India, Oct. 21 -- Spurred by high demands placed on call center personnel during the pandemic, chatbots have taken on new prominence. Today, thanks to cloud-based platforms, AI-powered chatbots are now within reach of many more banks and credit unions.

When the coronavirus pandemic led to widespread branch closures and restrictions, financial institution call centers were nearly overwhelmed by the ensuing traffic spike. The challenge grew especially acute as these centers - in-house or outsourced - struggled to deal with social distancing, absenteeism and other issues.

Various solutions were rushed out including work-from-home arrangements, which helped in some cases but were not viable for many. Chatbots were looked to as another optio...