60 Seconds: Tech and Innovation in Financial Services

Use technology to deliver a fast and consistent process where a human adds nothing to the equation - thus leaving colleagues to focus on the tasks where human involvement are required and/or add value. As to which elements of services and operations that fit within each category, that is not quite so clear cut. Think underwriting, claims management, credit assessments, account monitoring, cyber security - elements can, and should be, automated (perhaps including artificial intelligence) but other aspects should involve a human. No technology can be authentically empathetic (actually or morally). Years ago I used to say that ‘people where the opportunity to delight consumers and create magical moments’. That is still true, BUT if all people are doing is undertaking a standardised process which can be fulfilled by technology, then ‘in that case people become an opportunity for service breakdown/failure’. Automate where possible/appropriate, and have skilled and intelligent people the pick up the situations that don’t fit the standard process. Just one perspective...