With “Penny,” Farmers State Bank uses AI-driven orchestration to deliver seamless service while strengthening connections.
Farmers State Bank (FSB), a community-focused banking institution with a long-standing commitment to relationship-driven banking, was navigating the same forces reshaping the broader banking industry. Customers increasingly expected the speed and convenience of digital-first experiences- immediate answers, seamless scheduling, and always-on access while still valuing the personal connection and trust that define community banking. For FSB, the opportunity was to meet these evolving expectations without compromising the high-touch service at the core of its identity. The goal was not simply to add digital convenience, but to do so in a way that reinforced, not replaced, the relationships at the center of the bank’s model.
As customer expectations continued to evolve, FSB saw an opportunity to streamline how customers connected with the bank. Everyday customer needs, from answering questions to coordinating appointments, remained an important part of daily engagement but required time and coordination across branches and channels. Customers did not always have a clear or consistent path to the right person or service, and access outside of traditional banking hours was limited, creating opportunities to improve responsiveness and continuity of service.
The bank’s digital experience reflected a broader challenge for many community and regional institutions: connecting channels into a more unified journey. Its website functioned primarily as an information source rather than a fully interactive channel, requiring customers to move between digital, phone, and in-branch touchpoints to complete simple tasks. This fragmentation introduced friction for customers while increasing operational complexity for the bank. FSB recognized the opportunity to create a more connected, intuitive experience; one that could guide customers more seamlessly while strengthening the personal relationships that define its brand.
Unified
customer journeys replaced disconnected touchpoints
A single interaction
to go from inquiry to action
Reduced
time for routine tasks, more time for value-added tasks like relationship-building
To bring this vision to life, FSB partnered with Incede.ai to design and deploy “Penny,” an agentic AI assistant powered by IBM® watsonx® Orchestrate®. Rather than implementing a traditional chatbot, FSB introduced a digital front door to the bank—an intelligent interface designed to understand customer intent and support meaningful action. In doing so, FSB shifted from a model where customers searched for answers to one where guidance was built directly into the experience.
Penny enabled customers to engage in natural language, receive clear guidance, and move quickly into action, connecting them to the right banker or service without added friction. Customers could schedule appointments, request callbacks, or find the appropriate branch within a single, guided interaction, creating a more streamlined and intuitive experience.
watsonx Orchestrate enabled this shift from static interactions to dynamic, workflow-driven engagement. Unlike conventional chat tools, the platform supported multi-step orchestration, allowing Penny to execute tasks across systems and guide customers through end-to-end journeys. Equally important, it provided enterprise-grade security, auditability, and compliance controls aligned with the needs of a regulated financial environment, including detailed logging and governance of each interaction. Its integration-friendly architecture allowed Penny to connect with scheduling systems, internal tools, and SMS messaging, extending engagement beyond the website into channels customers already used.
The solution was shaped through close collaboration between FSB and Incede.ai. Through hands-on workshops, teams mapped customer journeys, identified opportunities to improve engagement, and designed interactions aligned with FSB’s service philosophy. This ensured Penny was not a generic overlay, but a tailored extension of the bank’s identity reflecting its tone, workflows, and commitment to personalized service. The result was a solution that balanced digital efficiency with human connection.
Penny reshaped how Farmers State Bank connected with its customers, transforming what had previously been a series of separate interactions into more guided, continuous experiences. Customers gained a more intuitive and accessible way to engage with the bank, with the ability to receive immediate answers, navigate services more easily, and take action on their own time. What once required multiple steps across channels could now happen in a single, guided interaction, making the experience more seamless and helping customers move forward with greater confidence.
Penny strengthened how customers connect with the people behind the service. By guiding individuals to the right banker, streamlining scheduling, and creating clearer paths to follow-up, the solution reinforced the relationship-driven model that defines FSB. Rather than introducing a purely transactional experience, Penny acted as a bridge, helping customers access services more efficiently while deepening their connection to trusted advisors.
This shift also created new opportunities for employees to focus on more meaningful customer interactions. By supporting routine inquiries and coordinating common workflows, Penny helped streamline day-to-day operations and enable more consistent service across branches and channels. This allowed staff to spend more time working directly with customers, while reducing interruptions and improving overall workflow continuity.
More broadly, Penny represents a strategic investment in strengthening long-term customer relationships through better experiences. Rather than replacing the human connection, it reinforces it, making each interaction more purposeful and consistent. This approach allowed FSB to scale its service model while preserving the familiarity customers expect from a community bank, positioning the bank to deliver a more connected, responsive experience that brings digital convenience and personal service together in a way that reflects how customers expect to engage today.
Farmers State Bank (FSB) is a community-focused financial institution committed to delivering personalized, relationship-driven banking. With deep roots in the communities it serves, FSB combines trusted, human-centered service with modern digital capabilities to meet evolving customer expectations and provide secure, reliable banking across every channel.
Incede.ai is an AI-focused consulting firm and IBM Business Partner specializing in agentic AI and intelligent workflow automation. With deep expertise in IBM watsonx, Incede.ai works closely with organizations to design secure, enterprise-grade solutions that improve efficiency, enhance compliance, and deliver meaningful customer and operational outcomes.
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Examples presented as illustrative only. Actual results will vary based on client configurations and conditions and, therefore, generally expected results cannot be provided.