Royal Bank of CanadaHanded off 2024

Patent-pending AI

Role

Developer, unofficial product designer

Timeline

May - August 2024

Team

1 Business Analyst

1 Data Engineer

2 Engineers

Skills

Product Strategy

Full Stack Engineering

Pitching & Storytelling

Overview

We designed, built, and deployed a patent-pending AI solution in 4 months.

RBC Amplify is an internship program that challenges teams of 4 interns to solve a real business problem with technology, from understanding the problem space, researching, and designing, to developing, deploying, and pitching to senior leaders. My team was tasked with designing and building a generative AI solution for RBC's Global HR Advice Centre.

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Outcomes

19.5%

reduction in call times

21%

decline in call volumes

$2.1M

projected annual cost savings

Note: Due to my NDA, I cannot disclose details on this project and its designs.

The Journey

It started with nothing but a real problem...

The HR Technology and HR Advice teams came together to present us with a real problem they were facing:

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We designed, built, and pitched our solution to senior leaders and executives across the bank!

We collected beta-launch data, continuously refined our pitch, and secured executive buy-in form the Head of Global Functions Technology.

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Wins

97% of 156 users surveyed said that they would use heyHR

After being given a demo of the product.

We were recognized by CTO and Head of Global Functions Technology

For the impact and feasibility of our solution.

Our solution is patent-pending!

The legal team worked with us to submit a patent application due to the innovative potential of our solution.

Reflection

What I learned

Push back against stakeholders who think solution-first

Our problem statement had a solution in mind. We had to go beyond that and build a solution to solve the underlying problems even if it wasn't as “cool”.

How to navigate the sensitivity of various user and business needs

We had to bring value to the business, balancing: making employees feel heard, dealing with PII, managing the risk of misinformation, and working with the complexities of content ownership