Maturing Voice Chat & AI Combine to Help Financial Services

Many industry predictions over the past decade remain unrealized as financial institutions face unexpected shifts and new competition. What makes 2020 different is the maturation of voice, chat and artificial intelligence.

That is the forecast from David Poole, head of financial services at the Center of Excellence at the Boston-based digital business transformation company Publicis Sapient, who sees improved apps and virtual assistants tying loose ends together.

Bundled subscriptions for financial services should see change specifically, said Poole. “The rapid pace of payment innovation has resulted in a proliferation of new ways to pay– making the point-of-sale cluttered with logos and confusing for customers. In 2020, things will start to get simpler.” He added, “We’ve seen the first instances of a combined click-to-pay button with the EMV SRC logo, live now on a few sites with more to come in 2020, replacing Masterpass and Visa Checkout.” EMV Secure Remote Commerce, a technical framework allows for the creation of a virtual payment terminal, which enables merchants to offer multiple card types in the online checkout experience across websites, mobile apps and other digital channels. “We’ll see fewer buttons, fewer steps in the process with increased adoption of stored payment within the browser, and fewer separate apps, replaced with effective one-stop services.”

Poole also predicted help for graphical voice banking assistance that he noted have yet to reach beyond the novelty and niche stage, with voice-only interfaces remaining inherently limited for finances. “When you add a touchscreen to view and interact with, the more complex tasks become possible, scenarios and the accompanying financial data can be visualized, cutting through long voice menus, while decisions can be simply articulated using voice.” Poole added voice-enabled screens like Amazon Echo can support these combinatory skills, yet so can smartphones. “2020 will be the year when mobile banking apps better combine touch with voice,” Poole said.

Another emerging category is anticipatory banking. “In 2020, omnichannel banking will de-emphasize point solutions in favor of life events and customer goals. When a customer’s goal is ‘I want to get married,’ the financial services required are less defined and prompt individual consultation and advice,” Poole said. He pointed to an April 2019 announcement of Bank of America Life Plan, in which the bank promised to use these sorts of goals to orchestrate services across the lines of business through Erica, a virtual voice assistant and the app. He added, when it comes to basic goal creation, recent beta tests, financial institutions are finding these shifts take longer than anticipated to get right.