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Day: June 1, 2018

Artificial Intelligence – The Big Game Changer For Business!

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Artificial Intelligence as a concept seemed very distant and tucked away till firms like Google, Amazon, and Facebook brought it into our daily lives and we started seeing its impact in our day to day activities and interactions. Today realizingly or unknowingly we are surrounded by AI in almost every aspect of life from Health to fitness, Finances, Entertainment, education, business and selling, marketing and market research media, and lots more.

Let us try and understand the impact of AI on the key aspects of economic inequality & business cycles and business productivity.

Economic inequality is one of the biggest changes that artificial intelligence is bringing to our doorstep. Artificial intelligence poses the greatest threat to people employed in low skilled or unskilled repetitive jobs, and as more and more companies incorporate AI into their business model, the disparity between low skilled and highly skilled workers is set to increase.

If we consider three major sectors – agriculture, industrial and service, we will observe that the manpower employed in agriculture has reduced the most over the years (although output hasn’t reduced that sharply), and the services sector has seen the steepest rise in a number of people employed.

Every threat and weakness also brings in an opportunity wrapped in strength, and AI is no different. Although a lot of jobs are at risk due to artificial intelligence, AI is laying the field open for several other alternate professions. Programming and testing professionals, coding heroes, data scientists, they all are going to be in great demand in the coming years. Upskilling and learning a new skill is something the workforce would need to embrace if they are to keep their careers on the burn instead of fizzling out.

Artificial Intelligence has impacted almost every facet of business already and looks set to forcefully influence many other areas too. One of the ways in which artificial intelligence is in the way business cycles occur and repeat. Business cycles are the periodic changes from great prosperity and increasing revenue to economic downfall and losses. The business cycles are impacted by AI because AI pushes these cycles closer together and makes them shorter.

We have the growth phase and the consolidation phase during the upswing, but these are now happening more swiftly because AI helps to improve by course correction in a much shorter time. Thousands of data points are analyzed with the help of AI, which then trains itself to come closer to the required output. Compared to that, humans would go through the cycle at a much slower rate.

Let us take an easy example to understand how business cycles are affected by artificial intelligence. In the banking sector, the first quarter of the financial year is usually the most popular for customers to open new accounts to align with the start of a new financial year. From the point of view of the banks themselves, the last quarter is a big quarter to push for new accounts and deposits, primarily because they are rushing to fulfill their annual targets. The remaining two quarters are comparatively less rushed.

What happens to this scenario when the bank applies artificial intelligence to its systems? For the first and last quarters, the system could throw up the details of existing customers who would be likely to need new accounts, so that the bank officials could target them. This data-crunching could begin in the last quarter (for first-quarter acquisitions) and in the third quarter (for last quarter acquisitions).

For the second and third quarters too, which are usually leaner, the prospective clients for new acquisitions could be highlighted. What this whole setup would do after repeating for a few cycles is that the usual cycle of quarters would be disrupted, and acquisitions of new clients would be more uniform throughout the year.

The future looks very exciting for industries who are using artificial intelligence, and the possibilities seem immense.

Customer Service Trends – 2018 Is Making Operations Become Faster?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 2 minutes

A recent publication shows that a smart AI strategy ensures transformative customer service in times where the customer is spoilt for choices in every area, and how firms can use AI as a weapon to offer uniquely differentiated products on the back of its usage. Unlike common perception, the authors have demonstrated how usage of AI will make operations faster, more effective, and cheaper yet more human. It has various updates on chatbots and how they enhance the customer self-service experience at L1.

Usage of prescriptive AI for quelling headcount growth by taking over routine tasks and allowing agents to focus on deeper customer experiences.

There has been a  steady rise of virtual assistants like Siri & Alexa and they will become independent local hubs of customer experience. Visual engagement avenues such as co-browsing & screen sharing and the expected uptick in usage across age groups.

IOT will transform business models as It will allow production companies to provide proactive services for their high-end products, through preemptive on-site /user monitoring and reporting to a centralized center versus reactive service upon a product breakdown.

