A leading U.S. bank had built a strong portfolio of digital enablement tools to support frontline branch employees. These tools, created by the bank’s dedicated customer experience team, were designed to help employees access information, improve customer interactions, and drive revenue growth.

However, the bank faced a common challenge seen across the banking industry; even the best digital tools create value only when they are consistently used in daily workflows. With a long-standing partnership spanning more than three decades, the bank engaged CGI to assess how these tools were being used and how to unlock their full potential across the branch network.

The bank’s challenges: Inconsistent adoption, fragmented access, limited visibility

Despite significant investment in digital enablement tools, adoption across the bank’s branch network was inconsistent. Frontline employees had difficulty accessing the right resources quickly while serving customers, information was spread across multiple systems and navigating deep click paths created “access friction” that slowed usage. As a result, digital tools were often underutilized in the moments where they could have the greatest impact.

This created three key challenges:

  1. Inconsistent adoption across districts: Some regions actively used the tools, while others relied on informal methods or memory-based processes.
  2. Fragmented access to resources: Employees had to navigate multiple platforms to find the right learning modules, tools, or guidance during customer interactions.
  3. Limited visibility into impact: The bank lacked a clear data-driven understanding of how tool usage affected branch performance.

Without this insight, it was difficult to prioritize improvements or demonstrate the value of digital enablement initiatives.

Our approach: Branch assessment and strategic roadmap

Branch assessment

We launched a seven-week Branch Enablement Impact Assessment designed to combine analytics with frontline insights. This assessment consisted of the following:

  • Data-driven analysis: We analyzed nine months of digital tool usage data alongside key business metrics,. The analysis revealed a clear pattern—districts with higher digital tool adoption consistently achieved stronger revenue outcomes, highlighting a major opportunity to improve performance through targeted activation initiatives.
  • Frontline research: To complement the data analysis, we conducted focus groups with more than 30 employees across multiple roles, including branch managers, district managers, and customer relationship consultants. These sessions uncovered the underlying barriers preventing consistent adoption, including fragmented access to tools, limited reinforcement from leadership, and information overload during daily operations.

Strategic activation roadmap

Based on these insights, we designed a phased activation roadmap focused on maximizing the value of the bank’s existing digital investments rather than introducing new tools. Key recommendations included:

  • Simplify access to digital resources: Introduce smart search capabilities and role-based views to help employees quickly find the information they need.
  • Empower local champions: Equip branch and district leaders with toolkits to promote digital usage and reinforce best practices within their teams.
  • Establish consistent reinforcement: Create structured communication and learning cadences to keep digital tools top-of-mind for frontline staff.
  • Enable AI-powered access to knowledge: Develop an AI-enabled “unified front door” that allows employees to ask natural-language questions and receive relevant guidance, training content, and resources instantly. This AI-enabled interface integrates with the bank’s Microsoft ecosystem to streamline access to learning materials and digital tools in a single, intuitive workspace.

The results: Adoption, activation, alignment

The engagement provided the bank with a clear, actionable strategy to unlock measurable value from its digital investments. Key outcomes included:

  • Quantified business impact: Our analysis demonstrated how increasing digital tool adoption only by a small percentage could generate a significant increase in annualized revenue per region, creating a compelling business case for activation initiatives.
  • Targeted activation strategy: The project identified specific high-potential districts where focused efforts would produce the fastest revenue improvements.
  • Alignment between data and leadership priorities: The insights helped leadership validate the importance of digital enablement and align regional leaders around a common activation strategy.
  • Shift from tool creation to tool activation: Rather than continuing to build additional tools, the bank shifted its focus toward driving adoption and embedding digital capabilities into daily workflows.

What’s next: Pilots, search, AI, and analytics

By combining advanced analytics, human-centered insights, and AI-enabled solutions, we helped the bank transform digital enablement from a fragmented toolset into a measurable performance lever, positioning the organization to unlock millions in new revenue while strengthening frontline effectiveness.

The initial engagement represents the first phase of the bank’s ongoing transformation journey. Next steps include:

  • Piloting activation initiatives in priority districts
  • Implementing simplified search and role-based navigation
  • Deploying an AI-powered unified front door for frontline employees
  • Expanding analytics to measure adoption and performance improvements over time

As the bank continues to scale these initiatives, we remain a trusted strategic partner, supporting digital enablement, AI-driven innovation, and sustained performance improvements across the branch network.

Learn more about CGI’s banking and capital markets experience and capabilities.