Since their establishment, legacy financial institutions and their methods have fared very well. However, with the evolution of technology and the adoption of digital transformation, the financial services industry has come a long way. When technology was fused with finance, the change was considered revolutionary enough.

New technologies like Cloud computing, Blockchain technology, Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Communication, RFID technology, Biometric recognition, and several others are coming into the picture. It is crucial to learn how they are transforming the financial services industry and why they are beneficial for the end-users. Banks and fintech enterprises are benefitting from open APIs and fintech megatrends and applications can be further explored. Let us dive more in-depth and have a closer look at the top five technologies transforming the financial services industry.

RFID or Radio-frequency Identification is a technology using which digital assets (data) are encoded and then automatically identified using track tags. The RFID technology has become a crucially vital protection layer used by numerous financial institutions, payment providers, and central banks to safeguard their digital assets. RFID protection is being implemented to protect servers, sensitive and classified company and customer data, laptops, hard drives, and other equipment.

Using RFID security helps these financial institutions automate numerous inventory processes, keep track of their fixed assets, increase capital visibility, boost efficiency and productivity in asset management, and remove errors due to reduced human judgment. RFID system components are also being used by banks to safeguard courier bags in which hard cash or sensitive documents are transferred from one location to the other. Plus, RFID chips embedded in credit or debit cards can even allow customers to make payments by tapping the card without having to swipe it through or wait for systems to come online.

It has been quite a few years since machine learning and artificial intelligence have been associated with finances. These were among the first technology integrations to take place when it came to the financial services industry. Even though it has been an innovative step towards a transformed future, machine learning and artificial intelligence have a long way to go into creating something revolutionary and game-changing. However, both these technologies have still made quite a lot of difference in the scene.

Fraud prevention using biometric recognition is one of the most crucial advances provided by machine learning and artificial intelligence. Now, along with using OTPs and passwords, customers can also use their fingerprints or facial prints to add additional layers of protection. Artificial intelligence has also enabled financial institutions to carry out risk management and fund prediction, thus becoming essential financial tools for business decision making.

Another crucial application of artificial intelligence as financial tools is the utilization of Robotic Process Automation. There’s no hiding the amount of paperwork and manual processes that take place in a financial institution. These redundant yet essential processes can be taken care of by Robotic Process Automation. Whether it is the maintenance of regulatory documents, extraction of summaries from lengthy business documents, or collecting statistics and numeric values, Robotic Process Automation is a blessing. Plus, since these financial tools eliminate resource wastage and boost productivity, they not only serve as great financial tools to start a business but also as financial tools for business decision making

Cryptocurrency and Blockchain technology, in general, have been under a lot of scrutinies, especially from legacy financial institutions. However, people all across the globe are slowly and gradually adopting cryptocurrency. This has also caused several financial institutions to consider blockchain technology and use it as a sort of regulatory means because of its decentralized nature.

Shortly, blockchain technology is expected to further the cause of transformation of the financial services industry and be used to revolutionize digital and contactless payments, loan authentication and processing, escrow services, and more. Blockchain technology will also be crucial to automate numerous processes bound by regulatory compliance standards.

The most typical queries customers have related to financial services are, in fact, straightforward and repetitive. “How can I block my stolen credit card?” “How can I unblock my card?” “How do I access my online account?” “Where is the nearest ATM?”. “Where is the nearest bank branch?” “How can I start a fixed deposit?”. Instead of a human replying to them every time, conversational banking can help automate the replies to such questions.

By using artificial intelligence and machine learning to create Internet bots or Chatbots, financial institutions can do a lot. They can quickly answer the most simple and common customer queries, walk them through the complete registration process for a service, teach them how to make transactions or withdraw money, and even serve as advisors to track their budget and spending habits. This not only adds ease and convenience to the customer’s life but also optimizes customer experiences.

With increasing usage and flourishing trends of conversational banking as a personalized customer service assistant, the financial services industry will need to hire more neuro-linguists, AI programmers, and voice recognition experts. In the next few years, we’ll also be looking at developing hybrid AI-human models that will give enough control to Internet bots but also enable human agents to step in when required quickly.

Drop us a line at info@ndngroup.com to learn more about how our technologies help expand your business in the era of fintech.

New innovations in fintech have enabled businesses and fintech startups to serve customers in novel ways. Banks, financial institutions, fintech startups and businesses have utilized fintech namely Artificial Intelligence (AI) predictive analytics, blockchain, cryptocurrency, mobile payment and social data analytics to provide superior customer experiences (CX).

