The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is unstoppable, but the power of human talent shouldn’t be underestimated. Combined, they’re greater than the sum of their parts.
With that sentiment in mind, the future of bankers was discussed at last year’s Summit, where Olivier Lacour, Strategic Design Partner, Center of Digital Expertise at Sopra Steria Next, Shalien Kishore, Head of Central Design at SBS, and Arnaud DE BESOMBES, International Project Manager at Sopra HR Software, dove into the talent strategies and software applications driving the industry. Below, we discuss some of the highlights.
Synergy of AI and human intelligence
Today’s fast-paced financial environment gives bankers the opportunity to transform their roles. But we can’t mention that without bringing artificial intelligence into the equation. Indeed, the title of Sopra Steria’s 2023 DBX report is “The AI-enabled banking era”, outlining the technology’s increasing popularity and far-reaching use cases.
In short, artificial intelligence is here to stay. Olivier Lacour says: “Given the level of investment we’re seeing, there’s no doubt this isn’t just tech hype; it’s a revolution that will develop at a rapid pace and take a leading role in the future.”
As AI capabilities evolve, they will overperform 40% of our workforce by the end of the decade, he says. All sectors will be impacted, and according to McKinsey, “Some will gain more than others.” In terms of banking, they see generative AI affecting marketing and sales, customer operations, software engineering, and risk and legal the most.
It’s pointless trying to ignore or resist it. Instead, it’s about collaborating with human ingenuity. To harness the power of artificial intelligence, Olivier Lacour believes banks need to “design the right AI and rethink the place of humans in relation to that”.
Moreover, they should recognize that AI’s implementation comes with challenges and risks from a technical and business point of view. Banks need to ask: “How do we leverage the technology to create value with regard to employees and clients rather than destroy it?”
Pivotal part talent plays in shaping organizations
Prioritizing people and ensuring businesses have the right talent are also critical. Arnaud DE BESOMBES believes banks need to identify the optimal skills for each role. They can be classified in three main ways.
- Technical (hard)
- Domain-specific
- Behavioral (soft)
Relating them to his role, Arnaud DE BESOMBES says technical skills refer to methodology knowledge, whether it’s V-cycle or Agile. Domain-specific is about the area – for example, HR project management covers elements like payroll and legal requirements.
The behavioral aspect centers around communication, creativity, and leadership. Indeed, that category is increasingly sought after by recruiters, with research revealing 60% of the criteria to qualify for a job are soft skills-focused. “That’s why we need to put people at the center of organizations.”
For instance, individuals are crucial in terms of the customer service banks offer. Machines – chatbots – don’t understand emotions. They have a part to play, but shouldn’t replace human interaction.
Research backs that up, highlighting people are at the core of customer experience. For example, in a study by Foolproof, 46% of respondents said they want human interaction in banking, 47% stated chatbots aren’t answering their questions, and 23% revealed their banking experience has gotten worse in the last 12 months (with only 19% feeling it’s improved).
Providing a delightful user experience
To remedy that, Shalien Kishore believes creating products and services around the customer and banker using cutting-edge technology is essential. People expect simplicity and empathy, and to give them that, “we need to build banks from the back office forward”. Furthermore, “Legacy systems, processes, and applications need to be transformed from the inside out.”
At SBS, the path forward is clear: “We’re creating a composable and cloud-native core banking platform that utilizes our deep understanding of a bank’s business,” says Shalien Kishore. “And we’re leveraging our technology expertise by using API-driven processing that’s secure and microservice-based.” At the foundation is a data strategy, enabling predictive analysis for insights.
In short, SBS is redesigning the user journey end-to-end, removing redundancies and automating repetitive, mundane tasks. The result will be modern, scalable, coherent, and friction-free throughout for customers and employees. The over-arching theme is humanizing the experience; achieving that involves the following.
- Empowering customers via personalized financial guidance
- Fostering trust through caring and useful interactions
- Ensuring seamless technology interaction via secure and accurate operations
- Boosting employee efficiency through streamlined customer engagement
As part of that, different types of banker can use SBS’s highly intuitive platform to help fulfill their jobs more effectively, by reducing friction and errors and enhancing operational productivity.
Achieving a bright future for human bankers
Ultimately, securing the future of banking employees involves a strategy that focuses on collaboration with AI not competition. Prioritizing people and getting the right talent on board is imperative, and recurrent tasks should be automated, freeing up time to concentrate on higher-value tasks and develop customer relationships.
Now’s the time to leverage AI and a state-of-the-art solution like the one SBS is creating to reimagine and innovate processes and experiences while keeping humans at the heart.
Listen to the “Talent unleashed: bright future for human bankers” session here, and for more expert content, head to our Insights page.