BDO’s contact centre transformation began not with technology, but with structure. In 2019, the unit was operating at a significant scale, handling close to 400,000 calls per month, yet much of this volume consisted of repeat enquiries caused by fragmented fulfilment and manual servicing, as agents lacked the authority to resolve issues at the first point of contact. Voice was the primary channel, supported by email, with limited integration into the bank’s expanding digital platforms.

Over several years, BDO rebuilt its operation in a deliberate sequence—establishing culture and accountability before automation, unifying customer data before deploying artificial intelligence, and empowering agents once processes were standardised—creating a servicing centre capable of handling complex, high-risk transactions.

Historically, the performance of contact centres in banking was measured largely by call volumes and handling times, with teams focused on inbound and outbound customer servicing and sales. Today, they are expected to manage more complex interactions across multiple channels while meeting higher standards for conduct, security and resilience.

As digital channels multiply and routine enquiries are automated, contact centres have become a strategic capability shaping customer interactions. Banks have also strengthened them as internal service providers, relied on to manage communication, support product journeys and resolve issues at scale.

As BDO grew to become the Philippines’ largest bank by customer numbers, these expectations became increasingly pronounced. Even as the contact centre was operating at scale and demonstrated strong operational resilience, its traditional structure was no longer sufficient for the bank’s size, complexity and risk profile. Incremental optimisation was not enough, and a more fundamental reset was required.

“Prior to my joining BDO in 2019, the contact centre was a traditional operation. BDO had IVR (interactive voice response), outbound calls, and then if there’s any other channel, that would be email. My task was to modernise the contact centre so that we can improve where it matters for the customer,” said Gina Galita, senior vice president and head of customer contact centre at BDO.

The starting point: scale without coordination

In 2019, the contact centre still operated as a traditional inbound service. Simple requests such as balance enquiries, transaction confirmations and basic account issues were routinely handled by live agents, even as mobile and online banking capabilities were expanded elsewhere in the bank. 

“We were doing the regular tasks for contact centres—balance enquiries, transaction enquiries, simple requests—over the phone, when at the same time we were already building digital banking channels,” said Galita. “To us, it didn’t make sense.”

Technology constraints compounded the problem. Frontline agents had to navigate 26 separate systems and applications to resolve a single interaction, with no unified front end or real-time integration across channels. Customer interaction history was visible only within the contact centre, leaving branch and digital touchpoints unseen. Calls often began with limited context, resulting in longer handling times and inconsistent outcomes. Service levels in 2019 averaged 66–78%, well below internal expectations and industry benchmarks, while average voice handling time reached 699 seconds due to manual authentication, system switching and downstream delays. As a direct consequence, weak fulfilment discipline generated repeat calls, further inflating volumes.

Customer feedback depended largely on post-call IVR prompts, providing little insight into repeat contacts or first-call resolution. The organisation could report call volumes, but not how many customer problems were fully resolved end-to-end.

The workforce profile added another layer of complexity. “Attrition was not our problem; the problem was the opposite. People had been there for ten years,” said Galita. This stability reinforced established routines and made behavioural change more difficult. Key performance indicators and compensation structures prioritised call handling over resolution quality or customer outcomes. Internally, the contact centre was widely viewed as a cost centre, with limited authority over policies, fulfilment or service design beyond the call itself.

Resetting priorities before deploying technology

The first phase of transformation deliberately avoided a technology-first response. Leadership recognised that layering new tools onto an unchanged operating model would not address structural inefficiencies. Instead, the early focus centred on building accountability, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and agreeing on what effective service outcomes look like, with efforts underway to further improve performance.

This phase required sustained leadership engagement and consistent communication, particularly as teams adapted to new ways of working. Performance frameworks were redesigned to shift emphasis away from volume metrics towards service consistency, resolution quality and enhanced customer outcomes.

“It was really a lot of culture building and mindset change,” said Galita. “Less infrastructure at the start, more explaining why we needed to change. It took a lot of effort from everyone, especially the leaders. We had to be aligned in our messaging even when we were getting complaints left and right.”

Low-complexity requests were progressively redirected to self-service, shortening waiting times, improving efficiency and maximising automated channels, while allowing agents to focus on higher-value and higher-risk interactions. At the same time, fulfilment teams and business units across the bank were engaged to reinforce shared ownership of service outcomes, recognising that unresolved downstream issues were a major driver of repeat contact.

This shift exposed fulfilment gaps across the organisation and forced service-level discipline beyond the contact centre itself. “We were not only dealing with internal people,” Galita noted. “We had to deal with practically all the business units."

