"We are the first bank in India to launch a complete generative AI solution that is available to consumers, and it has been transformational. Vertex AI has completely changed the way we interact with customers," says Joseph.

"Of course, the AI-equipped chatbots are not going to replace humans," Joseph says, "If customers are not comfortable liaising with the AI platform alone and want to speak to a person, there is still that option for them to do so." 

Apart from modernizing its chatbot, Federal Bank developed its own API support portal, which is an API integration tool with Google Cloud APIs to automate its workflows and better collaborate with fintech organizations. The API support portal lets engineers seamlessly generate sample codes in Python or Java or any other coding language, depending on the parties involved. It can also debug issues that come about, such as if backend APIs are not responding, so the IT support team at Federal Bank can be freed from resolving minor issues that can be automated.

"Google Cloud APIs has helped us improve security and enable faster go-to-market as we have the flexibility to adapt and scale our systems with ease, ensuring interoperability across various platforms and services," says Joseph. The user experience on the platform has also improved, while the data team has been able to deliver deeper analytics.

With its employee mobile app built on Firebase, the team leverages Firebase Analytics and BigQuery as its data warehouse to better understand app user habits for continuous improvement. For example, the team can gain visibility of the full customer journey within the app, such as how many times they visit the app, the number of clicks, and which functionality is most used. With these insights, the development team can improve its application over time for an even more seamless user experience.

As a bank, security is always a priority, and for that, the bank leverages Cloud Armor to protect its app and website against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. But more importantly, it is the promise of Google Cloud that makes it a trusted organization for the bank. 

"All data that resides in Google Cloud are not cross-utilized, which means it is not used in any way to train the foundational model. This gives us the peace of mind knowing that our customers' data is always safe, and also provides a sense of security to our customers," shares Joseph.

"Federal Bank and Google Cloud have embarked on a strategic partnership to co-create and co-innovate and reimagine the future of banking. By harnessing the power of Vertex AI we've developed an intelligent Gen AI search bot that provides 24/7 support to our customers. We are also exploring new possibilities in personalized financial recommendations, increased sales conversations, fraud detection, and hyper-efficient operations," says Joseph.