A sign that the 21st Century really is happening can be seen in how a venerable Singapore-based banking group is trying to cut out the chores of HR queries by its employees.

The bank may be able to trace its origins to 1912 but Singapore-headquartered OCBC aims to be bang up to date by launching a “human resource mobile app” for its staff.

The app, called HR In Your Pocket, includes a chatbot that allows employees to get instant answers to questions they have of their employer. The chatbot is powered by Artificial Intelligence and was built in-house.

The service gives Singapore-based employees “access to a holistic HR resource centre for leave applications, tracking of employee medical and lifestyle expense reimbursement claims, internal job postings and OCBC Bank’s people directory”, it said. 

The chatbot, known as “Buddy”, is integrated with the bank’s HR system. For example, an employee can ask if he or she has met mandatory leave requirements or enquire after the status of an expense claim. 

Employees can ask “Buddy” questions by typing the questions in the chat window or using voice commands, as with Apple’s virtual personal assistant, Siri. The chatbot has human-like conversational skills and natural language processing capabilities, and is able to interpret questions and answer them in plain English.

OCBC is parent of Bank of Singapore, the private bank. As yet, the chatbot service is not available to BoS employees.