A new wave of change in how consumers interact with services is on the horizon, driven by the growing demand for rapid responses from customers. According to Okwechime, AI-powered Chatbots leverage Natural Language Processing to understand conversations and their contexts to such an advanced level that appropriate responses can be generated. He explained that recent advances have gone beyond text-based chats, with companies like Apple (Siri), Google, and Amazon (Alexa), introducing voice-controlled virtual assistants, able to answer an infinite number of questions proficiently in natural language dialogue. "In a market like Africa where literacy rate falls heavily behind the world's average, voice-controlled products and services will revolutionise how a consumer interacts with technology platforms, reducing entry barriers and improving technology adoption," he said.

Christine Wu, Managing Executive, Customer Value Management at Absa Retail and Business Bank, views artificial intelligence (AI) as an important enabler of the journey to a new banking model that is truly responsive to customer needs. "All areas of the bank's operations can benefit from AI – from the frontline, where we can make use of smarter profiling and customer interactions that are needs-based and tailored to a customer's profile, to customer servicing, where we can include clearer and more bespoke solutions to customers before they even ask – such as the automation of repetitive tasks," says Wu. AI is often defined as human-like intelligence achieved by machines – any system that "perceives its environment and takes actions that maximise its chance of achieving its goals". Advanced AI, according to experts, is also capable of learning and problem-solving. AI has been taken up enthusiastically across Africa, although the expert view is that it needs some fine-tuning to adapt to the African social and cultural environment. Still, the potential is as great in the banking landscape as it is in online and mobile transactions.