Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a software and service category that automated rules based and repetitive tasks, usually manually keyed or data entry in nature. It is growing and forecast to grow substantially (25-30% CAGR) to over $13B in the next decade.
One of the leaders in RPA software is the company UiPath. UiPath went public in 2021. They do over $1B in annual revenue and, even after taking a beating in valuation last year, have a market cap of $8.9B. Essentially, UiPath’s offerings automate tedious and manual back office tasks. Think of things like filling out applications and following page after page of point/click/fill in the form type work.
One area they have been successfully automating in financial services is loan applications, particularly mortgages. This is a big cost and time savings for mortgage originators like community banks and their customers. Not only can they complete many underwriting tasks faster, but they’re able to do this without having to migrate to new tools or rewrite their legacy solutions to do that.
What generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, enable is a similar ability, but for customer experience.
Messaging, presentation, and application UI are all areas where personalization/customization matters and can make a big difference. Creating an experience that is tailored to the individual customer is powerful but difficult and time consuming to execute.
The promise of generative AI is the ability to supercharge personalization. The ultimate version would be creating customer segments of 1, speaking to every customer, in every interaction, as an individual. Like the increase in effectiveness and scale RPA provides loan underwriters, Gen AI can boost marketing and customer experience to an unprecedented level.
The capability to inject personalized content, recommendation (product or otherwise), messaging, and overall look and feel at every interaction is on offer. Every time your customer has any contact with your institution, be it in person, on the phone, via web or app, at the ATM, or through a partner, it could be the intimate and personal conversation they will remember and tell others about for years to come.
I heard a quote that people’s attention spans aren’t getting shorter; the bar has just been raised for what they will tolerate. The well crafted but generic messaging and experience that once was acceptable now gets swiped to the left.
The ability of businesses, particularly community banks and credit unions, to talk one-on-one in every interaction with their customer is increasingly a competitive advantage, and one large banks are unwilling to even engage with.
To wrap up the draw that scaled personalization presents, we’ll quote The Tale Of Despereaux:
“There is nothing sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name.”