Why Your AI Strategy Shouldn’t be Tied to Your Channel Vendor

As technology continues to advance, one thing becomes clearer each day: AI is not just a complementary software that can be added to your banking channels. Instead, AI is a powerful tool that can drive your entire channel strategy, redefining the way financial institutions operate across every customer touchpoint and internal process.

And yet, despite the obvious benefits of embracing a robust AI strategy, many banks and credit unions still fall into the trap of tying their AI capabilities to their existing channel vendors. This dramatically limits the true potential of what AI can achieve.

The real power of AI

In the early days of AI, financial institutions primarily viewed it as a tool to enhance specific channels like call centers or online support. It was seen as an extension of existing systems – a way to add a layer of automation to reduce operational costs and improve response times. But with the rapid advancements in AI, particularly in generative AI and large language models, the potential has expanded far beyond these initial use cases. AI is no longer just a complementary feature; it’s a strategic asset that can deliver immense value across the whole organization.

At interface.ai, we believe in the broader potential of AI beyond specific channels. Our solutions offer the potential to augment or automate almost every task of any of your employees or customers. From collections to frontline staff operations and even tasks for loan officers, AI’s versatility is profound.

Why tying your AI strategy to a channel vendor strangles its potential

Choosing to restrict AI to specific channels strangles its capabilities, and also raises significant concerns regarding a conflict of interest.

Many financial institutions have turned to their existing channel vendors – such as CCaaS providers or industry-agnostic AI solutions – to introduce AI capabilities. While this might seem like a convenient and cost-effective choice, it often results in AI solutions that are constrained by the limitations of the channel they were designed for.

For example, a CCaaS provider might offer AI tools that are optimized only for contact centers. While this may streamline call handling and support ticket automation, it doesn’t address the needs of other departments like loan servicing, debt collection, or customer engagement across digital channels. Moreover, these solutions often lack the depth required for specialized financial use cases, leading to shallow integrations and subpar customer experiences.

On top of this, AI offered by CCaaS providers also presents a conflict of interest. As the AI improves its performance and automates more conversations, the demand for seats from CCaaS providers decreases, directly impacting their revenue generation. The question arises: Are such providers truly incentivized to deliver the most effective AI solutions?

Harnessing the power of ‘One Conversational AI Brain’

As discussed, AI’s broad potential extends far beyond chat, call centers, or any specific channel. AI can bring value and significantly impact all areas of the banking enterprise. Recognizing the breadth of AI’s potential, financial institutions will need a vendor that understands the intricacies of the financial industry and can deliver comprehensive solutions enterprise-wide.

Consolidating AI under one vendor provides financial institutions with a unified solution. At interface.ai, we refer to our unique AI data management, processing and repository as the ‘One Conversational AI Brain’. This brain aggregates data from over 1.5 million interactions every day across channels, continually learning from it to form a collective intelligence. This powers interface.ai’s suite of conversational AI across every channel, both digitally and in-branch. 

This consolidation leads to improved employee accuracy, increased productivity, enhanced customer experiences, heightened operational efficiency, and improved security.

A New era in banking: interface.ai’s Sphere

With the launch of Sphere, an industry-first Generative AI-Powered ‘Interactive Intelligence’ for Banking, it’s clear that the impact of AI extends even further. Sphere is a multimodal ChatGPT-like Assistant for both customers and employees of a financial institution. It goes beyond the capabilities of traditional AI systems, offering dynamic, personalized interactions that enhance both customer and employee experiences.

• Sphere for Customers: Replace the need for online and mobile banking with an intelligent, multimodal assistant capable of handling a wide range of inquiries and transactions. It guides customers in finding the right banking products, automates inquiries, and assists with transactions through innovative plugins. With dynamic and personalized responses, including on-the-fly generated videos, Sphere enhances the overall banking experience, promoting financial wellness and enabling real-time decision-making.

• Sphere for Employees: Consolidates multiple applications into a single, AI-powered platform, enabling frontline staff to deliver exceptional service more efficiently. Streamlined operations, personalized guidance, and real-time information access enable exceptional service delivery, leading to increased revenue, improved risk management, and better compliance.

Wrap-up

We at interface.ai encourage you to view AI as the driving force behind your channel strategy, not as a complementary software for your banking channels. This is because AI offers a comprehensive solution for banking operations that extends far beyond any specific channel.

To gain deeper insights into how Sphere is reshaping the future of banking, book a demo or call with our AI specialists to learn more.