AI-Powered Contact Centre In BFSI Experts’ Insights!

INTRODUCTION

Due to various capacities of Artificial Intelligence and technological advancements, the world of BFSI is experiencing rapid transmission. As we approach a new decade, emerging technologies such as AI-Powered Contact Centre appear ready to alter the consumer interaction environment.

However, there remains a slew of unanswered concerns surrounding this technology before it becomes popular. Do the most pressing concerns include AI’s progress and inflation point, as well as how to turn traditional contact centres into better customer experiences at cheaper costs? How are banks planning to change using AI-Powered Contact Centers, and what benefits have they seen thus far? How might AI help the BFSI businesses provide better service?

We also cover changes in consumer banking behavior, the trend of AI adoption in the United States and the Indian subcontinent, rising technology competition, soft-touch vs human contact, future banking disruptions, data privacy issues, and AI obliterating human employment.

To answer these burning questions, Rezo organized a webinar on August 10th, 2021: “Unlocking The Power Of AI For Contact Centers in BFSI.” Some very experienced and insightful industry experts participated in this webinar and shared their experiences and observations.

OUR PANELIST

Manish Gupta, Moderator: Co-founder & CEO | Rezo.AI

Anmol Vijay Patkar, Speaker: SVP & Head, Service & Branch Client Experience | IndusInd Bank

Vipin Ramani, Speaker: Co-founder | SHOAR, Ex-chief Risk Officer | Bank Of America

KEY IDEAS THAT EMERGED

AI’s COMING OF AGE

ERA OF AUTOMATION AND CONNECTIVITY

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has grown into a formidable technology, dubbed the fourth industrial revolution, that allows robots to think and act like people. “AI has been here for a long time in the industry, in the world and it’s really here to stay and it’s only going to grow bigger and better” Vipin gives an overview of the evolution of AI and the important milestones that led the path for AI surge. Explaining further he says, “I think the only reason AI has taken off now in the last five-ten years is that the computational power has increased”.

BANKING WITHOUT BORDERS

KEY FACTORS IN THE RISE OF AI IN BFSI

AI technologies are becoming increasingly important in the society we live in, and banks are quickly adopting them at a large scale in order to stay in business. Vipin shares his observations in regards to the key factors responsible “At BFSI, I say there are three reasons; firstly the computing power, the second factor is the availability of data and the business acceptance and framework that has come around and facilitated it being three”

FUTURE HAS ARRIVED

INFLATION POINT IN AI EVOLUTION

AI has unquestionably seized the mantle of technological innovation in recent years, broadening its appeal and accelerating implementation. AI’s transformation from a fascinating tool to an irrevocably important technology looks to be unavoidable. Amol responds to this question by quoting Victor Hugo “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come” he adds further “Now it has come. Trust me, we’re at a cusp of an inflection point. I think the broad reason it is being adopted is, one, the technology itself has evolved the processing speeds”. Adding to it, vipin raises a valid point about the future of AI in BFSI “As to where it can go, I guess whichever process or business human intelligence is required, AI can go there”

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR SPUR BANKING EVOLUTION

CX IN THE NEXT NORMAL

Consumer banking behavior has experienced a huge shift in an astonishingly short period of time, and it continues to have a substantial influence on the consumer-BFSI industry interaction. Amol explains his point of view. “Today, millennials prefer chatting rather than actual face-to-face interaction. My parents? They don’t. So, with that, it’s not just the technology that is evolving to make it effective, it’s the nature of the customer and that is why AI is very near. And it is nearer than what we think.” Manish further supports, “The latest generation versus our parents, there is a gap and there will be a gap and again, I think one thing we always say is that AI will never be able to solve 100% of the problems, but the game is all about adopting the Pareto rule, making sure that the largest of the heavy lifting is being done”

AI-BANK OF FUTURE

REVOLUTIONIZING BANKING

We have arrived at the point where AI is advancing beyond discrete use cases and experimenting with BFSI-wide adoption. “AI was being used or is being used and built upon for customer selection, client selection, customer retention, sales trading, pricing, commercial loans to home loans to credit card pricing, extending lines of credit, managing lines of credit, portfolio management,” says Vipin

He adds further “Business operations, call centres, chatbots, marketing are some of the examples that are being used in that frontline to make the customer experience richer, providing solutions to customers that can build deeper relationships and at the same time, manage risk.