As customers are businesses’ primary source of profits, market value, and growth, they need to be handled with. Before delivering the wants of the customers, businesses need to identify their deep-rooted desires and needs. In accordance with a Gartner study, 89% of global companies are expected to compete primarily on customer experiences and business leaders are becoming more proactive in finding new ways to enhance the customer journey. The widespread applications of Fintech are redefining the way businesses connect with their customers.

AI predictive analytics enhance customer experiences

Fintech is the driving force behind innovation and impacts every aspect of a company’s operations, including its ability to influence and enhance customer experiences. By 2025, as many as 95% of all customer interactions will be through channels supported by artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Using customer data for analysis based on Artificial Intelligence and machine learning helps predict customers’ needs and real-time product feedback. Take the algorithms of services like Netflix and Spotify as examples, customers’ actions, such as watching a certain show or skipping certain songs, impact the next recommendations they will receive. Things change quickly based on customer feedback and preferences so businesses can capture what customers want at the exact moment. Also, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning can be deployed to provide intelligent, personal and informed customer experiences at any touchpoint along the customer journey.

Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence technology helps transform customer service by making it automated and fast. AI-powered conversation agents and chatbots are used in diverse customer engagement scenarios as they are curated to simulate human interactions and offer real-time responses around the clock.

Blockchain technology creates novel business models and reshapes customer experiences

Blockchain technology has fascinating applications to proceed to the formation of contracts and lower transaction costs to reshape customer experiences. Smart contracts are a way for machines to enforce and execute contract terms and make payments without human involvement. A study by Santander has revealed that the Blockchain will slash infrastructure costs for customers to make payments and proceed securities trading as well as regulatory compliance by $15–20 billion a year by 2022.

The application of decentralized public ledger in blockchain technology allows for the emergence of entirely new product offerings and novel business models such as crowd-lending, as well as peer-to-peer (P2P) banking and insurance. Also, fintech start-ups have utilized blockchain technology for faster, safer and more transparent transactions and lower costs for customers in transactions.

Cryptocurrency lowers transaction costs for customers

Cryptocurrency like Bitcoin is a digital or virtual currency designed to work as a medium of exchange in blockchain technology. It uses cryptography to secure and verify transactions and it is limited entries in a database that no one can change.

The transaction costs of cryptocurrencies are low and making payments with cryptos can proceed worldwide. Cryptocurrencies can be stored in a digital wallet that customers can manage from a smartphone or they can store cryptos in digital wallets.

Meanwhile, digital and mobile payment are growing their market shares. It is a sign that consumers are ready to adopt these fintech technologies for daily use. Even though peer-to-peer payment companies initially only targeted younger consumers, it seems that more people have also started to use the technology for daily transactions, thereby removing the middlemen and bringing down transaction costs.

Businesses connect with customers with superior data analytics

The best way for businesses and fintech startups to boost customer experiences is to connect with them emotionally. With data analytics on customers’ preferences and behaviour, businesses are empowered to use these insights to create exceptional customer’s journeys. Marketers can utilize data to understand relevant customer needs that they can touch.

Businesses can also leverage social media data for enhancing deeper customer engagement/ segmentation and driving personalized sales outreach and lead nurturing. Businesses can leverage tactics from monitoring different social channels for posts to sophisticated sentiment analysis tools to analyze what a customer is thinking.

In conclusion, fintech is a game-changer for customer experience in almost all sector. New innovations in fintech have empowered businesses and fintech startups to offer superior customer experiences in novel ways. Businesses are willing to embrace creativity offered by fintech and go beyond the norm to stand out from competitors with richer customer experiences.

In a competitive market place, customer experience and satisfaction are always important to drive business growth. Those businesses which keep abreast of fintech megatrends and embrace innovative solutions can enjoy sustained customer loyalty.

Drop us a line at info@ndngroup.com to learn more about how our innovating technologies thrive your business in the era of fintech.

Fintech has evolved considerably and changed rapidly in recent few years, impacting diverse industries of trading, banking, insurance, financial investment, wealth and asset management. Banks, financial institutions and businesses have proactively engaged with fintech applications. In the next few years, the rise of Contactless Payments, On-demand Insurance, Algorithm Trading, Robo Advising and Open Banking are major megatrends being unleashed in the era of Fintech.

Banks and fintech startups have utilized technologies like Blockchain, Data Analytics, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help speed up and automate transactions as well as reduce operational costs.

