Amex’s B2B servicing model: Hand-holding through the messy middle of digitization

The march away from checks and paper invoices to digital is messy, slow, and fraught with friction points that can stall a business mid-transition. American Express (Amex) is making itself useful for businesses in that in-between space, by smoothing the handoff: getting companies comfortable with virtual cards, APIs, and faster payment rails through its servicing model.

Beyond rolling out digital products, Amex is focused on making sure clients know how to use them and stick with them. The firm extends this support through its servicing model.

As technology, tools, and teams evolve, so does the servicing approach, with the firm exploring generative AI to make the model faster, smarter, and more predictive.

This piece unpacks the inner workings of Amex’s servicing model, the internal teams driving it, and the company’s plans to weave generative AI into the system.

The “One Amex” servicing model

Amex’s B2B product lineup features corporate and small business cards, working capital solutions such as buyer-initiated payments, virtual payments, payment automation solutions, business checking accounts, business lines of credit, and merchant acceptance. 

Corporate Card Members use Amex’s program management platform ‘@ Work’ to oversee their corporate accounts, while small business owners manage their payment needs through the cash flow management platform ‘Business Blueprint’: handling everything from making and receiving payments to managing cash flow and accessing working capital.

The B2B servicing model is structured to provide easy use of all Amex business payment offerings.

“The goal is to create a ‘One Amex’ servicing model, where our clients know they can come for support, regardless of the product or channel they are using,” shares Tom Taris, SVP, Commercial, Merchant & Banking Servicing at Amex. 

He underscores that it’s equally important to meet customers where they are, whether through a digital channel, phone, or email.

The core philosophy behind the firm’s approach is what Taris calls “relationship servicing,” which centers around viewing the entire customer relationship as a holistic journey. 

“Our internal servicing systems are designed to reflect a client’s full relationship with Amex,” he notes.

The complete guide to “relationship servicing”: The servicing journey starts with onboarding, where Amex uses a sales and application process to collect key customer details from the outset. The aim is to make onboarding easy and personalized, so clients can get started quickly, build comfort with digital tools, and have room for future growth.

Post-onboarding, Amex focuses on the bigger picture, servicing customers across their full relationship instead of product by product. That view spans both business and consumer products, since many business owners also hold personal accounts with Amex.

“This 360-degree view allows us to support account expansion, product integration, and service individual needs,” Taris adds.

Personalizing customer support across the digital maturity curve

Different stages of digital adoption call for different kinds of support. Recognizing where a client stands on the digital curve is key to how Amex provides guidance, from simple onboarding to advanced integration.

“We tailor our support based on client need, which includes the size, scope, and age of the business,” says Taris. 

i) For businesses new to automated processes: When dealing with early-stage businesses or those new to automation, Amex’s approach is focused on high-touch, guided support. This includes human-led onboarding calls, online tutorials for banking products, and guidance tools for setup. These resources are designed for early engagement and are offered through platforms like Business Blueprint. In such cases, servicing teams often communicate directly with the business owner or their assistant.

ii) For big enterprises: When it comes to larger, more complex organizations, the support model shifts to provide more sophisticated tools and dedicated resources. These clients, usually represented by someone in their finance or procurement teams, have access to self-service APIs and customized reporting designed for their complex needs. They also get Amex’s dedicated relationship leads who support them with servicing and account growth.

“The servicing model is designed to evolve with the customer, ensuring they have the right level of support as they grow and scale their payment ecosystems,” Taris notes.

Keeping the servicing teams sharp on tech and compliance

Supporting clients at every point in their digital journey requires servicing teams to be technically adept, compliance-ready, and quick to adjust to new technologies. So, how does Amex train and equip its teams to meet that bar?

Taris explains that internal team training is a continuous effort carried out in different forms:

i) Upskilling teams: Basic training begins with product-line certifications, now expanded to cover multiple products, enabling staff to support clients across the entire suite. It also includes scenario-based exercises and hands-on experience to prepare representatives for real-world situations. Completion of this training designates the employee as a Customer Care Professional.

ii) Exploring generative AI to enhance training programs: The company is experimenting with generative AI to make its search-based tool, “Knowledge Hub”, a more conversational model enabling agents to ask questions and receive AI-sourced, actionable information. “This is how we plan to advance our training moving forward, to make things simpler and easier for our representatives,” shares Taris.

iii) Pushing its automation and AI tools forward: Amex is also advancing automation and AI beyond the knowledge hub, so teams stay on top of emerging technologies. Machine learning is used in call listening sessions to better understand where the pain points and opportunities exist, and use those insights to enhance the customer and employee experience.  

iv) Introducing the ‘call summarization’ feature: In the future, Taris notes, the firm is looking to implement call summarization to capture clear and consistent recap summaries from previous customer voice/phone interactions to support its frontline employees and improve customer experience.

Spotting and solving everyday issues: Employee training and development are important, but how is a real-time field problem handled when it requires immediate attention?

It comes down to Amex tackling problems proactively. The firm uses real-time dashboards and monitoring tools that flag failed or irregular transactions. Teams review these daily, sometimes hourly, and early warning systems are in place to catch technology issues before they affect clients.

Machine learning monitors service quality by flagging customer interactions that fall short, which are then reviewed to improve technology, processes, or performance. The company also leans on its human force: account development managers and frontline agents to act as a feedback loop and flag what’s going well and where gaps remain.

“This proactive approach is core to our mission of enabling smooth operations and maintaining client trust during transitions,” says Taris.

What success looks like in Amex’s digital servicing approach

Amex gauges its servicing success with KPIs tied to customer experience and the business impact of digital adoption. Leadership regularly monitors these, keeping an eye on metrics such as:

• Activation speed: how quickly customers activate their cards
• Digital tool usage: how quickly they use their cards and digital tools
• Adoption rates: the rate at which they migrate to digital solutions

Together, these feedback loops and insights help refine the servicing to drive Amex’s business growth.

Sidebar: Keeping B2B support consistent in a multi-channel world

I asked Taris: Given the varied channels available – online, phone, chat – how does Amex ensure consistent responsiveness in servicing B2B clients? 

Tom Taris, SVP, Commercial, Merchant & Banking Servicing at Amex: We ensure service consistency and responsiveness across our channels through robust workflow management tools and a specialized team structure. 

We use an internal workflow management tool to help us track, prioritize, and complete customer requests on time. Operational metrics and Management Information System (MIS) reporting are also used to manage capacity and quality. Key performance indicators, such as first contact resolution, are measured to ensure tasks are done right the first time and that the customer experience is positive.

We have specialized teams dedicated to specific client segments and tasks for high-touch needs. These teams handle our very large commercial customers, as we have dedicated servicing for those in the Centurion or Platinum card products. There are also specialized teams for critical tasks, such as managing the dispute process and proactively identifying fraud.

Our overall approach blends this specialized support with a unified ‘one Amex’ experience, emphasizing our relationship-servicing model, which is designed to manage a client’s entire relationship and avoid bouncing them between different teams.