SB Finance reduces ticket volumes from social media by 52% with Zendesk chatbot

SB Finance, a partnership between Security Bank Corporation and the Bank of Ayudhya, provides a range of financing offerings. The company offers safe, easy loans and flexible payment options to support everything from businesses to passion projects. “SB Finance aims to be Filipinos’ go-to source when it comes to tips on money, business, and everything finance,” explains Mark Seville, head of customer contact group at SB Finance.

Addressing operational requirement

The goal of SB Finance’s customer support team is to make it easy for customers to get answers to their questions, and complete transactions on their own without needing help from agents. However, the company spent a lot of time relying on a manual ticketing system. It used simple forms to log concerns, inquiries, and complaints. Agents had to email requests and complaints manually to fulfillment teams, and they had no way to track their status. This meant that when clients followed up, agents would have to send additional emails to check on statuses, leading to delays and inefficiencies. “Our previous ticketing system was also limited in many ways—for example, it was difficult to issue access to agents. We also had to rely on the vendor whenever we wanted to update our process flows,” adds Seville.

When the Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) made it a requirement for financial institutions to use centralized systems to track and monitor client concerns, SB Finance saw an opportunity to adopt a more efficient solution.

SB Finance evaluated five potential vendors. The company had several key requirements: a robust ticketing tool, automated distribution of emails and social media messages, and a chatbot for handling repetitive client concerns, all of which would free agents up to focus on tasks requiring more time. ”We also wanted to start exploring more advanced features, like artificial intelligence (AI),” says Seville. The firm ultimately chose Zendesk Suite Enterprise and brought in a local partner, Blink, to assist with the implementation and minor adjustments.

Streamlining distribution with immediate impact

A little over a year after choosing Zendesk, SB Finance launched its centralized customer experience management solution. The rollout included ticketing, email, social media management, and a chatbot. With Zendesk, all inquiries as well as the company’s knowledge base are consolidated in one system. “Previously, our agents had to switch between multiple interfaces to find answers to their questions or respond to customers. Now, everything is at their fingertips,” shares Seville. Unlike before, SB Finance agents can quickly view a ticket’s status and history, reducing client wait times for follow-ups.

SB Finance has also streamlined its key workflows, saving time. “Zendesk converts emails and social media messages into tickets, which are automatically routed to the appropriate team,” explains Seville. “As a result, each of our team leaders saves around 90 minutes per day that they previously spent on delegating requests.” Previously, team leaders had to manually combine duplicate emails, but now Zendesk automatically consolidates them into a single ticket. This allows agents to address all concerns in one response, making the process faster and more efficient. This has also reduced the incoming ticket volume by 45%.

Having all customer support information in one place means that SB Finance can produce more accurate reporting. Seville adds, “We have full visibility over how, when, and who interacts with our customers.” This enables the company to better plan capacity and allocate resources.

Improving speed through centralization

To empower customers with self-service capabilities, SB Finance introduced a chatbot on social media to handle some of the more basic customer inquiries. “Since launching the Zendesk chatbot, we noticed a 52% drop in interactions routed to our agents. This shows the chatbot is able to effectively answer a lot of client concerns received through social media while smoothly handing off more complex queries to our agents,” says Seville.

With fewer incoming queries, consolidated information, and automation, SB Finance can now get back to customers even faster than its current SLA of two business days. Seville notes, “We are now able to respond to over 95% of concerns received through social media within eight hours, and reply to 50% of emails within one banking day”

Expanding self-service and AI capabilities

SB Finance is already looking to the future. “For 2025, we plan to integrate Zendesk with our core systems and begin to leverage advanced tools like the Ultimate Bot to improve self-service and personalization,” Seville shares.

The company also plans to use its chatbot to identify leads when clients show interest in its products. Seville explains that savings from improved operations will be redirected to sales activities, with live agents managing leads identified by the chatbot to drive conversions.

Reflecting on these advancements, Seville says, “By understanding the most common client needs and aligning them with the right tools, we can continue providing faster, more accessible ways for clients to manage their finances.”