Disrupting the disruptors: How AI and voice recognition can transform the customer experience

Fintech companies are well known for disrupting the banking industry and forever changing the way it operates. Now these organisations must embrace technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and voice recognition to transform the way they communicate with their customers.

When consumers ring businesses it is more often than not because they have an urgent matter to resolve, particularly when they call their bank. However, people are often faced with lengthy hold times, exasperating hold music and a frustrating series of questions before they are even able to speak to a call centre agent. This only increases the customer’s sense of frustration.

These frustrations could also lead to issues being magnified more than needed. For example, Sainsbury’s Bank hit the headlines last summer when its customers faced hold times of several hours when they called to discuss why there had been a delay to their credit card statements being sent out. This led to consumers venting their anger on social media and publications like MoneySavingExpert covering the story. If these phone calls were dealt with swiftly and effectively, the bank would have been able to reassure their customers in a timely manner, and the problem would not have been amplified as much.

But through the use of technology, fintech businesses and banks can make such issues a thing of the past. Artificial Intelligence and natural language Machine Learning (ML) are on the verge of transforming the fabric of voice-driven customer experience through pioneering speech recognition technology.

Voice-driven customer service can complement staff and improve customer satisfaction. We’re now at a stage where the technology can understand speaking habits, conversational linguistics, dialects, idiosyncrasies, slang, foreign nationals’ accents, intonation, emphasis, intention and enunciation. It can even understand sentiment and recognises intent.

This means that the technology can be deployed in a number of ways to ensure that customer calls are dealt with quickly and effectively.  For example, if a customer is clearly angry or a more human touch is needed, the tech solution can escalate the issue in real-time so that a human call centre agent can step in and take charge. By deploying such technology, the customer experience can be improved, and staff members can be freed up to deal with the more serious or complex issues.

Leading voice technologies, in essence, will enable businesses to automatically identify, understand and service their clients. It will help them improve the customer experience and reduce costs. FinTech companies have helped shape the future of banking, now they must embrace the future of customer communication.