The regulatory and technological sectors are changing rapidly with the emergence of new competitors and shifts in customer behavior. This new environment calls for a set of transformations that traditional banking institutions need to undergo in order to stay competitive and maintain customer satisfaction. These changes surely present an obstacle, but should much rather be perceived as a set of new opportunities.

With more and more consumers demanding a quality digital experience from their banks, the financial services industry is currently one of the main driving forces of digital economy. Corporate customers also aim for the efficiency of operations, better connectivity and incorporation of innovative tools. Banks along with FinTechs are accepting this challenge. According to a PwC report, 77% of financial institutions are boosting internal innovative efforts. As a consequence, companies are able to increase their set of competitive advantages. Those who decide to stay away from the emerging opportunities risk the success of their companies in the future.

Corporate banks must also face the changes brought along by digital disruption and adopt technologies that push digitalization forward. For instance, such advancements as AI- and Machine-learning-based tools, Internet of Things and blockchain can greatly help institutions improve the user experience of their customers. Moreover, these days banks will be able to do so with no extra time and money costs that were inquired by the first-movers. PayPal is a perfect example as it processes 7.8 billion payment transactions around the world per annum by applying data-driven intelligence across the entire value chain. Streamlining company’s finance processes has helped PayPal increase data quality, while reducing the time spent on data acquisition. The precise and complex machine analytics have resulted into decreased manual labor and increased accuracy of results.

The automation or repetitive tasks is crucial for banks as it enables employees to spend time on the tasks that have more value and require higher responsibility, optimizing the overall operation mechanisms.

Here is a number of ways in which banks can upgrade their commercial banking practices:

1. Service ticket intelligence solutions

ML technology can be used to process chunks of alternative data, such as social media posts, emails etc. and give an accurate analysis of market sentiment. ML-based solutions can also automate the classifications, routing, and response determination processes.

2. Customer retention solutions

These can simplify the process of predicting trends in customer behavior, such as account closures and credit card cancellations, with instant insight into transactional data and points of digital interaction.

3. Conversational bots

Bots are being widely used as the first reference-point in an interaction between the customer and bank’s support team. This form of AI is constantly evolving and increasing its intellectual capacities which makes the communication highly human-like.

4. Automation of manual tasks

Reduction of error rates, costs, and processing time are key for the optimization of banks operation.

The future of banking is in more intelligent and seamless connectivity between the institutions and corporate clients, supported by new technologies and innovative tools.

There is no doubt that in the rapidly-changing financial landscape there will be no place left for those who refuse to acknowledge the new needs and take advantage of the new opportunities. By pushing automation forward into more business processes, banks can remain competitive and secure their positions in the highly dynamic times for the industry.