Chatbot software applications aren’t new to the world of online customer service, but creating a chatbot that can account for the purchasing goals that a customer has is still an innovation-in-progress.
Chatbots require a programming language as well as artificial intelligence (AI) to function well in response to customer queries; nowhere is this more true than in the banking and finance industry, where a helpful chatbot can make it easier for users to process transactions and use funds productively.
This is due in large part to AI chatbots having the ability to provide 24/7 availability to customers who may need financial assistance at any time of the day. 24/7 availability and improved user experience are just a few things to pay attention to as AI chatbots scale with different businesses, and they are crucial features to have for any business in the banking and finance industry.
Let’s take a look at the top three benefits that organizations operating in the banking and finance industry can enjoy from using AI chatbots, as well as what to expect from AI chatbots and their trends in the future:
Live chat increases customer engagement and conversion
Banking and finance businesses need 24/7 user support to enhance their customer service landscape and ensure customer transactions can continue to process without error.
It’s important that AI chatbots can support customer needs through automation, which is a must-have for financial and banking organizations that want to cultivate conversational relationships with their customers through the use of AI chatbots. Intelligent, conversation-like interactions with AI chatbots can help resolve user inquiries and concerns quickly and overall improve a business’s customer experience.
Some organizations may not be convinced that an investment in AI chatbots is worthwhile, especially if the goal is to achieve a smooth and conversational customer service experience with artificial intelligence. But as online marketing expert Dan Fries of Blue Tree points out, “Although determining whether it’s an automated chatbot or a real person on the other end isn’t always easy, it’s clear that live chat services overall are here to stay. There are good reasons for this. Live chat can increase customer engagement and visitor conversion, help your sales and customer service teams maintain flexibility, and offer valuable analytics information.”
24/7 customer service that works well through automation and AI is best used as an augmentation to real-time customer service, rather than a complete replacement. It’s difficult as of now to determine how AI-enabled inventions can avail themselves in the years to come, but it’s safe to surmise that they will best be used to augment, complement, and extend human capabilities rather than totally replace them.
This assumption is based on a study of human-machine interactions at 1,500 companies, which concluded that the displacement of humans with machines results in short-lived increases in productivity.
Cloud-hosted AI offers better web application security
Considering the fact that 80% of businesses will have implemented chatbot automation by 2022 and that 90% of bank-related interactions will be automated by the same year, it’s wise for banking and financial organizations to invest in chatbot security measures so they can keep using them reliably into the future.
Customers who are using web-based applications that make use of AI chatbots need to have a secure environment in which they can query and interact with a bot, which means that innovative security measures need to be at the forefront of businesses’ plans to integrate their AI chatbots successfully.
Enter private cloud computing: it’s the counterpart to public cloud computing and offers exactly what it spells out in its name — privacy. according to cloud computing expert Barbara Ericson of Cloud Defense, “security is often the number one reason why big businesses will look to private cloud computing instead of public cloud computing. Private cloud networks, by their very nature, offer better web application security and defense, which can be vital for companies that handle a lot of sensitive customers, wealthy individuals, or other information.”
Network administrators can also use private cloud networks for AI chatbots to handle additional security tools, such as providing information about which users accessed what data, any changes made, and emergency controls.
Companies in the banking and financial industry that are determined to use private, cloud-hosted AI for strong web application security shouldn’t forget to secure their cloud computing systems against cybercriminals. It’s essential for businesses such as these to protect devices that connect to their cloud computing environment with encryption, preferably with WiFi Protected Access 11 or WPA2 password protection, to specifically target previously identified vulnerabilities. The importance of password protection keeps resurfacing time and time again, and users are being encouraged to enhance their privacy by making use of various forms of password protection software.
AI encourages safer online trading and investments
Artificial intelligence just wouldn’t hold as much promise as it does in the financial and banking industry if it didn’t have the potential to drive more eCommerce sales and higher rates of online trading and investments.
Businesses can integrate their chatbots into their website or eCommerce app, which allows trading chatbots to increase the number of online sales. If you’re feeling skeptical about this statement, just remember that approximately 40% of customers want suggestions from chatbots and that online customers are willing to spend $400 or more in online stores that come with AI chatbots.
If your business is set on using AI chatbots in tandem with its eCommerce presence, then it also has the ability to encourage safer online trading and investment-making.
Online trading, including options trading, brings with it several risks that inevitably target large financial institutions and their valuable assets of data, such as data breaches, viral attacks, phishing, and identity theft, all of which occur due to inadequate security measures. Learn more about why options trading is risky and how to mitigate these risks. Fortunately, businesses can work with online brokerage institutions to survey their network landscape as well as their AI chatbots for vulnerabilities that criminals can take advantage of.
Among the most popular and effective measures that these security experts can help your business implement to safeguard your AI, web applications, and network include two-step authentications, SSL encryption, server security, and inactivity logouts.
Financial and banking organizations that are using AI chatbots should feel compelled to investigate these security measures to minimize the number of entry points cybercriminals can use to infiltrate their network and ultimately compromise the integrity of their AI as well as customer-facing services to facilitate online trading and investments.
Summary
Businesses in the financial and banking industry are wise to adopt AI chatbots now as they continue to gain traction as supplements to online customer service systems. Live chat with AI chatbots can help increase rates of customer engagement conversions, enable better security for customer-facing web applications, and encourage more robust means to safeguard users as they make online trades and investments.
As AI and AI-enabled chatbots continue to make waves in finance and banking as well as other industries, it remains to be seen which of the benefits they offer have the greatest lasting impact on how businesses with eCommerce presences handle online customer service and security.
