The virtual assistant marches on – but will financial services be ready?

By Steve Mather, Financial Services Lead KCOM

The robots are taking over. They have invaded our workplaces, our homes and our businesses. Yet, for the most part the invaders have been welcomed with open arms. More British people and companies are using artificial intelligence (AI) than ever before, and there is no indication this will stop anytime soon. In 2018, the market for AI is predicted to make $736 billion: by 2025, it will be worth almost $90,000 billion.

Yet, amongst all the public enthusiasm for AI, the financial services industry is dragging its heels. The overwhelming majority (71 per cent) of European financial services firms are still stuck in the learning or building phase of adopting AI in their organisations. A lonely one per cent consider themselves centres of AI excellence.

As customers grow increasingly comfortable with AI in their daily lives, it is essential that financial services providers do not lag behind. AI is no longer simply a back-office tool. If used correctly and implemented with care, it has the power to transform the customer experience for banks, insurers and payments companies.

The rise of the machines

The financial services landscape is ripe for a robotic invasion. Indeed, AI is already making inroads and causing significant disruption through wealth management and fraud detection. However, what is too often ignored is its capacity to deliver intelligent personalisation and exceptional customer service.

The strength of AI lies in its ability to trawl through and analyse an immense amount of customer data. From this, it can recommend the most relevant financial products and services for them. A technologically mature organisation can then communicate these insights back to the customer in real-time as personalised recommendations, through a chatbot or virtual assistant.

The presence of viable voice solutions adds another advantage to the digital fold. The online customer experience has never been more interactive, as more customers than ever use AI-driven systems to ask basic questions, get answers and make decisions.

As families welcome voice-activated speakers into their homes, AI is likely to become the channel of choice for many British consumers for simple financial transactions. Firms should ignore this fast-growing channel at their peril.

Human touch

When integrating AI solutions with their existing technology stack, firms should not place too much importance on automation. As solutions like Alexa prove, AI is getting to the point where it can manage the entire customer journey, from inspiration to purchase, with zero employee intervention.

Yet there is a substantial difference between buying your weekly shop, and taking out a loan or requesting financial advice. The financial services sector, fundamentally, is service-led. This means customers want to be understood when they engage with a company, and they expect honest, considered advice when they do.

For all its advancements, AI is still not at the level where it can provide useful counsel to every possible customer query. With the presence of machine learning, this should be fast to change, but public perceptions have not yet caught up with recent progress. While the majority of the UK public expect robots to replace humans in many roles, almost half (44 per cent) do not expect it to happen within their lifetime or ever (13 per cent).

Yet more importantly, the industry is founded on trust. To do business, customers need to trust that your firm will not misuse or compromise their financial information. It is significant, then, that one in ten UK consumers are concerned with data security when using smart speakers. Perspectives will change with time, but, for now, customers still trust human employees more than machines.

I, Robot

It has long been accepted that a basic computer can beat a grandmaster in a game of chess. Yet, when aided by a computer chess program, it is possible for an average chess player to outsmart a supercomputer. So it is that, with the insights and analytical capabilities of AI, even an average employee can become an exceptional one.

Financial services providers must not discount the benefits of human-robot collaboration. When the two work together, the ideal customer experience is possible – highly personalised and human. For example, if a virtual assistant is unable to answer a complex customer question, it can both pass on the call, and the customer’s details, to a human agent. Said agent is then able to pick up the conversation right where it left off, without delays, or asking the customer to repeat information they had already shared.

So long as creativity and trust are important to customers, humans will always have a place in financial services. AI is an ally, not a substitute, for the human agent.

AI is at its best when it seeks to augment, not replace what is already there. In evolving technologically, companies must beware of losing their human touch and a sizeable chunk of their customer base. Financial services providers have a lot of ground to catch up if they are to meet customer expectations. Yet they must not sacrifice the human element in favour of the machine, but seek to join them together.