Haitham ElKhatib, Senior Vice President of Growth Markets, Sprinklr, discussed AI’s role in enhancing customer experience in the financial sector.
The proliferation of AI in recent years has seen a transformation in the way businesses and everyday consumers interact with one another, with the introduction of tools such as ChatGPT making AI a more commonplace tool in everyday life and increasing public confidence in the technology.
A recent report from Capgemini Research Institute states that 73% of consumers trust content produced by AI tools, and 53 % trust generative AI-assisted financial planning, a promising indicator for those in the financial field seeking to streamline and enhance operating with the utilisation of AI tools.
Risk assessment
In specific finance-use cases, AI is currently being used to aid in the speed and effectiveness of measuring risk assessment and credit scores and product personalisation, with comprehensive analysis of financial data able to easily detect trends and create forecasts significantly faster than what’s possible using traditional assessment methods. Not only does this benefit financial institutions, but it also offers customers more tailored solutions to their financial needs, and faster.
Customer experience
The Gulf’s financial sector is particularly well-placed to benefit, especially when it comes to the user experience. Companies across the region are embracing AI to analyse and improve levels of service, bolster the security of financial transactions, and deliver enhanced personalisation for customers.
Emirates NBD, for instance, has recently announced that it will be using generative AI supported by Microsoft to aid in transforming its operations. By utilising a variety of tools to drive advancements in software development, collaboration and customer engagement for the bank, Emirates NBD expects to see a remarkable boost in coding proficiency, software development speed, and quality.
From large-scale multinationals like Capital One to Saudi Arabia’s first digital insurance provider, Tree, AI-powered solutions enable companies to optimise their financial activities, with the likes of Sprinklr AI+ already enabling businesses to manage customer interactions more effectively across multiple channels, including social media, instant messaging, email and others.
Encouragingly, these examples reflect an overall shift in our perception of customer service and user experience, a significant proportion of consumers’ interaction with financial institutions. An industry report compiled by Martechvibe, in partnership with Sprinklr, found that, of the 100 Middle East-based customer service representatives surveyed, 27% intend to improve the discoverability of products and information via AI-powered self-serve channels, and almost half of those questioned believe that chatbots can help put customers ‘in control’ of their own experiences.
Security
Aside from customer-facing utilisations, AI also holds the ability to significantly bolster security. Most people would be familiar with the increasingly standard CAPTCHA system which uses AI tools to differentiate between humans and robotic computer programs. Other common security measures include OTPs (one-time passwords), but these also come with some risk as, recently, malicious individuals posed as government and police authorities and successfully obtained OTPs from unsuspecting consumers, therefore access to their personal data and accounts.
With criminals becoming increasingly sophisticated in their attempts to defraud service users, it’s now time for providers to utilise the full spectrum of tools available to protect their businesses, customers, and data. AI’s ability to identify patterns of fraud and detect suspicious activity makes it an invaluable tool in the fight against cyber criminals. Mashreq Bank, for example, is using an AI-driven transaction-monitoring system developed by ThetaRay to facilitate cross-border payments and safeguard its customers against unscrupulous operators. More generally, AI is being deployed to combat money laundering, identity theft and fraudulent transactions with increasing accuracy, making life more difficult for criminals.
Conclusion
Companies that adopt early and find the most suitable solutions for their operations are best placed to see significant advantages in the long run. As is the case for any rapidly advancing technology, it is difficult to gauge the exact extent to which these tools will affect the way we interact with financial operators, however, I would argue that long-term predictions are unnecessary. AI is already reshaping the financial sector in real time, and the possibilities are endless.