For instance, the deployment of Blockchain, a form of decentralized distributed ledger technology, provides a secure and efficient platform for storing and maintaining transactional data records. Once stored on the blockchain platform and verified through Smart Contracts, the transactions become immutable. As such. banks and fintech enterprises can safeguard customers’ data security and create efficiency from business operations.

Nowadays, businesses have become more customer-centric to stand their ground. It never has been more important to understand what target customers really want and know customers’ value.

Contactless payments are synonymous with cashless payments that do not require contact between the devices used in consumer payment and POS terminals by the merchant. Contactless payment systems are based on RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and NFC (Near Field Communication) technologies.

According to a recent Global Market Insights report, the increasing number of cashless transactions in emerging economies positively impact growth in the smart card market. The smart cards include a small microchip that processes and stores electronic data while securing data, assets, and identity. The global smart card market is expected to reach US$65 billion by 2025 with banking representing about 25%.

The NFC technology within contactless readers can interact with phones and connected mobile devices such as watches or rings. The contactless payment allows customers to simply wave their smartphone across the reader to complete transactions swiftly. Contactless payments are faster and more secure than the PIN technology as it transfers the encrypted data to the point-of-sale device instantaneously.
Currently, payments are enabled via secure contactless and mobile payment systems such as Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay, or any bank mobile application that supports contactless.

Contactless payments are faster than cash and card transactions. Businesses have been focusing on offering superior customer experience and contactless payments will help achieve that. Customers show greater loyalty toward businesses which have embraced contactless payment technology.

Insurtech startups have embraced fintech innovations to impact the insurance industry. With Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications, Insurtechs has leveraged data-driven insights to curate on-demand protection coverage that is customized and flexible for customers.

According to the recent World Insurance Report, 41% of customers said they are willing to purchase usage-based insurance and 37% explore on-demand insurance coverage. The report also showed 37% of customers are willing to share personal data in exchange for personalized coverage and better protection.

For instance, wearable devices and smartphone apps are increasingly popular with consumers and insurers, especially in healthcare and wellness space. Some devices can count the calories burnt during a workout and monitor customers’ heart rate and blood pressure. Insurtechs and startups have invested in developing the devices and wellness/health apps that allow customers to monitor their health. As such, customers can use the data to improve their health and fitness levels while insurtech can utilize the data to find out customers’ habits, preferences and offer customized insurance coverage.

With blockchain technology, insurtech startups have introduced simpler purchase processes and end-to-end automated claim management, thereby streamlining operations securing customers’ data privacy and making a purchase/ digital payment process user friendly.

With an agile operating model and digital innovations, insurtechs target potential profit pools and capture share among target customer segments. It is widely expected insurtech startups will increase the overall growth levels of the insurance industry and gain big market share.

Algorithmic trading is amongst the most talked about financial technologies in recent years. It has given trading firms more power in the rapidly evolving markets by eliminating human errors and changing the way financial markets operate.

Algorithmic trading can be applied in many forms of investment and trading activities such as commodity and foreign exchange trading by brokerage firms and investment banks.

Algorithmic trading uses computer programs to trade at high speeds and volume based on criteria, such as prices and specific market conditions. Devoid of human emotions, latency, technology-oriented, algorithmic trading executes trading commands accurately and instantly.

Algorithmic trading automates the trading process, ensuring that orders are executed at what are deemed to be optimal buying or selling conditions. The algorithms have the capability to analyze a variety of parameters and technical indicators in a second and execute the trade immediately. The increased speed on trading becomes important as the price movements can be captured by traders as soon as they occur.

Unlike traditional human-to-human financial advice, robo-advisors provide personalized and automated financial advice to customers based on algorithms.

Robo-advisors collects information from clients about their financial situation and future goals and then uses the data to offer advice and automatically invest client assets. Robo-advisors offer easy account setup, financial planning, portfolio management, and data security features, exceptional customer experiences and low fees. The main advantage of robo-advisors is that they are low-cost alternatives to traditional financial advisors.

Also, robo-advisors are available 24/7 and it takes significantly less capital to get started. In contrast, human financial advisors prefer high-net-worth individuals who need a variety of wealth management services and can afford to pay for them.

The future of robo-advising is bright. Robo-advising will be a tool used by nearly everyone, from financial advisors in wealth management firms to the average at-home retail investor.

Open Banking is a system that provides a user with a network of financial institutions’ data through the usage of application programming interfaces (APIs). With Open Banking APIs, banking data are available in real-time, providing consumers with better ways to conduct transactions and make investments.

