Have you heard there are now inexpensive cameras that provide a 360 degree view? That's right - you can now pan around an image from the sky to the ground and all points around. Imagine the possibilities - monitoring construction sites to track completion in real time, viewing all areas of the vault, training, product marketing and a host of other applications. The cost of these cameras has come down to only $500 bucks, so look for more amazing videos coming soon with a 360 degree viewpoint.
Technology keeps advancing and according to Accenture's "Banking Technology Vision 2017" report, the majority of bank executives believe that artificial intelligence (AI) will become the main way that banks communicate with their customers within the next 3Ys. In fact, many experts in the banking industry believe that AI, coupled with blockchain technology, will completely change the way that the banking industry does business over the next few years. IDC reiterates this massive evolution by projecting the AI market will grow 490% from 2016 to 2020.
Although we have reported on AI before, clearly AI development has progressed rapidly, bringing it to the forefront of strategic planning discussions among many bankers.
Jumping on the AI wagon and joining USAA, RBS, Citigroup and Bank of America, Capital One Financial recently incorporated AI into the services it provides customers. Using a virtual assistant named Eno (one spelled backwards), Capital One customers can now check the balance of their accounts and even pay their credit card bills through voice commands. They can also confirm payments and check their balance using emojis.
Fortunately for community banks, AI tools are not only available to the biggest banks. As AI technologies have become increasingly sophisticated and have been embraced by companies on a wider scale, many low cost and even open source programs have sprung up. Knowing this, you should continue to keep a close eye on the ways the industry's biggest players are incorporating AI into their offerings to stay ahead.
One popular AI function is the ability to mine multiple sources of information about individual customers to better focus on needs and personalize communications. By utilizing such technologies, banks can hone in on the products and services that individual customers are most likely to want or need - based on a combination of everything from their past bank account usage, to interactions with customer service personnel, payment history and event social media preferences.
Another area where these predictive analytics can come in handy is fraud detection. By taking advantage of text-mining algorithms that can simultaneously monitor data from text, to voice, social media and various other sources, banks can potentially identify suspicious activity. Similarly, AI can be used internally by banks to ensure that employees -from mortgage brokers, to financial advisors, adhere to internal policies as well as ever changing rules and regulations.
Then, there is the simple fact that utilizing AI can mean cost savings for banks. According to Accenture's findings, 67% of bankers in the US see the potential for long-term cost savings as one of the biggest reasons for investing in AI. Another 80% of bankers believe that AI will allow them to speed up technology implementation in their institutions and to simplify their digital interactions with customers by making them more humanlike.
There is still a long way to go with AI, so having a complete 360 degree view of it all remains important. One way to start is to at least think about ways AI tools might be helpful for your customers, employees and bottom line as the biggest banks roll out features.