Turning data into meaningful support for people with financial vulnerabilities

Earlier this week, we came across some staggering data published by Citizens Advice. It reported that household debt, covering things like essential bills and benefit repayments, sits at ￡22bn. But the charity warns the true figure is likely to be much higher as not all debts, such as water bill and rent arrears, are monitored.

How can businesses make sure they’re supporting their consumers effectively throughout the current cost of living crisis and beyond? We think that data and AI might provide a solution.

Gathering consumer data for meaningful action

Data is everywhere – and we need to use it. In fact, data has a critical role to play across institutions in both commercial and third sectors for enabling good consumer outcomes.

There are many applications for consumer data, and this includes informing apps. Apps underpinned by innovations like open banking and AI allow institutions to gain a deep understanding of the needs of people with financial and other vulnerabilities. AI-enabled targeted customer support is beyond doubt the quickest and most effective route for institutions to mine terabytes and possibly petabytes of customer data in a meaningful way. Once equipped with these insights, businesses can provide tailored support and interventions to assist those in need swiftly and economically.

AI-enabled support: a necessity today ?

The case for AI-enabled customer support is stronger than ever. For example, increased customer acceptance – and in many cases, preference – for machine-led conversational self-serve tools (combined with related technologies such as end-end encrypted enriched communications), make consumer circumstances ever more understandable.

AI engines can mine this knowledge to make a meaningful difference to people who are bearing the brunt of the cost of living crisis. It also helps mass institutions to meet enhanced regulatory requirements around the protection of vulnerable customers. In fact, we recently shared our thoughts on the Consumer Duty and how businesses can use AI to build trust and financial resilience, which you can read here.

The potential of AI to supercharge support teams

AI-enabled smart apps can also help institutions to deliver more targeted consumer support by empowering their customer service teams. By automating and streamlining processes with even greater intelligence than before, AI tools can:

• Speed up customer service representatives’ and advisors’ data analysis process from days to hours.
• Capture consumer data that might otherwise have been overlooked by overwhelmed teams.
• Free up care and support teams to focus on more complex circumstances.
• Improve the consumer’s experience by equipping teams to provide good, personalised. outcomes, such as affordable payment plans or automated welfare benefits calculations.

Turning data into action with Elifinty

At Elifinty, we help businesses to provide personalised, adaptable support pathways to consumers with financial vulnerabilities, based on an in-depth, AI-enabled understanding of their circumstances.

With three connected hubs – EliEngage for creditors, EliConnect for debt advisors, and Eli for consumers – our platform creates a direct line of communication and data sharing between the key players in debt support. It ensures that consumers stay in control of their data, while allowing organisations to quickly identify vulnerable people, provide the most appropriate support, and adapt each pathway based on changing circumstances

To learn more about the Elifinty platform and its AI capabilities, visit our website or book a demo.