We are less than a decade away from humans being unable to determine whether they are speaking with a human or a bot during webchat sessions, according to a published report. Chatbots are becoming a more common component of customer service offerings in the financial services industry, and offer companies in the accounts receivable management industry similar opportunities.
The number of chatbot users in the financial services industry is expected to increase to 109 million users by 2025, up from 92 million in 2020. Currently, chatbots are best equipped to handle small, specific tasks, like retrieving account updates and balances or providing instructions for completing tasks like mobile bank deposits. But the technology is improving, and the adoption of artificial intelligent and natural language processing will allow chatbots to handle more complex requests and interactions with consumers.
The automated agent used by Bank of America, called Erica, saw its usage increase 19% from 2021 to 2022. The report does note that empathy and emotion are not something that chatbots can provide.
Glia, a company that has partnered with more than 300 banks to help improve their customer experience, recently announced the purchase of Finn AI, with the intention of making virtual assistants “mainstream” for the financial services industry.
For companies in the ARM industry that want more proof that consumers like the ability to chat online to resolve issues or obtain information, consider this data point: 34% of consumers find chatbots helpful, and an additional 43% said “it’s a start, but there’s room for improvement.” Only 23% said they found chatbots to be irritating or time consuming.
