Ben Michaelis, Managing Director, ThinkEngine
Financial Services and Banking sector firms have been widely regarded as the innovators across the wider business landscape and have led the way in their pursuit of automated technologies such as AI. Industry marketing teams have long been the front-runners in the race to use AI to benefit from the significant savings for resource, cost and time. However, in that pursuit, another key benefit is starting to emerge from a productivity perspective. How can we use this technology across a business more broadly to streamline and automate other existing departmental business tasks?
Thinking outside of the box to grow your productivity
AI-powered marketing tools have been around for a while now, but it is not until now that we are really starting to see real, global adoption across the Financial Services and Banking industries. The ancillary sectors which broadly trade and work in this area, such as Compliance, Wealth Management and Insurance are now starting to also realise the potential. Our business has noticed a growing trend in the enquiries relating to technology and how firms are looking to almost ‘plug and play’ with AI-driven tools to seamlessly integrate with existing technologies. In effect, that’s what tools like chatbots do, they allow your business an alternative path to grow digital engagement with your website users, collect analytics and improve your online presence.
We’ve noticed an increasing number of clients citing that integration into existing technologies is a major consideration for them. Perhaps this goes some way to explaining why some industry firms have had slower AI adoption rates. When firms are less tech focused, any form of ‘development’ or ‘integration’ can be seen as a cost for later down the line. Although we do have to appreciate that firms have been tackling the extremely challenging global business conditions due to Covid-19, the unprecedented impact it has brought and preparations around the Brexit verdict, it is clear that some of these AI-tools might not be number one on their list of to-dos right now. However, with some form of normality now instilled with homeworking, is now the time that we should be thinking, where do we go next with AI? Well, I think so. AI can sometimes be considered scary, complex and expensive – when in reality, it can be the complete opposite. The vast array of low and no code technology platforms are evolving the way that we can quickly integrate new ideas and make critical changes in ten seconds, rather than 10 weeks.
The future is low and no code – no question
The days of expensive web-development cycles and costly integrations are a thing of the past, well I believe so anyway. Why? Well, for me, the answer is simple, firms are working smarter, learning new technologies faster and eliminating the need for drastic development projects. When really the business could do the project another way, and save ten times the investment. No brainer, right? The adaptability of low and no code platforms have taken AI to a new level and allow some of the biggest and most respected global firms the support they need to better engagement with their stakeholders. Earlier I mentioned integrations, in my view this is a critical piece to the puzzle. Why would you integrate new AI or technology, however impressive, without knowing if it can be easily implemented into your existing infrastructure – the truth is, it’s not worth the hassle, time or investment. But with the considerable innovations with open API’s, webhooks and alike, I think we have reached an inflection point. This is a game-changer because now there is very little negatives to investing in automated AI to grow a business. The sheer brilliance of the industry platform architects has meant that you can build some of the world’s most complex, costly and slow workflows without writing a line of code. Many of the biggest and best-known low code builders actually boast that you can replicate some of the largest websites on the planet like social networks, with a drag and drop builder. Don’t tell me that’s not impressive! And what’s more, the exciting times are yet to come because AI tools like chatbots will only improve.
Don’t think about these tools in isolation, think bigger and better
Chatbots and AI-driven platforms are often great in isolation, but I always stress to clients about the bigger picture. How does this do more than what we need? Is it scalable? Will this type of solution be as effective in 3-5 years? All these types of questions raise the point, how else can we use this technology and where else will this seamlessly slot into our existing business infrastructure or stack. Often my first question is, where will this solution evolve to and how else might it benefit my business down the line? I often try and look at these types of tools in a way that’s flexible for our business and clients so that other business departments also gain the wider benefits. I often find myself asking similar questions:
- How could Finance use this this to streamline expenses?
- Could HR use this to better implement onboarding processes?
- Are Compliance able to digitise their paper or form-based documents?
- Could we use this tool to learn greater insights from our clients or customers?
- Will the Business Development benefit from this solution to grow lead generation opportunity?
One of the biggest benefits of AI and automation tools is the data and insights that it brings. Understanding user journeys is a critical part of lead generation and productivity, and will help any Financial Services or Banking sector firm to grow in 2021 and beyond.
