Harnessing Bot Technology: How Nigerian Banks Can Evolve

Banking operations have revolutionized remarkably over the years. If you are living in Nigeria or any other African country, you might marvel at how yesterday’s routine of long queues and teller slips have evolved into today’s swift, online processes. Let’s take a closer look at how this has unfolded.

With the deregulation of the telecom sector in the early 2000s, Nigeria saw an exponential rise in online users. This pivotal event catalyzed the advent of a plethora of startups across diverse sectors. Undeniably, the banking sector is one where this progress is highly palpable.

Today, we can accomplish virtually any bank-related tasks online. Indeed, the landscape of banking has matured to accommodate elaborate online transactions.

Insightfully, Nigerian banks have implemented novel services with the aim of refining the banking experience for users. A striking innovation is Social Banking, which allows customers to utilize their Facebook accounts to expedite transactions and even initiate account opening procedures.

A game-changer in this respect is the introduction of a single code that can be used to execute all transactions, freeing clients from the burden of logging in. For instance, on the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) platform, the single code *737* caters to all banking needs, including telecom line recharge.

As helpful as these services are, the banking industry will need to continuously innovate due to the increasing demand. Currently, an astonishing 70% of Nigerians are unbanked, creating a vast potential customer base which will brace the future growth. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is already running campaigns to boost the number of citizens with bank accounts.

Let’s assume the campaigns bear fruit, and within the next five years, the percentage of unbanked Nigerians reduces by half. This would mean more than 30 million fresh accounts and a surge in customer service requirements. Given the present situation, with customer agents struggling to respond swiftly to customer queries, banks will need to heavily invest in intelligent, artificial intelligence (AI) driven solutions to face these challenges.

A trailblazer in this regard is the UK’s Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest. According to a recent BBC report, these banks will soon employ AI chatbots to assist their customers.

Capitalizing on IBM Watson technology, these banks are morphing their customer interaction strategy with a web-based bot called Luvo. These bots can learn from previous interactions and provide dynamic, customized responses. Unlike traditional Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, these bots can store patterns of interactions and reapply the information in future engagements. This is where the true magic lies.

Besides cost-effectiveness, virtual assistants provide another advantage – absolute adherence to regulations. They also provide a complete audit trail of every interaction, which is essential for transparency. As put aptly by Chetan Dube, IPsoft’s CEO, AI in banking signals a “fundamental shift in the way that banks manage their operations.”

While there may be concerns about AI negating human jobs, Gina Rometty, the CEO of IBM, opines otherwise. In a CNN interview, she suggests that AI is meant to improve judgments and enhance human effort. Thus, given the evolution of customer requirements, the question is not ‘if’ but ‘when’ will banks opt for this AI approach.

Undeniably, these AI-powered bots address genuine problems. They are anticipated to weave automation into almost all the sectors of the economy. The need of the hour is to reskill and reorient citizens, to work alongside AI, or to help them transition into other prospering sectors.

To get clearer insight and potential future trends, explore these articles on automation and the bot economy.