algorithm is used in various financial systems and applications to calculate check digits for account numbers, including IBANs (International Bank Account Numbers), credit card numbers, and some types of bank account numbers.

For example, in the case of IBANs, the Mod10 algorithm is used to calculate the check digit for the IBAN. The check digit is added to the end of the IBAN and is used to verify the validity of the IBAN during electronic transactions. Similarly, in the case of credit card numbers, the Mod10 algorithm is used to calculate the check digit, which is the final digit of the credit card number.

Overall, the Mod10 algorithm is a commonly used algorithm for generating check digits for financial account numbers, as it provides a simple and effective way to ensure the accuracy and validity of these numbers during electronic transactions.

Aha - so with this as a background, I could hand over the situation around VPS to our Product Manager for our compliance solution. Based on the information given to him, he was able to say that he has created an idea for product development. The information provided was enough to estimate the necessary development in our Product Board and we knew exactly the elements needed.

Having the right tool really saves the day

Having colleagues is extremely valuable, too valuable to use their time for questions and challenges I can figure out on my own. Additionally, I believe that the use of generative AI is currently about being open to using a Personal Assistant. I also think that competency is also extremely valuable, if I look back at my example; I wouldn't be able to verify whether this is good or bad information to pass on to my colleagues, unless I have the right background information. Furthermore, I also learned quite a bit about a new detail in my field of interest, a take-away I normally would spend more time acquiring, and that would definitely involve taking time from my colleagues too. 

For me, the way forward is simple, I want to be the best team member I can be, based on the resources I have been allocated. I understand that the complexity of what I am doing is too massive and unstructured for me to systematically acquire the necessary skills in advance. I need to learn by doing. Generative AI gives me this opportunity - and for me it is a technology that makes my everyday life easier, more efficient and leaves room for more self-action. As a result of this, it brings me, my colleagues, prospects, and new customers a better everyday life with less friction and hopefully better support.