Usage of Robotic Process automation for improved delivery of repetitive tasks and end to end automation of basic processes allowing humans to take escalations. Machine learning along with this allows them to learn through interactions that they go through to become more cognitive and intelligent.

Enhanced field service by equipping agents with enough information and parts to ensure that they get the customer’s job done in a single visit. This also covers the usage of augmented reality along with digital interactions for deeper interactions in the physical world without physical presence.

The emergence of “superagents- equipped with AI tools” where companies will relook & redefine their workforce basis their skills and charge a premium for the usage of these services. There will also be seen a rise in customer service ecosystems where firms will use a combination of AI, their resources, and partners to see the customer through their entire journey and not just a portion of it.

With the above, we are looking at a new world order where Artificial intelligence will impact every aspect of our lives knowingly or unknowingly and transform the way we lead our lives including individual privacy and experiences.

Quit Playing Games With Artificial Intelligence – Its Serious Business Now!

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The gaming industry is no longer a simple and cheap way to keep restless children occupied during their summer vacations. People of all ages actually spend hours together in front of their gaming consoles playing a variety of games. The quality of games has improved beyond recognition today, keeping serious gamers glued to their games for long periods of time, helping make these games economically feasible.

One big change in recent years that has turned the gaming industry around is the development of artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Let us see a few ways in which this has happened.

Gaming Realism

We have seen how virtual reality helps to generate 3D images or an overall environment that interacts with reality. We have all been amazed and impressed to see a real character in a VR environment wave his or her hands in the air and conjure up a screen on which different dials and buttons are available. Similar virtual reality environments inside games have added a touch of the realistic to these games.

Adaptive Environment

Unlike the static code of earlier games, where a certain action X by a character or the player would result in a fixed outcome Y only. But with the introduction of artificial intelligence, the environment and the responses to actions could be varied, with the game throwing up different responses in different scenarios.

The Move to Responsive

Most of the activities we do today are moving from the computer to our mobile phones, like watching sports or news or looking at weather forecasts, ordering takeaway, booking tickets, etc. The situation is no different for the gaming industries. They are having to adapt to this scenario and create games that are easy to view and easy to maneuver on mobile phones. Responsiveness is the new buzzword.

Heavy Computing Power

This is a phenomenon observed in all our gadgets like computers, mobile phones etc. There has been a surge in computing power. This has affected gaming as well, with super-fast responses from the characters. This is because the gaming consoles now carry unbelievable computing power.

Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence in gaming consoles is encouraging the gaming programs to learn from past experience and adjust its responses accordingly, making the gaming experience more difficult for the players. The games are getting smarter because of the use of these artificial intelligence tools, making them all the more challenging for the players.

Real-Time Reactions

Games earlier were one-dimensional collections of graphics and code which threw up situations for the gamers, to which they would provide certain reactions, to which the game would again provide a certain response. This was done with the help of a detailed algorithm which dictated the machine’s response. But now, with AI, the events happening within the game would influence the reaction of the computer, and these changes in reaction would also go into its knowledge bank and contribute to its machine learning.

Developer Skills

One more aspect of the industry changes in the gaming industry is that the developers writing the code for these games now have to contend with all the changes listed above, and therefore have to pick up adequate skills for incorporating elements of artificial intelligence and virtual reality in these games.

Industry Change

The gaming industry is seeing far-reaching changes as a result of the addition of virtual reality elements into games. The gaming experience becomes much more rich and intense for the player, therefore making them more willing to fork out much higher prices for the games they buy. Advertisements linked to different games have also become more visible, providing gaming companies to look at a rich stream of revenue.

A Contemporary Outlook on Lending

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Money lending has been one of the oldest professions in human civilization. Typically, the loaned amount would attract an amount of interest, and the borrower would need to pay back the principal amount along with accrued interest, either in a single repayment or in several instalments. As financial institutions like banks began to design loans for different needs, the processes and paperwork began to get more streamlined, with standard qualifying criteria and repayment terms. Thereafter, we progressed to the concept of credit rating, a standardized score to ascertain the repayment capacity of the borrower. These scores were commonly available to all banks and any lender could easily assess the quality of a borrower from his credit score. Today lending has progressed beyond the earlier paradigm and has begun to incorporate several other aspects. Let us take a look at some of them.