In the second and third line, which is risk compliance and audit, basically, AI was being used for anti-money laundering, credit management, fraud identification, market risk management, interest risk management“

Banks have grown well beyond simply holding clients’ funds; AI enables banks to give consumers different omnichannel experiences, facilitate at-scale personalization, and drive quick innovation cycles in order to remain relevant in today’s environment.

UNITED STATES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI CONTACT CENTER TREND IN THE US

According to Canam Research, 78% of contact centers in the US intend to deploy AI in the next 3 years, indicating 46% of customer interactions are already automated, with 59% expectation by 2023. Vipin discusses the breadth of the AI movement in the United States “Technology is bringing efficiency and customer experience as synonymous and both of those could be achieved at the same time. Providing services to the customer at the place where they want more efficiently, more effectively, and instantaneously is powerful and AI is facilitating that.”

WAY FORWARD FOR INDIA

LEADING AI ADOPTION

India has witnessed the highest increase in the use of AI with over 70% of organizations implementing AI in their functional areas, according to a study done by PWC India. Amol adds his view on the Indian subcontinent “When I see, there are four use cases typically most of the banks in India are trying to adopt. One is on the customer experience and service bank, one is on the lending front. The third is fraud detection and the fourth is from the digital channel’s perspective”.

INNOVATE TO COMPETE

COMPETITION IN NEW TECHNOLOGIES

“There are 3 types of competition. First is within the banking industry, second is the global banking competition and the third one is the new age players like Walmart, Apple, Google, and Facebook” Vipin provides an outline of the many types of competitions. He further explains “The competition is always evolving and what the large banks are doing is basically trying to adapt and stay ahead”. Manish opines “The banks may stay or not in the long run, but the banking system will stay”

FINTECH AND BANKS

DIGITAL DISRUPTION IN BANKING

For hundreds of years, technological advancements have altered the banking business. Tech companies are increasingly directly entering the banking industry with innovative consumer solutions, raising the question of whether banks will withstand the fintech onslaught. Vipin discusses how he sees tech firms infiltrating the banking sector in the future. “The question becomes what safety that bank provides because the bank is as strong as the trust. As the customer loses confidence, they will withdraw their funds and they’ll walkout. And that’s sacrosanct in every transaction that’s underpinning. What it comes down to is what are you solving? What you’re allowing are customer transactions to happen smoothly and efficiently without that friction which millennials don’t like.” This provides the bank with an unprecedented opportunity to incorporate AI into their operations, enhance working capital management and reduce capital costs.

SOFT TOUCH VS HUMAN TOUCH

PUSHING HUMAN POTENTIAL FURTHER

“What we’re talking about is how human-AI can become. Artificial empathy is what some people call it; there’s a lot of research going on, and I believe it’s starting to find its way into contact centres.” Vipin says. AI-Based Contact Center is a new technological platform that has been shown to reduce operating expenses, personalize customer experiences, improve agent efficiency, and provide actionable insights. In addition, Manish says “That’s exactly what Rezo is into nowadays. We help automate businesses, contact centers and deliver the end-to-end interactions helping them get the instant gratification, instant resolution without worrying about standing in a queue, waiting for the agent to pick up the call and that too 24×7.”

INTERPLAY OF AI, DATA AND PRIVACY

PROTECTING DATA IN AI-DRIVEN BANKING

Customers having ownership over their personal data and making decisions based on it is important to every data-related sector, not only AI. This poses the vexing topic of the privacy implications of data used to train AI algorithms. Vipin responds on behalf of the banking industry “Privacy is very critical in the banks. We don’t share data with third-party vendors and there is nowhere that we use data without anybody’s permission.” Manish goes on to describe one of Rezo’s methods for masking PII data: “It’s highly encrypted and cannot be decoded.” In essence, the PII data is completely secure, and no one has access to it.”

MATTER OF AI TAKEOVER

AI OBLITERATING HUMAN WORKFORCE

With AI replacing and augmenting monotonous human jobs, there is a worry that humans will all be out of work. “What’s gonna happen is the evolution of jobs” Vipin predicts. “I think AI will create more jobs and opportunities. I don’t think people need to worry because the customers are going to be human” Amol adds. “Whether it was 90s IT evolution in India or GE versus Facebook, Amazon and other companies are reinforcing the same thought that emerging technologies will only make things better, faster and more affordable for everyone.” Manish backs up the premise.

FINAL THOUGHT

The AI-Powered Contact Center platform is already a reality, and it is having a significant influence on how the BFSI sector operates. It’s just a matter of time until Corporate leaders begin to embrace it in order to deal with the industry’s difficulties.

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