360 degree customer services: the core of more user-friendly fintech products

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are at the very core of almost all projects we work on at Spyrosoft and a very important part of our offering. We also value it at the internal level – we have a team dedicated to these technologies led by our Head of AI, Tomasz Smolarczyk, and not one, but two communities dedicated to them. One is our AI Community of Practice where anyone can learn more about the practicalities of using AI and ML. There’s also the Community of Interest open to employees from different departments who would like to know more about all things AI/ML.

Although Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning may sound like abstract concepts, they both have a variety of practical uses and can be applied to almost any project.

In the new series on our blog, we’d like to show you how these technologies can be employed to solve very real business problems. First up is a critical area for most companies – 360 customer services and the best way to provide these flawlessly and efficiently. For this article, let’s focus on the fintech industry.

What are 360 degree customer services? And why does every top fintech company need them these days?

The concept of providing 360-degree customer services has become vital for fintech companies in recent years. It refers to the process of making transactions seamless and bringing all the fintech services used by customers under one platform from which they can be accessed and used conveniently.

To implement mechanisms related to 360-degree customer services, fintech companies need to integrate and collect all relevant data about their customers in one place. The creation of a centralised database consisting of all crucial information will always be the first step.

360-degree customer services are the next stage of providing user-friendly and high-quality fintech products to targeted individuals as well as corporations. It should be noted that customers in the present era are more tech-savvy and sophisticated than ever before. So, their expectations are always increasing. To keep pace fintech companies must come up with better methods of delivery and user-friendly services if they want to remain competitive.

Getting a 360-degree view of their customers is essential to fulfilling objectives pertinent to these services. As a result, all pieces of information about customers, from their basic personal and contact information, to their transactional history, must be analysed and processed to determine the ideal services for them.

Social media behaviour of different customer groups, their interactions with other financial institutions or services, their credit ratings and history are some of the datasets which can provide Fintech companies with valuable insight. The endeavours of service providers to ensure their services are comprehensive and superior to their competitors can be achieved with Big Data analytics.

When using efficient customer relationship management (CRM) tools, powered by AI & ML, 24/7 customer support, among others features, can be offered with 360-degree customer services. Fintech companies must seek to offer these advanced features to meet the rising expectations of present and future customers.

Fintech companies providing services similar to banking need to improve their offering further. They need to become customer-centric in their approach and promote omnichannel interactions. It is essential to use SaaS, and IaaS cloud technologies in the modern landscape.

The marketing efforts promoting 360-degree customer services must be targeted at the most profitable customer groups. For the optimum implementation, Fintech companies should also focus on Customer Sentiment Analysis to learn about negative customer experiences of their services and understand the opportunities this offers.

Onboarding of customers needs to be streamlined, and business process needs to be automated, therefore offering greater efficiency for optimising 360-degree customer services.

It is evident that the implementation of 360-degree customer services in fintech environment mandates a comprehensive all-around approach without compromising security.

What are the challenges in providing 360 degree customer services?

The solution is relatively new in the financial services arena. The need for comprehensive and seamless services with a data-driven approach is obvious, but their implementation isn’t easy. It requires a holistic approach and, in some cases, it will mandate significant changes in business processes and operations.

Here are some major issues preventing many fintech companies from implementing 360-degree customer services in their offerings:

• Infrastructural problems – In order to provide effective, secure and valuable 360-degree customer services, Fintech companies need to bring about many changes in their existing infrastructure. This is true for FinTech companies providing investment and trading services, banking products and insurance services. Modernising applications and platforms and equipping them with AI and ML is crucial for optimisation.
• Operational and business process-related issues – The business processes of FinTech companies also need to be automated and made more secure. To provide 360-degree customer services, the collection and use of data by different units within the organisation need to be done not only at the departmental level but also at the organisational level.

It is also important to identify the right approach, keeping requirements in mind. So, large scale changes in operations need to be made without disrupting existing transactions and business processes.

• The cost of providing 360-degree customer services – Incorporating 360-degree customer services requires considerable changes in many operative mechanisms of the company. This is a costly exercise.

Careful financial planning is essential. Many fintech start-ups aren’t able to plan the ideal course of action, which leads to substantial losses when implementing 360-degree customer services.

• Security issues – Emerging cyberthreats, instances of fraud and money laundering often lead to problems when onboarding customers and facilitating their transactions. A delay in onboarding and the delivery of services are in stark contrast to the goals of 360-degree customer services. So, a balanced approach becomes crucial in successful implementation.

How can AI, ML and Big Data Analytics facilitate 360 degree customer services?

The all-around impact of Big Data analytics, AI and ML on the fintech universe is tremendous. The customisation of offerings, ensuring appropriate KYC in minimal time, the efficient delivery of services and the creation of a centralised database of customer information are some of the critical aspects of providing 360-degree customer services. AI, ML and Big Data analytics will have positive impacts on all of these aspects of 360-degree customer services.

Making business processes seamless and secure is achievable with powerful AI-powered algorithms. Using Big Data analytics and ML-enabled algorithms for KYC and customer onboarding can be viable solutions when creating premium 360-degree customer services.

Fintech companies can become more flexible in their approach by using Big Data analytics. This is because of its ability to process and analyse unstructured datasets in minimal time. This ability adds efficiency and speed in customer onboarding and KYC requirements, and creates optimum service methodology.

Big Data analytics and AI-powered algorithms can help fintech companies to significantly reduce costs when creating 360-degree customer services. The use of ML in solutions and feeding them appropriate datasets will facilitate optimum process in these areas, while greatly enhancing security.

Spyrosoft’s approach to providing scalable solutions in 360 degree customer services

As your service providers, we aim to enable great customer experiences. We understand that the task of providing 360-degree customer services needs comprehensive planning. Our team of experts have valuable knowledge and skills in AI, ML and Big Data analytics.

How using AI and ML works in practice?

Our Head of AI, Tomasz Smolarczyk explains:

360-degree Customer Services allow fintech companies to provide hyperpersonalization and omni-channel experience for their customers. Gathering information in one place allows them to analyse, visualize and generate insights about customers on a level and scale that was not possible before. For example, a call centre agent can get real-time information about customer activities in online channels and suggest new products or services tailored to the customer specific in the given moment.

As you can see, AI and ML can be used in multiple ways for strengthening the relationship with your customers and to better understand their needs. For more information about the details of our AI/ML services, check our services website.