1,800 Articles Serving 150 Branches: How Hokuriku Bank Built an AI Internal Helpdesk to Break Knowledge Silos

Hokuriku Bank, Ltd.

Banking·1,001+ employees·Internal Helpdesk

1,800 Articles Serving 150 Branches: How Hokuriku Bank Built an AI Internal Helpdesk to Break Knowledge Silos

At a glance

• 1,800 articles published to support 150 branches
• 30+ minute inquiry response times eliminated through self-service
• Full visibility into inquiry patterns driving continuous article prioritization
• Zero dependency on specific knowledge experts for routine questions

The Challenge

Hokuriku Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Toyama, supports community development across three prefectures plus Hokkaido and the major metropolitan areas. With approximately 150 branches generating a constant flow of inquiries to head office, the bank faced a compounding operational burden.

Manuals and reference documents were scattered across different locations, making information difficult to find. Staff relied on a mix of the intranet, an electronic bulletin board, phone calls, and internal "circulation reports" (similar to email). Phone calls and one-to-one messages meant the same questions kept surfacing repeatedly, with no shared knowledge trail. Responses taking 30 minutes or more were routine, and even with two dedicated staff members triaging inquiries, the General Administration Division couldn't keep up. Specialized knowledge concentrated in specific individuals created fragile, person-dependent operations. When staff rotated or took leave, institutional know-how disappeared.

For a financial institution where compliance and accuracy are non-negotiable, the bank needed an environment where even newer employees could independently access and learn operational knowledge without compromising service quality.

Why Helpfeel

When evaluating internal helpdesk solutions, Hokuriku Bank prioritized accurate communication of information above all else. In a regulated environment where guidance must align with laws and compliance standards, clarity and precision were essential.

The bank chose Helpfeel for three reasons: an intuitive UI that staff could understand immediately, the ability to deliver clear and accurate answers, and the strength of the support structure. The Customer Success team became a critical factor, offering not just technology but operational know-how tailored to the bank's specific situation.

What They Did

• Used Helpfeel's generative AI draft creation feature to convert existing electronic bulletin board content into articles, making a launch with almost no pre-existing content feasible.
• Categorized the bank's large volume of internal information into several priority areas, building articles in stages with guidance from the Customer Success team.
• Rewrote bulletin board posts (originally one-to-one answers to specific inquiries) into generalized helpdesk articles useful across a wide range of scenarios, spending three months refining content before launch.
• Promoted adoption through monthly circulars notifying staff of updated articles, management-level training sessions, and branch manager advocacy to drive habit change among busy frontline teams.
• Leveraged Helpfeel's feedback feature and search history analytics to identify high-demand topics and prioritize new article creation based on real branch needs.

Results

With 1,800 articles now published, the internal helpdesk has fundamentally changed how Hokuriku Bank's 150 branches access operational knowledge. The 30+ minute inquiry response cycle has been replaced by immediate self-service search. Repeat inquiries have been eliminated because every answer is now visible to all staff, not locked in one-to-one communication channels. The person-dependent bottleneck is gone; routine questions no longer concentrate on specific individuals.

The bank gained full visibility into inquiry patterns for the first time. By analyzing phone volume and search data, the General Administration Division now understands which topics generate the most questions and can prioritize articles accordingly. Staff are submitting requests through the feedback feature, including branch managers and external sales staff who need to resolve uncertainties quickly during customer meetings.

"The Helpfeel Customer Success team was our guide. They visited Toyama multiple times, assessed the realities on the operations side and the expectations on the staff side, built a phased improvement plan, and continue to lead monthly helpdesk improvement efforts as our pacemakers. Without them, our current improvement structure wouldn't exist."

Mizuki Kitajima, Senior Staff, Sales Management Division

Helpfeel's intent-prediction search proved essential. With 1,800 articles, having the right article "findable" is what keeps staff coming back. Just as important: the system makes it clear when information isn't available, preventing wasted time on futile keyword searches.

Looking Ahead

The bank will continue enriching helpdesk content to make "check Helpfeel and your question will be answered" an organic part of conversation in every branch. By reducing the inquiry burden on the General Administration Division, the team can dedicate more time to initiatives that improve administrative efficiency and operational soundness.

The longer-term goal is to rationalize internal inquiry channels entirely. Right now, staff navigate a complex mix of the internal helpdesk, phone, the electronic bulletin board, and circulation reports, creating uncertainty about which channel to use. The target state: minor questions resolved instantly via the internal helpdesk, with dedicated channels reserved for individual or complex cases requiring proper consultation.

“Phone calls and circulation reports don't share information beyond the two parties involved, so the same questions kept coming in repeatedly. That was a real problem.”

— Megumi Igarashi, Deputy Manager, Administrative Management Group