- Ualá’s chatbot: The fintech announced its integration with OpenAI to implement a conversational platform aimed at providing faster, more accurate, and personalized support.
- We interviewed Mayra Sciarrillo, the company’s CPO, to gain a deeper understanding of this implementation.
User experience has become a key differentiator for digital services. We know that a common complaint among financial app users when resolving doubts or issues is: “I have no one to talk to.”
This week, Ualá introduced Uali, an advanced AI integration into its customer service strategy. The Argentine fintech, known for its disruptive approach to financial services, announced its collaboration with OpenAI to implement a conversational platform powered by GPT-4, aimed at providing faster, more accurate, and personalized support.
To understand the impact of this innovation and its role in the company’s product strategy, we spoke with Mayra Sciarrillo, Ualá’s Chief Product Officer, a professional with 17 years of experience in technology and product management, specialized in financial product development teams and e-commerce.
In this interview, we asked the expert 5 key points to understand how this technological partnership will help the fintech interact with its over nine million users.
1. Frequency Money: How does Ualá guarantee the privacy and security of users’ data with this chatbot?
Mayra Sciarrillo: All data is managed in a closed environment exclusive to Ualá, which is protected and encrypted to ensure the highest level of security. This includes both the information users share and the data we use to provide responses.
2. Frequency Money: A frequent complaint from users is the inability to communicate with humans, and the uselessness of most chatbots. Will you eliminate human support agents?
Mayra Sciarrillo: At Ualá, support has always been key. From day one, we have invested in technology and talent to provide the best service. We have a solid team of agents offering personalized support seven days a week, including holidays. Additionally, our users can reach us 24/7 via the app’s chat, official social media channels, and email. Now, we’ve added OpenAI’s generative AI to reduce wait times and provide more precise responses. This tool operates seamlessly, detects the tone and intent of each conversation, and continuously learns to improve the experience. Its role is to complement human support, not replace it. It serves as a first filter to quickly and efficiently handle inquiries, and when more personalized attention is needed, it automatically directs critical cases to our agents. This way, we continue to improve the quality of support and optimize the experience for each user.
3. Frequency Money: What types of inquiries or issues has Uali shown to handle better compared to traditional chatbots?
Mayra Sciarrillo: Uali is designed to provide faster and more effective support. Unlike traditional chatbots, which are often rigid and limited, it uses generative AI to understand context, detect intent, and provide more accurate and natural responses. It handles inquiries about app usage, account management, card transactions, and more, delivering clear and quick information. Additionally, by conversing naturally with users, it can not only diagnose problems but also gauge the customer’s emotional state to decide when it is better to refer them to an agent, even if the inquiry could have been resolved by the chatbot.
4. Frequency Money: How will Ualá measure the impact of Uali on customer satisfaction and operational efficiency?
Mayra Sciarrillo: We will measure it using key performance indicators such as response time, first-contact resolution rate, and user satisfaction. We also analyze direct feedback from those interacting with the chatbot and assess its ability to effectively resolve inquiries and escalate critical cases to our support team. It is already available to 100% of users in Argentina, and will soon be rolled out in Mexico.
5. Frequency Money: In what other operational areas are you using AI?
Mayra Sciarrillo: At Ualá, we’ve been working with artificial intelligence and machine learning for several years. One of our first developments in this area was UaláScore, our proprietary scoring system that evaluates the credit profile of each user based on their activity within the app. It’s our own model. Thanks to UaláScore, we can offer credit products with better rates and available amounts for each user. But its impact goes further: it allows people to build a credit history, leaving a footprint in the financial system. All this information is reported to regulatory bodies, like the Central Bank of Argentina, allowing users to use their credit history with any other financial institution, not just Ualá.
