Alpes Bank’s journey to creating value at scale with generative AI

This teaching case portrays Alpes Bank, a Swiss universal bank whose branch-centric, premium-service model is challenged by generative AI (GenAI). This teaching case follows Tamara Maurer’s board mandate to deliver a “no-regret” GenAI pilot within one quarter. After evaluating several GenAI use cases, Tamara Maurer’s team builds a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) email assistant with an external partner (i.e., AILabs). The GenAI pilot surfaces several unexpected tensions. Nonetheless, during a limited rollout, the GenAI email assistant reduces handling time for routine inquiries by 21%. Part B focuses on laying the foundation for scaling GenAI use cases. Tamara Maurer must now help Alpes Bank move from a special-project setup to an organizational design and governance process that supports enterprise-wide scaling. Questions arise about where, in general, AI-related activities should be positioned within Alpes Bank and what new roles are necessary to govern GenAI use cases effectively.