Open Banking gives the benefit of choice to customers as they can select from multiple financial service providers available. It also empowers customers to take charge of their finances and manage their bank accounts.

Open banking APIs also enable service personalization to benefit customers immensely. Customers can now have access to multiple accounts in one place and enjoy the best deals available. It puts the power back into the hands of customers, enabling them to securely use third-party financial products and services that rely on banking data.

Meanwhile, Open Banking offers an excellent opportunity to fintech startups to meet the customers’ needs for new and better services such as personal finance management and access to credit services through a single application.

In conclusion, fintech has been used to automate insurance, banking services, financial investment, trading and wealth management. Fintech usage has risen significantly with an increasing number of players adopting innovative technologies to offer best-ever products and services to customers. The development of Contactless Payments, On-demand Insurance, Algorithm Trading, Robo Advising and Open Banking are the hottest trends in the era of Fintech.

Drop us a line at info@ndngroup.com to learn more about how our innovating technologies help expand your business in the era of fintech.

Artificial Intelligence is one of the most popular emerging technologies. AI chatbots are transforming the customer experience in unexpected ways. In this article, you will learn how chatbots enhance customer experience and key benefits of using chatbots for your business.

How AI chatbots interact with customers

Artificial Intelligence is one of the most popular emerging technologies. It’s changing the business dynamics in a lot of ways and one such way is by enhancing the customer interactions. We have AI-driven chatbots that are transforming the customer experience and helping us unfold the newer business opportunities. An ideally perfect chatbot delivers a seamless customer experience in which users can’t tell if they are talking to a machine or a real human being. But before we move ahead and discuss the ways in which chatbots are transforming the user experience, let’s first try to understand what a chatbot is.

A chatbot is an AI-based software that communicates with humans through a live chat interface. This interaction can take place through platforms such as Slack, Skype, WhatsApp, a brand’s website or app, Facebook Messenger, and even Alexa.

Simple chatbots are capable of scanning the keywords from a customer’s inquiry and deliver pre-packaged answers. While on the other hand, advanced chatbots that are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) use natural language processing and can create responses and conversations that are more complex. AI chatbots are more flexible than simple chatbots while speaking to the customers and when the human doesn’t give the exact message they have been programmed for. Instead, they keep learning from the conversations they have with the users to help customers with their queries.

AI-powered chatbots can tap into customer information and provide personalized experiences as they are better integrated with the CMS and CRM platforms underpinning a brand’s online presence. But how do they actually enhance the customer experience? Here are some of the most popular ways in which AI-powered chatbots are transforming the customer experience and providing customer satisfaction.

AI chatbots enhance customer experience

1. Seamless live chat:
   Customers can easily engage with chatbots in a similar way as they do with live customer support employees in an online conversation. Most of the chatbots follow natural language processing methods that allow them to analyse the questions asked by the customers and answer to them accordingly, meeting the needs of the client. Chatbots can easily be integrated with a company’s website or mobile application for better results.
2. Analysing customer data and insights: A chatbot can pop up on any product page that offers additional information about your services to boost the sales and purchasing process. They can also provide customers with product recommendations by analysing user behaviour. They keep a track of customers’ shopping history, modes of payment, etc and uses them to offer a better and enhanced customer experience.
3. Chatbots make friends and build relationships: Most of the companies believe that it would have helped in transforming the customer experience if their agents had more time to make outbound and proactive contact with their customers. Well! Chatbots can help in revolutionising the way brands stay in touch with their customers. Be it a simple email or a birthday text, or just taking friendly feedback about your services from the customer, chatbots can jazz it all. And as chatbots don’t have human empathy, they don’t have bad days or get frustrated from regular client queries which helps them provide a smooth customer experience.
4. Personalizing the customer experience: Chatbots are exceptionally well at collecting customer data from support interactions. After all, it’s the computer software powered by AI and machine learning that is doing the work. It helps the live support agents to personalize their interactions with customers by making use of this information. Chatbots work as virtual assistants that can easily feed customer data to the customer support agent in real-time, facilitating the agent to give the customers good information and solutions based on their current needs as well as past interactions with the company.
5. 24/7 customer service:
   Unlike your human workforce designated for live chat support that needs some rest, chatbots can work 24*7. Customers’ needs can arise outside of business hours during which your staff members won’t be available at their service but the customers need a way to seek out answers to their vital questions. A chatbot could be your saviour in those cases as it can answer to customer queries irrespective of the time so that your customers don’t have to wait for a response from a voicemail or email message.
6. Automated operations: Most of the operations such as customer support and in-store experience can be automated with the help of chatbots powered by AI. They can send timely notifications to customers about your product updates or new features. Using chatbots, we can implement smart shelves and they can help in inventory control as well. Automating your customer experience not only reduces the chances of errors caused by human intervention but also reduces the cost. Hence, chatbots are an ideal way to transform customer experience in a cost-effective manner.