Latest Technology

Both aspects of banking – loans and deposits – are today done more from the comfort of one’s home than by going to the bank physically. Internet banking makes all this possible with the use of a laptop or computer, or even on a smartphone. Specifically, with respect to loans, there are so many platforms now available, which make the work of the bank as well as the borrower much easier. May it be credit assessment of borrowers to the vetting of loan documents, every aspect of lending has begun getting automated. This allows the entire lending process to get completed much faster than earlier. There are apps now available which do the work of integrating lending technologies in one place. This can help the borrower keep track of his entire loan lifecycle, from the first intervention (at the time of comparing options) to the end (by tracking repayment schedules and finally generating closure certificates). From the point of view of the lender, useful analytics is now possible by using integrated data which can give an overview of all running and repaid loans for the same borrower.

Newer Avenues

Banks have progressed beyond the traditional types of customers and are now targeting financial inclusion with alternative lending. Financial inclusion refers to the process of bringing into the banking mainstream those segments of society who might not have the usual documents that the banking system generally asks of its customers. The size of the deposits and loans for this segment might be much smaller than those that banks and their customers are used to. Many banks are actually opting to set up credit franchisees in the hinterland instead of setting up branches. The persons becoming credit franchisees of banks in a particular region are usually people who have stayed in that region for a long time and know the creditworthiness (or lack of it) of people in that region. They are responsible for both credit assessment of borrowers as well as the repayment of the loans.

Making It Personal

As mentioned earlier, a surprisingly large number of people need nothing more than an internet connection on a smartphone to carry out all their banking transactions. The only thing that needs to be taken care of is the security of the phone so that the transactions are safely carried out. When a loan is to be taken, there are apps which compare different loans available and then also proceed to initiate the loan application to the particular bank chosen. This helps in personifying the digital lending experience.
This is what lending has evolved to today, and we eagerly await even more advances which will revolutionize the way banks lend to clients. Technology plays a dominant role in personalizing the user experience and most banks today have a virtual assistant that helps customers wade through the lending process and provide timely assistance and guidance.

The Adoption of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Fintech

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Adoption of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Fintech

There is hardly any aspect of business today that is untouched by technology. And when it comes to technology, the whole world is in raptures about Artificial Intelligence, using it in diverse ways, ranging from error minimization, pipeline generation, customer service, backend operations and so many more. For companies that provide computer programs and other applications for banks and financial institutions, Artificial Intelligence has opened up several avenues to sharpen their operations and offerings. There are several aspects of banking operations that can be optimized by AI applications, but let’s limit ourselves to three important ones and examine how artificial intelligence is impacting each of them – we will focus on Investment Advisory, Risk Management and Customer Service.

Investment Advisory

The first application of Machine Learning is in undertaking recurring transactions. Let’s take the example of a trading firm which buys and sells stocks for itself or on behalf of its clients. Its systems can be set up to place a buy order or a sell order when a particular stock reaches a predetermined price. This is a fairly straightforward transaction, but when Machine Learning components are introduced, what the system does is to plough through millions of such transactional data points to come up with a predictive algorithm. This would take into account the history of a particular stock and also the general response of stocks to certain external indicators like political or corporate events. As the system keeps crunching more and more data and continues to learn from data, it would possibly become easy for it to predict stock or fund movements in advance.

Risk Management and Fraud Prevention

The biggest advantage of applying Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to the prevention of fraud and the management of risk is that no human judgement or discretion is involved. This usually dilutes risk management and fraud detection. Let us look at fraud prevention first. Often frauds are perpetrated by a group of people working from multiple locations and carrying out multiple transactions on the same day, or even within a couple of hours. For a particular office or branch, the entire chain of transactions might be impossible to take cognizance of and make out a potential fraud build-up. But Machine Learning can detect such patterns based on the basis of a study of past frauds and flag off those transactions in time. Even if a big fraud is not being planned, regular vetting of transactions can also be done efficiently to free up employees for more productive tasks. Risk management for credit appraisal is a complex set of calculations from financial reports and other static data. Artificial Intelligence can add more depth to that assessment by factoring in real-time dynamic data.

