Case Study

From Faster Integration to an Army of AI Agents at Independent Bank

Company Overview

Independent Bank is a Michigan-based bank holding company with total assets of approximately $5.3 billion.

The Backstory

This case study explores how the company leveraged SnapLogic to first overcome a mounting integration backlog, then go on to harness the power of Large Language Models (LLMs) to build out a network of autonomous AI agents.

The Challenge

When VP, IT Solution Architect Patrick Alpers joined Independent Bank, he improved the efficiency of the company’s integration process by bringing it in-house. As the integration backlog grew, it became apparent that his three-person team wouldn’t be able to continue hand-coding integrations and sought a more sustainable solution. Solving this initial challenge was ultimately a stepping stone in launching the company on an artificial intelligence (AI) journey that culminated in the development of multiple agents that automate internal processes.

The Solution

Independent Bank needed a platform that could enhance their integration processes and harness the power of generative AI. SnapLogic’s solution stood out for its ability to streamline the conversion from legacy core systems to a digital financial core. And at the same time leveraging SnapGPT — an AI co-pilot that simplified onboarding, facilitated AI tool integration, and provided continuous training support.

This foundation enabled the bank to initiate an AI-powered transformation, quickly establishing a proof of concept and advancing the creation of multiple AI agents. The platform’s seamless integration and AI capabilities added to Independent Bank’s technology strategy, driving efficiency and innovation across the organization.

Business Results

GenAI adoption and automation

Independent Bank’s most transformative achievement with SnapLogic is the creation of multiple GenAI agents. SnapLogic’s flexible integration enabled seamless connections with LLMs via “tool calls,” leading to specialized agents like:

• IT Help Desk Agent: Featuring a voice AI component that reduced call center volume 
• Commercial Lending Assistant: Mentors new employees, freeing valuable time for experienced workers
• PDF Assistant: Allows users to upload PDF documents and interactively extract data, insights and summaries from them
• Text to SQL Assistant: Enabling a bot to translate natural language questions into SQL queries for real-time analytics
• Blended RPA Agents: Leveraging RPA and SnapLogic pipeline to automate message handling, intent interpretation, and information extraction, followed by appropriate actions

Faster time-to-deployment

SnapLogic’s intuitive interface, enhanced by SnapGPT’s AI-driven guidance, cut the process of building, testing, and deploying integrations from months to days.

Increased integration capacity

With faster deployment, Independent Bank now creates as many integrations in a month as they previously did in a year — scaling new integration pipelines with the same team size.

Optimized IT service requests

With streamlined infrastructure, the team redirected time to address IT help desk tickets. An intelligent chatbot further reduced incoming tickets significantly through automation.

Expanded access for data and business teams

SnapLogic’s ease of use allowed data analysts and business teams to handle data and integrations without coding. Even an intern was proficient within two weeks.

Efficient onboarding and learning

SnapLogic’s simplicity, combined with SnapGPT’s assistance, enables users to become proficient with the platform, quickly. Conversational prompts make it possible to easily create pipelines, search documentation, generate sample data, and describe pipelines for audits.

Banking-Specific Use Cases

Automated fraud detection

Patrick and his team leveraged SnapLogic to automate a multi-step fraud detection process with their ATM fleet that their core vendor couldn’t handle quickly or without additional resources. Key steps include:

1. Reviewing check deposits
2. Analyzing account history
3. Applying rules to identify high-risk checks
4. Alerting the core API to place holds on flagged checks

This streamlined process now takes 48 hours, compared to weeks or months with the core vendor alone.

Fraud prevention and cost savings

After implementing its check fraud detection automation, Independent Bank saw a dramatic drop in fraud attempts as the platform consistently blocked fraudulent activities.

Proactive troubleshooting and time savings

During a recent software outage, Patrick’s team established an “IT command center” to update AI endpoints in real time. This enabled proactive communication with users via voice and chat, informing them of the system downtime. These measures prevented issues from escalating into help desk calls or tickets, resulting in an average 20% reduction in calls from the voice AI service. This figure is expected to improve significantly as actionable services are added to manage password resets, system restarts, and other commonly requested tasks.

Elevating IT From Service Desk to Strategic Partner

The Independent Bank IT team has transitioned from service desk duties to acting as strategic business partners. With a robust budget and less time spent on tickets and legacy systems, they now focus on innovation. By leveraging IT requests, they build out SnapLogic pipelines and AI-driven solutions, driving the organization forward.