Banks Are Big Users of Bots, Frost & Sullivan Finds

At a time when the financial services industry is being challenged by escalating costs and low customer satisfaction, bots are increasingly being deployed to enhance productivity and customer experience, according to the latest research from Frost & Sullivan.

Advanced technologies like big data analytics,machine learning, artificial intelligence, and blockchain are changing the way financial services are delivered and consumed, which is leading to a transition from transactional to conversational interaction between financial services providers and their customers, the research firm concluded in its "The Role of Bots in Financial Services, 2018" report.

Bots enable customers to use the channel of their choice and engage at their convenience, ensuring better services and customer satisfaction, it said.

"The disruptive features of bots are its speed of execution and ability to accurately respond to queries," said Deepali Sathe, information and communications technology senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, in a statement. "The ability of bots to effectively handle repetitive tasks creates opportunities for robotic process automation (RPA) and chatbots that respond immediately to customers. Solutions that are easy to deploy and pre-designed vertical bots are likely to have a significant impact on the industry."

"Bots are channel-agnostic and can be deployed on websites, mobile phones, internal organizational systems, messaging apps, and social platforms," Sathe added. "However, ambiguity in regulations, lack of standards, and a fragmented market hinder rapid growth. To harness opportunities in such a market, companies need to collaborate to create a bot ecosystem that can help them scale up, push for favorable regulations, and launch innovative, industry-specific solutions."

Adoption of bots by financial services firms is on the rise, and strong growth opportunities include the following:

• Vertical-specific bots equipped with capabilities to meet stringent regulatory and compliance requirements;
• Bot platforms that enable a wider range of services and products for customers and can manage scaling up/down.
• Options that enable cloud and on-premises deployment;
• Partnerships to expand product line and customer base; and
• Ensuring security of data.

"Conversational AI is altering traditional methods of engagement between financial firms and their customers. Enhanced efficiency, productivity, and resource optimization are some of the other benefits that companies can expect to derive after implementation," said Adrian Drozd, ICT research director at Frost & Sullivan, in a statement.