The lending industry operates under constant time pressure. Customers expect a fast response to their application, a seamless process, and they expect most of it to happen online. At the congress in Warsaw, we showed how LiveBank – combining video, chat, audio, and automation – can bring together the convenience of a digital channel with access to a specialist exactly when the customer needs one.
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A Strong LiveBank Presence and Conversations About Real Challenges
Six people represented LiveBank at the event, which gave us plenty of opportunities to take an active part in panels, meetings, and conversations between sessions. Discussions focused on the major shift in customer service, higher expectations for faster interactions, and the challenges financial firms must navigate as more of their sales and support operations move online. From a participant’s perspective, one of the most valuable aspects was the chance to compare our experience of working with banks with the day-to-day realities shared by representatives of the lending industry. Sometimes those experiences are very similar; at other times, they sit at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Many conversations focused on developments in artificial intelligence, and the current conclusion is that direct human contact is still pretty much relevant. However, technology can help us hold conversations more effectively, give the consultant the right context, and make it easier to conduct a dialogue that reflects the customer’s situation.
Introducing Our VideoBot to the Lending Industry
The centerpiece of the LiveBank stand was a VideoBot demonstration. The scenario we prepared showed how a digital bot can support a customer interested in a loan offer – it guides the user through a simulation, responds when parameters change, explains individual items, and helps the customer understand how selected terms affect the offer. From there, the customer can start an application or schedule a conversation with an advisor. That’s only one possible scenario – the process can be tailored to the business model and to how much of it the company wants to automate. A VideoBot can be entertaining and talk about almost any subject, but it can also act like a doorkeeper, allowing only selected users to move to the next stage.
The bot doesn’t have to handle the entire sales process on its own. Its role may be limited to collecting basic information, identifying the customer’s needs, carrying out an initial completeness check, or preparing the ground for a conversation with a specialist. It means the advisor receives useful context before the interaction begins and can move faster to the issues that matter most. Automation doesn’t replace the human relationship, but removes unnecessary steps and lets the expert focus on situations that require knowledge, explanation, or an individual approach.
Why Our Video-Conversational Model Fits the Lending Industry?
Our conversations with event participants confirmed that customer service in the lending sector differs from the traditional banking model. Many companies don’t have extensive networks of their own physical sales locations, so phone and e-mail remain the main points of contact with customers. Availability matters, but so do response times, the simplicity of each next step, and the ability to move smoothly from self-service to a conversation with a consultant. Any delay or lack of clarity can cause the customer to abandon the process.
What Caught Our Attention at LendTech Congress 2026?
The congress agenda covered a broad range of topics, from technology and AI to portfolio management and B2B financing. Business financing has a different profile, risk structure, and set of customer needs than consumer lending. Decisions are made with a broader view of the company in mind: its business model, financial condition, cash flows, growth plans, and the day-to-day realities of running the business. Bringing this perspective into the discussion of the sector’s future made it possible to view digital service not only as a way to accelerate sales, but also as a way to understand business customers better and support more complex decision-making more effectively.
Another interesting topic is the range of business models in which a lender works with partners, intermediaries, or a network of external customer contact points. In this kind of environment, LiveBank can extend access to experts without building a traditional branch infrastructure. Well-designed touchpoints can deliver the same service standard across different channels and sales models while keeping the process and information consistent.
It’s All About Winning Customers with the Right Channel at the Right Time
Video is the most eye-catching part of the demonstration, but not every customer, and not every stage of the process, requires it. In simpler scenarios, chat, an audio conversation, or a bot that customers can both type to and speak with may be more useful. What matters is giving the customer the option to start the interaction in the format that suits them and then continue in another channel without having to explain the entire case again. Omnichannel service then becomes more than a collection of separate tools; it becomes one consistent experience. That was exactly the focus of Paula Dmochowicz’s presentation, “UX, CX, AI and the Advisor – How Do You Bring Them Together into One Consistent Customer Experience
Data and Verification as Parts of One Process
Another important theme in the congress discussions was how to obtain the right customer information and verify it effectively. In the financial sector, this process must balance convenience with security and compliance requirements. That’s why it makes sense to look at customer service more broadly: from collecting data, through submitting and verifying documents, to contacting a specialist and completing the case.
“The banking and lending sectors are similar in many respects, which makes it possible to use proven mechanisms while adapting them to a different pace and sales model.”
Michał Pomykała
Product Operations Director, LiveBank
Main Takeaways on Technology That Should Shorten the Path to a Decision
The congress brought together more than 200 participants and created space to compare very different approaches, from concepts involving cryptocurrencies to tools supporting broader service ecosystems, document workflows, and digital identification. The most important takeaway from these conversations, however, was practical: technology creates the most value when it makes the customer’s path to information and a decision simpler, while helping the company organize its work more efficiently.
For the lending industry, it’s another valuable opportunity to build a process that stays digital and fast without losing its human dimension. LiveBank can bring automated information gathering, intelligent bot support, and direct access to an advisor together in one environment. This flexibility – choosing the right channel, the right level of automation, and the right moment to bring in an expert – can have a decisive impact on both the quality of the customer experience and the effectiveness of the entire service process.
For me, taking part in Lendtech gives me the opportunity to discuss topics that look very different in banking or investment services. The number of ideas and start-ups operating in the market generates plenty of inspiration for both sides. We shared the challenges we see from our experience, and the people we spoke with shared theirs. One theme that kept coming up in the background was that overregulation is holding back the market’s development.
