ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & BLOCKCHAIN
An intelligent appro If financial institutions figure out how to use AI for the benefit of the customer rather than the bank, they’ll have earned their loyalty, says Guest Editor Jim Marous A few months back, I go to pick up my clothes from the laundry, the same one that I’ve been using for many years, and the lady in charge asks: “By the way, Mr Marous, have you become a doctor now?” As I struggle to figure where that came from, she reveals she found a doctor’s smock in the past week’s laundry. Relieved, I laugh. If I was a doctor, I wouldn’t be dry-cleaning the stuff; it would be too expensive. So, I explained that we had a celebration for my niece, who became a doctor, and we had all dressed up in smocks. What intrigued me in this interaction was that, out of the thousands of pieces of clothing she gets every week, she not only noticed the difference in my set of clothes, she also brought it up with me. Of course, she wasn’t using digital inputs, so this is not about any technology breakthrough. She was simply ready to find out about changes in my situation that could affect her business; she was eager to develop the personalisation in the business relationship and, by doing so, indicated that she was eager to serve me, the customer, better. This doesn’t require artificial intelligence (AI), which is creating a lot of positive buzz in the financial sector – but not in the right direction yet. This incident also made me wonder how my bank would react if, one fine morning, I changed my name to Dr Jim Marous. We can probably guess – first, no one would notice. Next, if they did notice, they might shove multiple new forms my way to
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sign in order to notify them of the fact that I have changed my name. Then, they might ask for proofs and validation. Armed with AI – and taking note of the dry-cleaning lady’s will to do better for her clients – big banks should pull up their socks now. They should come up and say: “By the way, we see you’ve changed your name to Dr Jim Marous. What kind of practice do you have? We have some specialists on board that can help you with your business.” That’s what AI enables businesses to do, and banks should lap up this opportunity. AI notices changes, responds to them, brings them to your attention and helps you pitch for new business. That’s what boosts customer experience, because it improves convenience, cuts costs and builds a stronger relationship with your customers.
AI helps lay the crumb trail Every year, at The Digital Banking Report, we examine how far AI has evolved. Our 2018 study confirmed that it’s still a great buzz term, especially in the financial sector, yet it’s still being used traditionally, mostly in fraud and compliance. A transition that uses AI to make an overall better user experience, to be able to communicate better with customers, to engage customers more actively,
has not yet happened – though incremental changes towards this have begun. Big banks are interested but still not ure how to use AI or machine learning to build a better mousetrap, to really reach out to customers with adequately mapped products and services, based on the information they own about them. And that, I believe, is a concern, because consumers will not have patience if banks are not able to use their data efficiently. Customers are only concerned about the value they get from their banks. The Digital Banking Report is optimistic that AI could be one of the five most exciting innovation trends that will define banking in 2019, if it is used to consolidate user data and build customer profiles in real time. Using this practical and deployable data wealth, financial institutions will be able to understand their customers better and also go one step further to provide financial advice and product suggestions. This nuanced use of data could boost security and efficiency, thereby enhancing consumer experience. By suggesting products based on the ‘next-best actions’ perspective, instead of the prevalent blind selling, financial institutions will actually be able to provide real value to their consumers. And once they are able to combine this capability with the advantages of open banking
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