Banking Technology: from printed bank statements to customer service management bots

While checking my bank account on my cell phone, I realized how quickly technology has progressed and that many of the things we now do, that already seem normal to us, went through a process of transformation before becoming what they are today.

The days of having to go to the bank’s local branch and waiting in line to carry out any type of transaction seem long gone. Today, we can pay for services, make a deposit to an account, and even get customer service from our PC, tablet, or phone at any place and time. Nowadays, we increasingly have more and more technology that helps us make our lives easier and more productive, and the companies that offer us services are exploring different ways to improve their engagement with customers.  

The banking industry has come to understand that their customers seek a better experience and a better service. People nowadays are increasingly more digital, and this has motivated banks to not only digitalize their services, but to also align all their offers with their customers’ needs. To achieve this, they have embarked on a journey to transform themselves digitally, during which, by adopting technologies like the Cloud, blockchain, and even Artificial Intelligence (AI), they look to become digital leaders, get more customers and increase profit.

With regards to AI particularly, this technology has become a priority for the financial industry, and there are increasingly more banks experimenting with it—from using bots to help resolve common customer questions to running algorithms that anticipate a problem that customers will have before it happens. Tasks can be automated, such as generating reports, but there is also the power to revolutionize more strategic functions, such as financial analysis, location of resources and financial forecasts.

Through AI, banks can offer innovative experiences to their customers through any channel while gaining efficiency in their operations and costs, improving risks management, and ensuring customer acquisition and growth. It offers the flexibility to develop more secure and efficient platforms with predictive capabilities that make it possible to treat any interaction with clients as a natural, intuitive, and personal conversation.

In Latin America, I’ve been able to witness how innovation has also reached the financial industry. The National Securities Commission and Banco Ciudad in Argentina, Banco Agrario in Colombia, and applications like BioCatch in Brazil are examples of how the digital transformation is an important subject for companies from any industry in our region, and how, by using technology, they aim to create better experiences for their customers. 

There is still a long way ahead on this journey of digital transformation, but important steps have been taken in order to make progress. During Sibos, the leading financial services event in the industry, which will be held this week in Toronto, Microsoft will demonstrate how it is empowering the industry on the path toward digital transformation through the Cloud for financial services, and other technologies like Microsoft Bot Framework, which provides everything needed to build and connect a bot and integrate it with other tools like Skype and Office 365.  

We live in an age in which the financial services industry is, once again, on its way to being revolutionized. From printed bank statements and lines at the banks to mobile apps that let us manage all of our financial activities, an era has now begun in which the experience is what is most important, and through technology, banks look to gain a competitive edge by transforming customer experiences, fostering a new work culture, optimizing operations, and promoting product innovation.