Chatbots and AI will change banks’ customer interactions within 3 years

Published April 13, 2017   |   

Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionize the way banks understand the intentions and emotions of customers and interact with them in the next three years, says “Accenture Banking Technology Vision 2017” report, released by leading consultancy Accenture.
The report draws on the analysis of an advisory board of more than two dozen individuals, interviews with technology luminaries and industry experts, and results of a survey of more than 600 bankers.

Here are the key findings:

  • 78 percent of bankers believe that AI will enable simpler user interfaces that will help banks create a more human-like customer experience.
  • 79 percent globally and almost 87 percent of bankers in India believe that AI will revolutionize the way banks gather information and interact with customers.
  • Globally, 76 percent bankers and 83 percent in India believe that within three years, banks will deploy AI as their primary method for interacting with customers.
  • Four out of five bankers surveyed (80 percent) expect AI to accelerate technology adoption throughout the organization, providing their employees with the tools and resources to better serve consumers.
  • When asked to identify the top three reasons for embedding AI into user interfaces, respondents most often cited “to gain data analysis and insights” (60 percent), “increase productivity” (59 percent) and “cost-benefit savings” (54 percent).
  • At the same time, the bankers acknowledged challenges to implementing AI, citing privacy issues (38 percent), compatibility issues with the current IT structure (36 percent) and the fact that users often prefer human interactions (33 percent).
  • One-third (34 percent) of the bankers surveyed said that the key to increasing the quality of customer experience lies in the ability to adapt for unique customer behaviors.
  • Nearly nine in 10 bankers (89 percent) said they believe that their customers are satisfied with their bank’s use of personalization, two-thirds (67 percent) claim they struggle to understand their customers’ needs and goals.
  • Nearly all bankers surveyed (98 percent) said they believe that it is ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ critical to adopt a platform-based business model and engage in ecosystems with digital partners, with one-quarter (25 percent) of respondents saying that their organizations are already taking aggressive steps to participate in ecosystems.

You can download the complete report from here.