Previously
In Part 1, a new branch officer at Bank Seri Cendana found that the laminated cheat sheet on every counter quoted a fee waiver withdrawn in 2021. Nobody knew who made it. That evening, a friend in the contact centre sent her a photo of the same sheet.
The story
The contact centre's group chat was called Duck Squad (Official). Nobody remembered why it was official. Everyone remembered why it was Duck Squad.
Haziq had sent two hundred and eleven duck stickers that month. Some were happy ducks. Some were crying ducks. One was a duck in a necktie, which he used exclusively for "noted, boss". Team lead Melissa Tan had tried banning stickers twice. The second ban had been answered by a duck holding a sign that said "appeal".
Pinned at the top of the chat, above all the ducks, was the photo.
It was a photograph of a photograph of a laminated sheet that someone had once taped to a branch counter. Fees, waivers, card dispute windows, all in a neat table. After years of forwarding, the numbers had gone soft and swimmy, like a page left out in the rain. Agents zoomed in on it forty times a day. Several had developed a particular squint.
"Haziq," said Melissa on Monday, standing behind his chair, "why did you tell a customer she has fourteen days to dispute a card charge?"
"The photo says fourteen, Kak Mel."
"The photo also says that a seven is a one."
Haziq zoomed in. The number could have been fourteen. It could also have been forty-one, or a small bird.
Melissa had been waiting for a reason. Bank Seri Cendana had connected iKB, the source of digital truth to the contact centre's collaboration channel a month earlier, linked to the approved card terms, dispute procedures, fee schedules and customer service manuals. Most agents had tried it twice and gone back to the photo, because the photo was right there and did not require typing.
"From today," said Melissa, "we ask iKB in the channel. Not the photo."
There was a long silence in Duck Squad (Official). Then Haziq sent a duck in mourning clothes.
She typed the question into the channel herself, where everyone could see it: How long does a cardholder have to dispute a card transaction, and which form do agents use?
The answer appeared in the channel with citations to the current card dispute procedure and the card terms. The window was not fourteen days. It had changed in a revision two years earlier, along with the form. The cited procedure even had a small table of what agents must record on every dispute call.
Haziq read it. Then he read the photo. Then he read the procedure again.
"So the photo is old."
"The photo is a fossil," said Melissa. "A blurry fossil."
He called the customer back, apologised, gave her the correct window, and logged the dispute with the right form. She thanked him. He sent the group a duck wearing a halo.
The snag came that afternoon. Two senior agents insisted the photo had been "updated last year". Melissa asked who had updated it. Nobody knew. She asked when. Nobody knew that either. The photo had no date, no owner and no version, just very confident ducks around it. She compared it line by line against what iKB cited and found three more out-of-date entries. That part was slow, human and, frankly, a bit depressing.
At 4.52 pm, Haziq's line lit up.
The caller was a young man named Farhan, who ran a small printing shop. His voice was tight. Money had left his business account after a phone call from someone who said they were from the bank. He had not realised until his supplier's payment bounced.
Haziq stopped smiling.
This was the serious moment, and Haziq felt it in his stomach. He had done the awareness module. He had done the scam-call training. But knowing a thing in a training room and doing it right, live, with a frightened customer on the line, were different jobs.
He did not reach for the photo. He typed into the channel: Procedure for a customer reporting unauthorised transactions after a suspicious call claiming to be the bank.
iKB answered with citations to the bank's current scam-report procedure for agents. It set out what to verify, what to secure on the account, how to log the report, when to transfer to the fraud team, and what to tell the customer about next steps. Haziq followed it line by line, calmly, reading back each step to Farhan in plain words.
While Farhan read out a transaction, Haziq typed a second question: What does the fraud team check after the transfer?The answer cited only the agent procedure again: transfer, case note, reference number. Nothing more. Melissa leaned over.
"Their investigation procedures are for the fraud team only. Role-based access. You will not see them, and neither will I."
"So it only shows me my part?"
"Exactly. You get what you need to help him. They get what they need to investigate. That is how it is meant to work."
Haziq transferred Farhan to the fraud team with a full case note and a reference number. Before the transfer, he told Farhan exactly what would happen next, who would call him, and that he had done the right thing by calling quickly.
After the call, Haziq sat very still for a minute. Melissa brought him a teh tarik from the pantry. She did not say anything. She did not need to.
Then he picked up his phone and sent one sticker to Duck Squad (Official). It was not a duck. It was a plain blue square that said "Follow the procedure. Not the photo."
Nobody sent a duck after it for a full twenty minutes, which was a record.
That evening, Melissa was helping a colleague from SME lending, Kumaravel, who had posted in a cross-team channel asking why his rate calculations did not match the system. He shared his spreadsheet. It was called FINAL_v7_REAL.
Melissa opened it. On the second tab, copied cell by cell, was a table she knew very well.
It was the laminated sheet. Again.
Duck stickers optional
Our guide covers how bank contact centres move agents off pinned screenshots and onto current procedures. Read the guide: How Bank Contact Centres Stop Answering From Screenshots
What this means for your contact centre
- iKB is an enterprise knowledge AI platform by Astiostech, a Malaysian technology company, that turns approved organisational content into governed answers with citations.
- iKB is delivered through workspaces, web chat, collaboration channels, messaging and APIs, so agents can ask questions in the tools they already use during a call.
- Every answer comes with citations, so agents can confirm the current procedure before reading it to a customer.
- Role-based access control lets specialist teams, such as fraud investigators, keep their internal procedures restricted while agents see the customer-facing steps.
- iKB helps agents follow approved procedures. Decisions on investigations and customer outcomes remain with the bank's authorised teams.
FAQ
What is iKB? iKB is an enterprise knowledge and sovereign AI governance platform by Astiostech, a Malaysian technology company, that turns approved organisational content into governed answers with citations.
Can agents use iKB inside their existing chat tools? iKB is delivered through workspaces, web chat, collaboration channels, messaging and APIs.
Can sensitive procedures be hidden from some roles? Yes. iKB includes role-based access control, so each role sees only the content it is permitted to see.
Is there a record of how agents use iKB? iKB provides audit trails, activity logging, event records and exports.
Does iKB handle fraud cases on its own? No. iKB helps agents find the bank's approved procedure. Investigation and decisions remain with the bank's fraud team.
Where can I learn more? Visit Astiostech or contact the Astiostech team.
Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Bank Seri Cendana, its contact centre, procedures, customers and all characters are invented and do not depict any real bank, case or policy. iKB is a real product by Astiostech.
Coming up in Part 3
In SME lending, a loan for a kuih factory is heading to committee on a guarantor rule from a spreadsheet called FINAL_v7_REAL. The relationship manager is in a hurry, the factory owner has brought samples, and the credit officer has some explaining to do.