AI can boost the customer experience, but there is opportunity for financial services firms to take an even more customer-centric approach
COVID-19 has catalyzed financial services organizations to harness Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve customer experience (CX); however, challenges in integration and customer perceptions are undermining its potential. Financial services firms’ implementation of AI at scale is the lowest across all industries, and where AI has been deployed, there are still some customer expectations that are not being met – with half of customers saying they receive no value from AI-enabled interactions. This is according to a report published today by the Capgemini Research Institute entitled, “Smart Money: How to drive AI at scale to transform the financial services customer experience”.
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“Financial services firms have much to gain from implementing AI in their customer interactions, and they have an opportunity to embrace AI to reimagine the customer experience journey, but there are steps to be taken before the benefits are fully realized for businesses and consumers alike”
The deployment of AI to improve the overall CX has grown significantly in the financial services industry in the past three years. Nine in ten (94%) organizations say that improving the customer experience is the key objective behind launching new AI-enabled initiatives and customers are becoming comfortable in interacting with AI on a regular basis. Just over half of customers (51%) have daily AI-enabled interactions (like talking to a chatbot) with banking and insurance firms; this becomes even more important as most customers (78%) expect to increase touchless interactions as the COVID-19 crisis prolongs. Financial services firms have already perceived the positive impact on their bottom-line of implementing AI in customer-facing functions, including reduced cost of operations (13%) and increased revenue per customer (10%).
COVID-19 provides opportunity to accelerate AI deployments to improve the customer experience even further
Financial services firms say that improving CX is the key objective behind launching new AI-enabled initiatives. However, a clear disconnect is emerging as there are some customer expectations that are not yet being met. Almost half (49%) of consumers rate the value they derive from AI-enabled digital touchpoints as non-existent or less than expected. Customers are increasingly looking for a more human experience when interacting with AI-powered chatbots, and 35% say that their current interactions lack the human touch.
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