Conversational AI Roundtable at Nordic FinTech Week: Reactions

Thank you to everyone who attended the Conversational AI Roundtable discussion at Nordic FinTech Week last week.

I was joined by industry leaders from across the Nordics from a mix of disciplines. Some were responsible for Conversational AI in their financial services firms, others were actively evaluating it, some were from startups implementing the technology and others were consultants and advisors to the sector.

We observed the Chatham House Rules approach so I won't identify who was at the event or what they said.

The insights were both enlightening and encouraging:

• Conversational AI has moved beyond potential to reality. It's now very much embedded in insurance and banking, delivering substantial ROI through both internal processes and customer interactions.
• There's a growing consensus that Conversational AI could become the dominant customer interface throughout the financial services marketplace, reshaping how businesses and customers communicate.
• We heard many examples of use cases (internal and external) from across the financial services world in the Nordics, generally focusing on 'agent assist' (internal) and automation of both low-level and medium-complexity customer service management (external).
• Contrary to fears of job displacement, it was observed that we are seeing a largely positive impact on the workforce at the moment. Examples abound of improved efficiency and, (perhaps surprisingly), enhanced job satisfaction.
• Maturity with Conversational AI is very high amongst many financial services, although some who have been slow to learn and adjust are now (anecdotally) spending heavily to dramatically increase their maturity.
• In a fascinating example, some call centre agents are actively seeking employment at companies that are utilising Conversational AI for repetitive end-customer tasks. They reported a more engaging work environment when freed from mundane queries!
• These findings underscore a key point: Conversational AI isn't just transforming customer experiences, it's revolutionising the employee experience too. As we navigate this AI-driven future, it's clear that the companies embracing this technology thoughtfully are setting themselves up for success on multiple fronts.

Here's a quick summary video from about 5 minutes after the event:

Thanks once again to the organisers of Nordic FinTech Week for helping to facilitate both a phenomenal conference and a great roundtable!

If you're planning an event, let me know if I can host a Conversational AI roundtable as a side activity. Please reach out to discuss.