In a world where Uber Eats remembers your favourite order, Netflix seems to know exactly what you'll want to watch next, and Google Maps can predict the fastest route home before you even start driving, personalised experiences have become an everyday expectation.
“Because I already understand their history, the conversation feels like a continuation rather than starting from the beginning."
Customers increasingly expect the same level of understanding and convenience from the organisations they interact with, including their bank. At ANZ, AI is making this personalisation possible.
ANZ is among the first banks in the Asia-Pacific region to deploy the AI-powered Agentforce technology at scale as part of its Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) capability.
For Small Business Lending Specialist Sean Brodrick, the tool has solved a major pain point felt by customers across many industries – having to repeat their story or issue multiple times.
"I can now make the conversation more personalised from the start," he says.
Where Sean once moved between multiple systems to build a picture of a customer, he can now access a clear, AI-generated summary in seconds, allowing him to pick up conversations where they left off.
"Because I already understand their history, the conversation feels like a continuation rather than starting from the beginning," Sean explains.
How is AI helping?
Artificial intelligence brings together information such as the customer’s banking history and previous interactions with ANZ. It then generates a summary. These summaries can then be used to help bankers quickly build context ahead of conversations, meaning fewer repeat conversations and more informed recommendations.
Don Patra, Group Chief Information Officer at ANZ, says this tool is just one of the ways AI is helping ANZ create a simpler and more connected experience for customers.
"We're applying AI in practical ways across the bank that help our people focus on higher-value work and create better experiences for customers. In this instance, AI gives bankers faster access to relevant information and insights, helping them better understand customer needs and have more meaningful conversations."
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Sean Brodrick, Small Business Lending Specialist
Better conversations, from the start
For Sean, the difference is most noticeable in how conversations begin.
In one recent interaction, AI allowed him to quickly identify that a customer had previously enquired about a temporary overdraft to manage cash flow.
"Going into the call I felt very confident I could add value," Sean says.
"I could reference their previous enquiry straight away and focus entirely on what they needed now. It made the conversation flow easily and helped build trust much earlier."
With that context, Sean was able to move the discussion beyond a short-term solution and explore a more permanent approach suited to the customer's seasonal business needs.
For customers, it means spending less time explaining their circumstances and more time discussing solutions. Equipped with a clearer understanding of a customer's history and previous interactions, bankers can focus on helping customers achieve their goals.
"The time I used to spend on admin is now going into customer conversations, which is where I can add the most value," he adds.
This is one of a growing number of AI capabilities being deployed across ANZ as the bank explores practical ways to improve how we serve our customers, strengthen how we manage risk, and make it easier for our people to do their jobs, while maintaining strong governance and human oversight.
By combining technology with human expertise, ANZ is helping its people build stronger, more meaningful customer relationships.
Daniel Gonsalves is Platform Lead, Digital Channels Platforms and Nalini Fernandez is General Manager, Banker and Broker Experience