Covid-19 has catalysed financial services organisations to harness Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve customer experience (CX), says a report published by the Capgemini Research Institute. However, financial services firms' implementation of AI at scale is the lowest across all industries, and where AI has been deployed, there are still some customer expectations that are not being met -- with half of the customers saying they receive no value from AI-enabled interactions. The report, titled, Smart Money: How to drive AI at scale to transform the financial services customer experience, revealed that the deployment of AI to improve the overall CX has grown significantly in the financial services industry in the past three years. Nine in ten (94 per cent) organisations say that improving customer experience is the key objective behind launching new AI-enabled initiatives. Just over half of customers (51 per cent) have daily AI-enabled interactions (like talking to a chatbot) with banking and insurance firms.

COVID-19 has increased customer demand for contactless transactions everywhere, but especially so in the financial services industry. After all, who wants to risk their health to sign a deposit slip? There is much to be gained by financial services organizations and customers through AI-enabled interactions. In the latest report from the Capgemini Research Institute – Smart Money: How to drive AI at scale to transform the financial services customer experience – we spoke with over 5,000 customers and more than 300 industry executives from banking and insurance. We found that financial services firms are turning more and more to AI for customer interactions and they are deriving significant benefits from doing so.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone mainstream when it comes to customer interactions, according to a new report from the Capgemini Research Institute. More than half of customers (54 percent) have daily AI-enabled interactions with organizations – a significant increase from the 21 percent reported in Capgemini's 2018 research on the subject. The report, 'The Art of Customer-Centric Artificial Intelligence: How organizations can unleash the full potential of AI in the customer experience', reveals the factors that have significantly contributed to AI adoption among customers, including increasing customer trust in AI; an increase in human-like AI interactions; increasing customer concerns arising from COVID-19; and organizations stepping up their AI deployments. COVID-19 has accelerated customer adoption of non-touch AI-based systems, such as voice assistants and facial recognition – a shot in the arm for AI adoption. Over three-quarters of customers (77 percent) expect to increase the use of touchless interfaces to avoid direct interactions with humans or touchscreens during COVID-19, and 62 percent will continue to do so post-COVID.

Artificial intelligence may radically change the world we live in, but it is the ethics behind it that will determine what that world will look like. Consumers seem to know or sense this, and increasingly demand ethical behavior from AI systems of organizations they interact with. But are organizations prepared to answer the call? In the new report from the Capgemini Research Institute, Why addressing ethical questions in AI will benefit organizations, the Institute surveyed 1,580 executives in 510 organizations and over 4,400 consumers internationally, to find out how consumers view ethics and the transparency of their AI-enabled interactions and what organizations are doing to allay their concerns. In the given scenario, can organizations work towards building AI systems ethically? The findings suggest that organizations trying to focus on ethics in AI must take a targeted approach to making systems fit for purpose.

The ethical use of AI is becoming fundamental to winning people's trust, a new study from the Capgemini Research Institute has found. As organizations progress to harness the benefits of AI, consumers, employees and citizens are watching closely and are ready to reward or punish behavior. Those surveyed said that they would be more loyal to, purchase more from, or be an advocate for organizations whose AI interactions are deemed ethical. The "Why addressing ethical questions in AI will benefit organizations" study surveyed 1,580 executives from large organizations across 10 countries, and over 4,400 consumers across six countries. Among consumers surveyed, 62% said they would place higher trust in a company whose AI interactions they perceived as ethical, 61% said they would share positive experiences with friends and family, 59% said that they would have higher loyalty to the company, and 55% said that they would purchase more products and provide high ratings and positive feedback on social media.

Today, customers are at the heart of digitization. Smart companies are using artificial intelligence to better understand their customers, build engagement and offer a hyper-personalized experience. The smart speaker market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 48% between 2016 and 2020.[1] And our research of over 10,000 consumers shows that more than two-thirds of consumers (69%) consumers are satisfied with their AI-enabled interactions. As Figure 1 shows, the top three attributes they prize are: first, greater control; second, 24/7 availability; and third, faster resolution.

These front runners differ in many ways; they discuss a set of key practices they should follow to differentiate themselves while building a customer experience strategy for an AI-driven environment. They aim for a holistic approach to deploying AI in customer experience. So how should organisations augment their customer experience processes for an AI world? Front runners keep their consumers at the centre of their AI initiatives, as opposed to other organisations more focused on factors such as cost and ROI. They are also more likely to focus on the impact on the customer experience and the applications consumers prefer.