A staggering 91% of financial services companies are either assessing AI or already leveraging it in their operations. But as the buzz around generative AI continues to swell, it’s easy to get swept up without establishing a clear strategy.
To unlock the full value of generative AI, financial services companies need to assess how the technology can best serve their unique needs and objectives. To help, we’ll walk through best practices for implementing generative AI in financial services — but first, let’s explore some of the highest-impact applications.
Unpacking the potential of generative AI in financial services
While generative AI holds immense potential across nearly every function, there are a few key areas that this technology can prove particularly useful in financial services companies, such as:
- Customer Insights: By leveraging a generative AI solution to learn from large swaths of unstructured customer data, financial institutions can gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences as they emerge—without breaching privacy regulations.
- Fraud Detection: Generative AI can enable more robust fraud detection models that require little human intervention.
- Decision Making: Accurate distillation of enterprise-wide data allows generative AI solutions to provide tailored suggestions for opportunities that would otherwise remain hidden.
Before financial services companies can capitalize on these (and many other) applications, they must first define their goals and metrics for success from a holistic point of view.
4 Critical Steps to Successful Implementation
To ensure generative AI has a transformative impact on your organization, follow these best practices on your implementation journey.
1. Think bigger
Many organizations approach generative AI from too narrow a standpoint, aiming to solve tactical or function-specific pain points. But the expansive potential of this technology requires a broader perspective.
Think about the company as a whole: what are the business’ key objectives, what roadblocks stand in their way, and how could generative AI support the journey to achieving them?
Exploring generative AI from a more comprehensive perspective ensures that you won’t overlook key opportunities; even if you start small with plans to expand into new departments, this approach provides visibility into a roadmap from the outset.
2. Align on objectives
Rather than implementing generative AI simply because it’s what your competitors are doing, take the time to consider the objectives you’re hoping to target through the use of AI. For example, Oportun implemented generative AI in their contact center to boost agent experience, increase conversions, and automate quality management for simpler coaching and compliance.
Understanding your goals for generative AI will ensure a more focused approach to implementation.
3. Define success
With key objectives established, the next step is to define the metrics that indicate whether or not generative AI has successfully helped you achieve those objectives. These might include conversion rates, average handle time, collections/days outstanding, retention rates, or any number of other quantitative metrics.
Clarity on the KPIs that contribute to your key objectives allows you to track the success of your generative AI implementation and pivot as needed.
4. Collaborate with experts
While generative AI is a relatively new concept for many, forward-thinking industry experts have been leveraging this technology since long before it entered the mainstream. Rather than attempting to forge through yourself, capitalize on the experience of generative AI veterans.
With the right partner, you can more easily uncover the opportunities for generative AI in your organization and ensure a seamless and successful implementation.
A thoughtful approach to generative AI ensures that financial services companies can not only hone their competitive edge in an increasingly fast-paced industry, but also that they leverage the technology to its fullest potential, increasing their long-term agility and scalability.
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Interested to learn how leaders in financial services are working with Cresta to transform their contact center operations? Request a custom demo today.
