ACCELERATING the pace of digitisation across its operations, financial conglomerate JMMB Group is moving to bring new products to market, including the roll-out of its virtual assistant Johanna, which it expects to be fully on board by year end.

Named in memeory of the company’s late founder Joan Duncan, Johanna is designed to respond to customer queries, offering them real time solutions digitally.

“Johanna will be introduced through the implementation of JMMB Group’s online chat service, via the company’s website and WhatsApp, by the end of the year,” said Gifford Rankine, general manager of digital services at JMMB in sharing plans for the roll-out with the Jamaica Observer.

“JMMB Group will continue to improve Johanna by adding new features to meet the needs of clients, including video call support. Johanna will, over time, span all our digital touch points including social media, podcasts, mailings, notifications and more,” he told the Business Observer.

The group, as it continues to upgrade offerings, said it expects the virtual assistant to also provide financial recommendations unique to a client’s portfolio with the company.

“Johanna will initially support our clients in responding to their questions related to investments, banking, insurance and money transfer, in addition to assisting potential clients with the account-opening process,” Rankine informed, noting that outside of the added ease and convenience, the virtual assistant is to also “maintain the same warm, friendly JMMB Group client experience”.

“We’ll be introducing Johanna who is going to talk to you digitally, and she’ll be taking over,” he told shareholders at the company’s recently concluded annual general meeting (AGM).

JMMB — through the addition of smart ATMs, tap-and-go technology, real time updates and greater online products — is aiming to allow for greater customer engagement across the various business lines and portfolios currently offered by the group.

“We are now meeting customers where they want to be served, enhancing face-to-face experiences to bring greater efficiencies digitally,” he further said at the AGM.

The company, with the launch of other new payment solutions including a remittance prepaid card for individuals and point-of-sale and scan-to-pay payment options for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMSEs), said its products were especially tailored to meet the needs of the underbanked or those most underserved by the financial services sector.

“As the group seeks to deliver on its smart strategy it will roll out new income streams from new and enhanced solutions with specific emphasis on maximising value from the payments ecosystem — and digitisation will play a key role in this process.

“In the coming year there are plans to expand some of the digital offerings in the Dominican Republic in keeping with the ‘One Group, One Client’ experience,” Rankine said in outlining some other areas of focus for the group which also has operations in Trindad and Tobago.

Group CEO Keith Duncan, speaking on the build-out of the group’s digital portfolio, said the addition of new technology is not only very important to the group’s revenue streams but is also key in meeting the needs of its clients, which he said forms a critical part of the whole ecosystem and the group’s strategic direction.

“We want to empower clients along their growth path and hence we have been focused in the last three years on building out solutions to serve key segments in a better way,” he said.