Benefits of AI chatbots for businesses

There is a lot of benefits offered by the chatbots driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning. They help businesses transform their identity by enhancing the customer experience.  A chatbot is an ideal choice for you as:

1. It provides you with a global goal and reach along with an actively growing base of customers.
2. It offers support across multiple channels such as website, in-app, on social media, and several other platforms.
3. It facilitates you with a 24*7 customer support team with high efficiency.
4. The usage of AI chatbots helps you reduce your customer service costs and find more efficient ways of scaling your customers.

It is evident from many studies and reports that modern customers want quick, frictionless solutions to their problems and instant answers to their questions. They don’t like to wait at all. Also, in a world where people have only been using phones for customer support, it is hard to adapt to AI chatbots. But there is a growing need and demand for smart and efficient solutions, just like AI chatbots. They come with a lot of advantages and bring new opportunities to transform your business. Hence, to stay in the competition, it is necessary to change and adapt as per the customer behaviour. Drop us email at info@ndngroup.com to learn how our AI-powered chatbot solutions fit your business needs.

Frustrated customers who don’t get quick answers may leave website and never return. Chatbots can eliminate that scenario and help you keep your customers.

Increase Customer Base

There is another benefit of using chatbots in business. They may help enterprises reach more people which can increase your customer base.

Since chatbots can be used in many applications, enterprises can take advantage of that to help businesses grow. Chatbots can answer multiple questions at the same time as well.

Streamline Procedures and Automation

Other benefits of using chatbots in business are that they help businesses streamline procedures and automation. When used on website they can provide fast, automated answers to most questions. Their use prevents customers from waiting a day or longer to receive responses as they would have in the past. This enables business to serve greater numbers of people while saving costs.

NDN Group and Mobinology’s chatbot service and solution

NDN Group and Mobinology, world-class business software developer, has forged global partnership to deliver enterprise-grade chatbot solution to empower enterprises to accelerate business growth. Powered by leading artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies, the industry-leading and end-to-end chatbot solution enables global and regional enterprises with secure, scalable and agile operations, combined with machine learning and data analytics capabilities. The all-in-one chatbot solution defines new pathways for enterprises to deliver seamless and personalized customer experience.

NDN Group and Mobinology’s intelligent chatbot offers distinctive capabilities at scale. We design immersive dialogue flow to chart out extraordinary dialogue and conversational flow to create high-impact and personalised customer experience. We also curate tone of voice and manner to reflect enterprises’ branding for creating maximum customer engagement and loyalty, and bot personality and persona to interact with users and immerse them in conversational journey.

The self-intelligent bot learns from the inputs it experiences and garners deep understanding on the intent behind customer requests as well as provide smart answers. Also, the bot augments the importance of Big Data through their automated data collection that enables enterprises to conduct in-depth analysis on the conversational journey and understand end-user behaviour. The Natural Language Processing (NLP) powers all forms of language recognition including Cantonese and switch languages to enable enterprises extend global reach.

The bot uses their wealth of knowledge to provide comprehensive answers to queries. It is also specially designed to parse documents, crawl website content and convert into rule-defined structure data. It is empowered to use real-time information for accelerating revenue opportunities automatically after conversation with customers.

Types of chatbots

Depending on how the specific bots were programmed, we can divide them into two large groups: working according to pre-prepared commands – simple chatbot and AI-powered chatbot.

Simple chatbots work based on pre-written keywords that they understand. Each of these commands must be written by the developer separately using regular expressions or other forms of string analysis.

Smart chatbots rely on artificial intelligence when they communicate with users. Instead of pre-prepared answers, the robot responds with adequate suggestions on the topic. In addition, all the words said by the customers are recorded for later processing.

Many business owners are beginning to understand what benefits chatbots can bring to them. This technology is still in an early stage, its capabilities continue increasing and the best chatbots have yet to be created. Invest in building a chatbot for your business and be at the forefront of innovation.

Enquires on NDN Group and Mobinology’s chatbot solution:

NDN Group email: info@ndngroup.com 

Mobinology email: info@mobinology.com