By Richard Stevenson, CEO, Red Box

At the beginning of 2020, when the world was still largely unaware of the looming pandemic that was set to alter so many aspects of our lives and business operations, enterprises across all sectors, from finance to retail, already felt the clock was quickly ticking for them to embark on a radical technological change.

With Industry 4.0 in full swing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Speech Analytics are two key technologies that have promised to future proof the financial sector. The benefits of adopting such technologies include the streamlining of entire business processes, but if unlocking the value of voice data was a key goal for banks and financial organisations in the past, 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic has only served to fast track those plans.

The Data Speaks for Itself

We asked 500 CEOs, Directors and Middle Managers across enterprises of varying sizes to relay their thoughts on the importance of AI, Speech Analytics and voice data to their business operations. AI and Speech are already making waves in the financial sector, with banks using voice data to detect and combat fraud at a larger and faster rate than previously possible, and insurance companies fast-tracking their claims processing and underwriting through AI, so some of the research results come as no surprise. However, 91% of those surveyed in banking, insurance and finance already believe that voice data is, or will be, a strategic asset in the near future. This is a huge majority.

Living in such unprecedented times, businesses will be trying their best to leverage every competitive advantage they can, and the adoption of new technology is clearly high up on that list. With customer experience being key to retaining business during times of a crisis, having the right technology to support customers has proven to be a must.

To take the high street bank as an example, customers have, for decades, become accustomed to visiting their local branch. In March, many bank branches across the UK and the world closed for months on end or had their opening hours greatly reduced during the peak of lockdown. With cashiers and advisers unable to talk to customers or provide guidance of sometimes complex in-house machine operation, a whole new way of banking emerged. For those already familiar with modern banking methods – online banking, chatbots and mobile apps – this wasn’t so daunting. But contact centres found that they were dealing with a massive uptick in customer numbers as people were unable to access their traditional banking methods or were worried about their financial situation. Such a huge surge in calls, from customers worried about their mortgage payments or how they were going to deal with their next gas bill, put added stress on contact centre staff who were adjusting, in many cases, to having to work remotely.

Introducing the right AI and Speech Analytics tools and replacing many old-age, antiquated practices, is enabling those in the finance industry to look ahead to a post-pandemic future. With voice data set to unlock major new insights in the customer journey, enable organizations to experience newfound agility, and unlock the potential to improve both the customer and employee experience, all whilst cutting costs and enhancing productivity, the financial organisations of the future are looking to change how humans can be used more effectively .

Making Informed Decisions on AI & Speech Analytics

Adopting AI and Speech Analytics, and maximising the use of generated voice data can create a plethora of benefits to an organisation, however, only 7% of the financial sector currently see speech analytics as a strategic asset. To stay on top of the competition, CTOs and CIOs will often be pressured into making a decision quickly when going to market, and when being presented with endless choices, picking the right software is not only important, it can be game changing.

Without the proper foundations in place or the knowledge on how to maximise the value of corporate purchases, organisations shopping for new tools need to put the data they’re currently generating under the microscope. With such promise, nearly two-thirds of businesses (62%) are still failing to use transcribed voice data to fuel their AI engines. Organizations that are interested in adopting this new technology must remember that AI and analytics tools are fueled by high quality data, i.e. the data must be extracted, processed, stored and analysed in the most optimal way – that’s where the journey to extract value from AI and Speech Technology tools begins.

Unlocking the Full Potential of Voice Data

Captured voice data is the richest and most human source of insight, and most organisations in the financial services sector are already generating this at an incredible volume for compliance reasons. The pandemic has made C-Level executives Directors and Managers increasingly aware of the strategic importance this data source can have when fed through AI solutions.

Now that we are being pushed to digitization faster than ever before and entire processes once dealt with in person are being transferred to the call centre, organisations have never processed this much voice data. A single person, or team, can only go through such vast data sets with a helping hand from technology, making AI the next logical step to streamlining the customer and employee experience, and indeed the business as a whole. Correctly adopting AI and feeding it with high quality data sets will help steer organisations into a technology-enabled future. To remain relevant and competitive during and after this global pandemic, one thing is certain: companies must act now to better leverage what’s effectively one of their most valuable and strategic assets.