TIAA Launches Alexa and Chatbot Capabilities

NYC-based financial services provider TIAA has launched an Amazon Alexa skill to allow customers to obtain intel on tax statements, receive a stock market quote, find the nearest TIAA advisor or play a TIAA trivia game. Future features are slated to include personalized account information, daily market briefings and information about TIAA Bank accounts.

On its website, TIAA also offers customers both a live chat function and a chatbot “TIAA Virtual Assistant” that can answer customer questions in real-time, providing the information they need to make financial decisions with confidence. Through the TIAA Virtual Assistant, which is available to all customers, users can ask questions and receive answers specific to their accounts for approximately 400 of the most commonly asked questions related to transfers, cash withdrawals, and loans. The TIAA Virtual Assistant has supported over 35,000 customer interactions and answered more than 104,000 questions since its initial launch in October 2017.

The TIAA Virtual Assistant also offers: useful content including financial education resources, helpful tips and suggestions as customers navigate through the site, the option to connect to a TIAA representative via “live chat” or opt to be directly connected to an individual Consultant via “Request a Call” (during normal business hours, customers receive a call back in 1-2 minutes), and immediate access to customers’ chat history – for TIAA reps – to understand the context of support inquiry.