Using data to connect the dots: How automation and artificial intelligence are redefining financial services

What is the goal for automation? How are you using data to connect the dots??

Welcome to the age of artificial intelligence (AI), where new technologies hold the promise to both improve the relationship between financial services institutions and their customers, and to strengthen the financial outcomes for more of our society. According to a recent report, 77 percent of financial services companies expect AI to turn into an essential business driver across the industry within two years.?

As the technology gap is expected to widen between those who are willing to invest in AI, and those who lag, where should organizations focus their innovation resources?

Bringing intelligence to call centers?

Automating direct service interactions with customers has long been the goal for financial institutions looking to gain operational efficiencies. As financial institutions worldwide experience a surge in both digital banking users and call center volume, the pace of these changes has accelerated. By leveraging AI-driven models that deploy a combination of self-service and predictive behavioral routing, financial institutions have been able to reduce wait time and increase agent productivity, while at the same time enhancing the overall customer experience, boosting retention, loyalty, and revenue.?

Indeed, according to a recent survey by AT&T and GlobalData on AI implementation in call centers, organizations are pursuing key opportunity areas including cross sell/upsell, customer service and retention, and agent satisfaction.

Given the potential upside, it’s no wonder 78 percent of call centers in the U.S. report plans to deploy AI in the next 3 years, with an overwhelming majority planning to use the technology to support their agents, according to research consultancy Canam. Unsurprisingly, bots and self-service are the most common areas of focus, followed by conversational AI and agent assistance.?

Adoption of AI in customer service is expected to grow in the coming years as technology continues to improve. A few key use cases include:

• Empowering customers to solve their own inquiries
• Enhancing calls by sending feedback to the call center agent in real time
• Enabling a truly omnichannel experience
• Providing a knowledge base to augment human agents

And more.

Banking anytime, anywhere?

Beyond contact centers, AI capabilities are increasingly being implemented in mobile applications. This is especially crucial during the pandemic, when more consumers forgo cash and visits to bank branches in favor of digital solutions. With the ability to bank anywhere and anytime quickly becoming table stakes, institutions large and small must innovate and develop value-added services for consumers.?

AI can provide this next competitive advantage by helping consumers better manage their day-to-day financial lives, and by providing insights on spending and helping with budgeting and saving based on their transaction patterns.

We have also seen increased adoption of AI and satellite imagery by various agtech worldwide, especially in rural areas. Farmers are now more informed than ever with risk exposure to their crops through real-time insights. By leveraging criteria such as crop growth and variety, banks can better assess credit risks and extend credit lines to farmers.?

Though still nascent, such techniques have demonstrated significant potential to enable more accurate risk assessment and drive financial inclusion for farmers, while also helping to lower risk in the supply chain.

As our lives become increasingly digital, opportunities exist for incumbents and FinTech startups alike to further develop innovative business models that can extend inclusive financial services to the masses and create more meaningful impact.?

Detecting and responding to threat?

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenges many financial institutions face, testing their ability to effectively and efficiently address financial crimes and protect consumers from fraud. With fraud and cybersecurity risks likely to increase in times of uncertainty and economic turmoil, being alerted to potential fraud before it occurs is perceived as one of the greatest benefits in deploying AI.?

Developments in natural language processing and computer vision in particular, have enabled financial institutions to leverage broader data sources and analytical techniques, to help identify signals for financial crime, drive fuller and more complete detection, reduce false positives, and provide decision outcome explainability for regulatory purposes. Such automated data-driven approaches are also more effective compared to traditional rules-based programs, as they can track emerging threats and adapt to the constantly changing patterns of consumers as well as bad actors.?

Towards a human AI future?

There is more to be done, beyond enabling omnichannel experience and deploying intelligent virtual assistants at the call center. The future of banking is anytime, anywhere, and business models will continue to evolve. With in-car payments predicted to reach $4 billion in 2021, for example, the opportunity with connected vehicle and digital payments experience is vast.?

As AI plays an increasingly important role in our daily lives, we must develop ways to assess the new innovations for broader implications on our society, and ensure accountability, transparency, fairness, auditability, and trustworthiness.?

And finally, we must keep in mind that financial services is ultimately a people business. And technologies are only as human as their creators allow. While we are busy transforming processes and operations, we must not forget the power of human interaction. Striking the right balance between technology and customer centricity will be crucial for us to build trust, and serve as the foundation of banking technologies to come.

This post was sponsored by AT&T Business , but the opinions are my own and don’t necessarily represent AT&T Business’s positions or strategies.