Building the foundation: identity, visibility, and case ownership

With organisational groundwork in place, BDO introduced structural changes focused on customer identity, visibility and case ownership. A single, enterprise-wide view of the customer guided subsequent improvements.

With a Customer 360 platform, agents could see products held, past interactions and open requests in real time, regardless of whether the customer had engaged through a branch, digital platform or contact centre. Case ownership extended beyond the contact centre, with branches, subsidiaries and digital teams working from a shared information base, replacing siloed servicing with coordinated execution across the enterprise.

This approach lifted fulfilment performance to around 95%, reducing repeat contacts from unresolved issues.

Treating security and customer experience as complementary

A key aspect of BDO’s contact centre transformation was treating security and customer experience as linked challenges, rather than competing concerns. As digital activity increased, so did the need for stronger authentication and fraud protection. Traditional methods, however, often added friction and extended service interactions.

BDO addressed this by modernising its identity and authentication processes, introducing technologies that reduced customer effort while strengthening protection against fraud and identity misuse. These improvements were especially beneficial for overseas Filipinos and elderly customers, as faster and more reliable authentication eased stress in urgent or time-sensitive situations.

The introduction of caller ID for mobile and landline calls, voice biometrics, and a new telephony platform addressed these concerns directly. Authentication time fell from 120 seconds to around 10 seconds, while customer identification time dropped from 50 seconds to zero for recognised callers. By late 2025, 68% of customers were enrolled in voice biometrics.

The pandemic as an accelerator, not a detour

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the original roadmap but underscored the importance of the transformation. Mobility restrictions accelerated the shift to remote servicing and digital onboarding, increasing demands on service capacity.

During this period, the contact centre was repositioned as a critical stabilising force for the bank, supporting digital account opening, remote identity verification and business continuity at scale. Processes were simplified, capacity expanded and onboarding journeys streamlined to meet surging demand. Specifically, the handling time for onboarding fell from 15-30 minutes to five to 15 minutes, while daily know your customer (KYC) video capacity rose from 440 to 729 cases.

This period marked a perceptual shift. The contact centre moved from being an overflow channel to a key driver of the bank’s digital growth.

From contact centre to enterprise service management

As the transformation matured, its scope expanded beyond the contact centre. Standardised processes for issue resolution, dispute handling and service recovery were extended to branches and subsidiaries, enabling consistent outcomes at every customer touchpoint.

Contact centre agents were also progressively empowered to resolve issues at the first point of contact, improving the first call resolution rate from 66% in 2019 to 74% in 2021 and reducing unnecessary repeat interactions.

As agents handled fewer calls while resolving more issues, monthly call capacity fell from 378,000 to 317,000 between 2019 and 2025, delivering annual cost savings of $1.8 million (PHP 96 million). This demonstrated that efficiency gains could be reaped from better processes and capability uplift rather than workforce reduction.

“In 2019, the contact centre had no empowerment,” Galita said. “Now, we are trusted by the business units to resolve issues at the point of call.” Over time, these changes fundamentally altered how the function was viewed within the bank – from a reactive support unit to an enterprise service partner.

Laying the groundwork for an AI-enabled future

Between 2019 and 2025, BDO’s contact centre evolved from a fragmented, voice-heavy operation into an enterprise-wide servicing platform. Service levels improved from 61% to 95%, voice handling time fell materially, and the Net Promoter Score rose from 64 to 78, above regional averages.

By prioritising structural changes over technology, BDO established a foundation that allowed advanced technologies to be deployed effectively and responsibly. Later phases of the restructuring will focus on full conversational AI and real-time journey orchestration.

Resilience as a structural priority

Previously concentrated in Metro Manila, BDO’s contact centre footprint carried significant geographic risk, an exposure laid bare by the pandemic. The bank has since diversified operations, opening resilience sites in Davao City in 2024 and Cebu City in 2025, as part of a longer-term plan to strengthen business continuity and place around 60% of roles outside the capital.

The human role in an AI-led service model

Looking ahead, the contact centre’s role is expected to narrow in volume but deepen in value. As automation and conversational technologies absorb routine enquiries, human expertise will increasingly be reserved for complex cases, high-risk situations and emotionally charged customer needs where judgement and empathy matter most.

BDO described the model as one where “automation delivers scale, while people deliver trust.”

Today, the contact centre functions not as a declining channel as a specialised capability that complements digital banking, supports frontline teams, and remains an important part of the overall customer experience.