Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
*Featured in this video:* Jim Slocum, Chief Information Officer, OneUnited Bank
*Executive summary:* OneUnited Bank faced an operational crisis when its customer base doubled in 60 days, leading to a 6x spike in call volume and a 14% abandonment rate. To modernize its customer experience, the bank deployed Google's Contact Center AI and Dialogflow. Replacing their legacy phone tree with natural language processing reduced average call times by 33% and cut agent onboarding from weeks to days. The team also built a new AI assistant in its app to further support its customers at their own pace. Additionally, OneUnited integrated Gemini to automate fraud reviews, ensuring the team has the ability to review every single case. By operating on a single AI-powered cloud stack, OneUnited improved efficiency across its teams, freeing up resources to scale its mission of promoting financial literacy.
*Challenge:* OneUnited Bank, America's leading community development financial institution, is dedicated to promoting financial literacy and serving underrepresented communities. In the summer of 2020, the bank faced an operational crisis when its customer base doubled in just 60 days. The call center was quickly overwhelmed by a 6x growth in daily call volume, and the bank’s legacy phone tree system led to a 14% call abandonment rate. This rapid growth also brought an influx of fraud disputes that outpaced the team's ability to review them manually. The organization needed a scalable technology solution to reduce friction, modernize its customer experience, and empower its team members quickly.
*Solution:* The OneUnited Bank team deployed Google's Contact Center AI and Dialogflow to meet this scalability challenge. This AI-powered platform helped replace the bank’s legacy phone tree with natural language processing that allows customers to talk about their issues to be routed. The bank is also offering a conversational AI assistant called Wise One through its mobile app to further extend access for customers. For the back office, the bank automated its fraud review process by combining Application Integration to connect enterprise systems like Salesforce with Gemini. The team can now analyze dispute data and provide instant risk summaries. By operating on a single cloud stack, the lean team innovated faster while keeping serverless deployment costs under control.
*Result:* By operating on this single AI-powered cloud stack, OneUnited Bank drastically improved both its operational efficiency and customer experience. Replacing the legacy phone tree with Contact Center AI reduced average call talk times by 33%. This simplified routing also cut agent onboarding time from several weeks to just days. Its fraud teams are also now using Gemini's instant risk summaries to review every single fraud case rather than just a fraction of high-dollar claims. Together, these cost-effective innovations free up resources for OneUnited Bank to scale its mission, leveraging tools like its AI assistant, Wise One, to provide personalized financial literacy and better outcomes for its communities.
*Highlights and key takeaways from our interview with Jim Slocum, Chief Information Officer at OneUnited Bank:*
→ "With Google Cloud and Google AI, we're thinking about scaling differently. We're able to solve new problems and reduce friction before jumping to adding headcount."
→ “We're innovating faster. We're able to actually get more done more quickly because all of these tools are on one platform. It's empowered our teams to respond to challenges in whole new ways."
→ “We're able to review every single fraud case that comes in by leveraging Gemini. Now we can surface the most critical cases and make sure we're protecting our customers and getting their funds back.”
*Google Cloud products used:* Apigee, Application Integration, Contact Center AI, Dialogflow, Gemini
*Learn more:*
→ https://goo.gle/4epvdcy
*Featured in this video:* Jim Slocum, Chief Information Officer, OneUnited Bank
*Executive summary:* OneUnited Bank faced an operational crisis when its customer base doubled in 60 days, leading to a 6x spike in call volume and a 14% abandonment rate. To modernize its customer experience, the bank deployed Google's Contact Center AI and Dialogflow. Replacing their legacy phone tree with natural language processing reduced average call times by 33% and cut agent onboarding from weeks to days. The team also built a new AI assistant in its app to further support its customers at their own pace. Additionally, OneUnited integrated Gemini to automate fraud reviews, ensuring the team has the ability to review every single case. By operating on a single AI-powered cloud stack, OneUnited improved efficiency across its teams, freeing up resources to scale its mission of promoting financial literacy.
*Challenge:* OneUnited Bank, America's leading community development financial institution, is dedicated to promoting financial literacy and serving underrepresented communities. In the summer of 2020, the bank faced an operational crisis when its customer base doubled in just 60 days. The call center was quickly overwhelmed by a 6x growth in daily call volume, and the bank’s legacy phone tree system led to a 14% call abandonment rate. This rapid growth also brought an influx of fraud disputes that outpaced the team's ability to review them manually. The organization needed a scalable technology solution to reduce friction, modernize its customer experience, and empower its team members quickly.
*Solution:* The OneUnited Bank team deployed Google's Contact Center AI and Dialogflow to meet this scalability challenge. This AI-powered platform helped replace the bank’s legacy phone tree with natural language processing that allows customers to talk about their issues to be routed. The bank is also offering a conversational AI assistant called Wise One through its mobile app to further extend access for customers. For the back office, the bank automated its fraud review process by combining Application Integration to connect enterprise systems like Salesforce with Gemini. The team can now analyze dispute data and provide instant risk summaries. By operating on a single cloud stack, the lean team innovated faster while keeping serverless deployment costs under control.
*Result:* By operating on this single AI-powered cloud stack, OneUnited Bank drastically improved both its operational efficiency and customer experience. Replacing the legacy phone tree with Contact Center AI reduced average call talk times by 33%. This simplified routing also cut agent onboarding time from several weeks to just days. Its fraud teams are also now using Gemini's instant risk summaries to review every single fraud case rather than just a fraction of high-dollar claims. Together, these cost-effective innovations free up resources for OneUnited Bank to scale its mission, leveraging tools like its AI assistant, Wise One, to provide personalized financial literacy and better outcomes for its communities.
*Highlights and key takeaways from our interview with Jim Slocum, Chief Information Officer at OneUnited Bank:*
→ "With Google Cloud and Google AI, we're thinking about scaling differently. We're able to solve new problems and reduce friction before jumping to adding headcount."
→ “We're innovating faster. We're able to actually get more done more quickly because all of these tools are on one platform. It's empowered our teams to respond to challenges in whole new ways."
→ “We're able to review every single fraud case that comes in by leveraging Gemini. Now we can surface the most critical cases and make sure we're protecting our customers and getting their funds back.”
*Google Cloud products used:* Apigee, Application Integration, Contact Center AI, Dialogflow, Gemini
*Learn more:*
→ https://goo.gle/4epvdcy
