We live in an age of customer centricity…
…Where banking customers expect their ‘personal digital banks’ to know who they are, what they need, what they want, and what they prefer.
…Where they expect a personalized customer journey, an omnichannel customer experience, and cutting-edge customer service.
…Where banking customers are comfortable and prefer conversing and banking through AI applications.

Do you live in this world of customer centricity? Are you leveraging the power of banking technology and AI applications to be customer-centric? If you are still contemplating, it’s about time!

Take a moment to consider this…
66% of banking consumers want rewards and benefits that are aligned with their preferences and interests.
49% of customers expect proactive product and service offers that suit their needs.
47% of banking customers are more loyal to brands that know what they need and who they are.

Banking customers today expect ‘banking on the go’, cashless banking, AI applications, and next-gen mobile and digital banking experiences. To serve this customer-centric generation, you are expected to be aware of their personas, the channels they use to communicate and the products and services that are best suited to their financial well being.

Advanced banking technology has made this possible. AI applications enable banks to deliver customer service (CS) with speed and efficiency, create personalized and customized product offerings and deliver seamless, omnichannel customer experiences (CX).

How to A.C.E. Customer Centricity Using AI Applications in Banking

In the competitive banking industry, your customers need and want a soft touch. They want real-time customer service, personalized communication, customized product offerings, and an omnichannel banking experience.

Banking customers are receptive to the fact that they are banking through bots, but they expect the AI applications to be conversational, intuitive and intelligent. To imbibe customer centricity in CS and CX using AI applications, you need to consider agility, customization, and experience:

When customers connect with their banks, they want immediate service and response. The first response time (FRT) and first contact resolution (FCR) time determine customer satisfaction (CSAT) rates.

AI applications are programmed to read, understand and respond queries in real-time, making it easier to deliver fast customer service with efficiency.

Customer centricity has become a norm in banking. To provide personalized communication and customized product offerings, banks need to know their customers individually and build personas.

AI applications process customer information to learn about their likes, dislikes, habits, and preferences to provide recommendations that match their needs. Banks using AI applications can translate data into actionable insights and evolve by providing ‘relationship-based selling’ and persona-based product offerings.

Banking customers love to use multiple channels to communicate and transact. Nothing can be more disconcerting than to have a connection disconnected or a conversation discontinued.

Creating an omnichannel experience is best achieved using AI applications, because they not only easily shift between different channels, they also retain the context in case there is a transition to a human agent.

Nurturing an ‘AI First’ Culture to Achieve Customer Centricity

To drive customer-centric solutions using AI applications, it is important to nurture a workforce that is designed for the future. In any organization, the adoption of new technology like Artificial Intelligence requires a metamorphosis of the technology mindset of internal stakeholders.

From employees, managers, directors to investors, need to know the impact of AI adoption in the organization. At least these three groups of stakeholders must be aligned to the reinventing the way they think about AI adoption:
• Business teams – customer relationship managers, sales professionals, C-level executives
• Digital teams – marketing professionals, designers
• IT teams – product development teams and every team member involved in bringing AI applications to life

In the banking sector, AI applications, by handling routine activities, give employees more time to focus on personalization and customization. A query resolution that would take around 12 hours is now done in real-time!

When customer data is fed through AI applications some very interesting insights are churned out. This actionable information can be used to know the customer better, understand their behavior and preferences, design customized product offerings and personalize interactions.

Be Aware, Not Beware of Bots – How Bots and Humans Can Coexist

Despite the popular skepticism about machines taking over and robots robbing us of our jobs, AI adoption is gaining speed. All those movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator, Matrix trilogy and Ex Machina, portraying Artificial Intelligence as a diabolical villain, ready to take over mankind, are only sci-fi entertainment. People are realizing the competitive advantage of using AI to augment their processes and systems.

In the banking sector, AI applications deliver exceptionally fast and relevant customer service and an omnichannel customer experience. This does not mean that human resources will be replaced, it, in fact, means that we will have more time to work on things that matter (customer centricity for instance).

In an ‘AI first’ culture, all stakeholders are not afraid of using AI applications…
They have reinvented their job roles
They have inculcated a cordial relationship with bots
They have learned how to use AI to understand their customers better

In an ‘AI first’ culture…
It is not about automating tasks and reducing work, it is about delivering better work
It is not about collecting customer data, it is about translating data into actionable insights
It is not about bots replacing humans, it is about bots and humans learning together, growing together and delivering results aligned to a common goal.

In this ‘AI first’ culture, it is about becoming one with bots and letting them help you immerse yourself in your customers’ world.

Welcome to the age of AI-powered customer centricity!

Also read our blog on: How an Intelligent Banking Assistant and Digital Disruption is Transforming Banking