Customer Service

Customer Service as a function started with customers having to walk into their branch to have their queries resolved. Then we moved on to phone-based query resolution setups, but many customers found it comfortable to speak to a voice rather than a human. The introduction of machine learning has meant that the phone service can become more effective and the customer doesn’t have to wait till a human comes on to the line. Patterns of earlier queries, access to large amounts of data, and the potential to carry out calculations and searches much faster have meant that Artificial Intelligence can actually provide useful answers most of the times, rather than a sterile standardized answer. This has been augmented by the introduction of digital assistants who are able to mimic a human customer service employee and come up with answers that are relevant and useful. We are fast moving towards the day when fintech will utilize artificial intelligence almost completely to handle customer service.

Making Sense of Disruption in Wealth Management

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 3 minutes

In the present day, Wealth Management is one of the most dominant sectors in the financial industry. Wealth Management businesses tend to have higher growth prospects and return on investments (ROI) ratios than most other retail financial businesses.
However, the Wealth Management industry is in the middle of a major shift; a new generation of investors have created the demand for modern standards on how wealth management services are delivered. The expectations and inclinations of these investors are shaped by advancement in technologies and their experience of the last financial crisis. Furthermore, rising costs of risk to investor’s funds and wealth management firms alike are making it harder for financial analysts to provide exclusive investment services for the clients.
Today, many Wealth Management firms are trying to determine how to engrain technology within their business models and use it as a tool in the financial services industry. Robo-advisory is one such emerging trend that has come to light in the field of wealth management.
The advantages of robot-advisory are that they provide affordable and reliable financial advice for all investors regardless of their net worth. While some may argue there is no role for robot-advisors in the Wealth Management industry, the truth is that we’ve reached a point where it’s impossible to live without it.
Ever since the widespread penetration of internet and digital devices, investors’ expectations have changed at a rapid pace. Convenience is now a top priority for all businesses. No one wants to waste time in physically visiting a place or talking on the phone to receive financial advice on a daily basis. This has resulted in not only more efficient and effective conduct of business, but also an increase in the number of investors willing to take risks for higher returns. That’s why most wealth management institutions are starting to adapt robot-advisory by altering the way they function.
Just like robot-advisors, another hot technological trend in the financial world is Blockchain. Numerous financial institutions including many major banks have already started exploring Blockchain’s potential in the wealth management industry.
The blockchain is a decentralized ledger which includes a safe and secure record of all cryptocurrency transactions that have been completed. It can be accessed by anyone regardless of the size of his transactions.
The idea behind Blockchain technology can provide a digital source of identity authentication allowing the unified exchange of documents between investors and wealth management institutions including banks. This is likely to bring a rise in automated investment services and reduction in working capital cost, all the while maintaining the privacy of data required by law.FinTech Banner
Introduction of Blockchain is paving way for a surge of a cryptocurrency-based financial revolution that is already creating disruption in wealth management industry. The underlying process has also changed when technology replaced paperwork in back offices of wealth management institutions. Cryptocurrency basically is reordering the functioning of financial institutions in such ways we couldn’t envision until now. Although it will take some time for companies to fully entrust the benefits of cryptocurrency to investors, right now only a few can afford transparency as Blockchain technology evolves and is adopted by competitors.
The economy stands at a point where anyone can predict with logical certainty from cryptocurrency-based solutions. Currently, at the dawn of the Blockchain revolution, the major challenge for wealth management corporations is identifying and focusing on sectors which require innovative thinking to adapt to technological changes. If well-established wealth management businesses don’t modify their organizational models to address these setbacks, they may find themselves at a disadvantage in the industry.

The Changing Face of Cyber Security

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Almost everything we do nowadays is done on the internet. Be it on the computer, or on the smartphone, by using an app or a website, almost all our activities are done using the cyber waves. Starting from when we wake up, we like to check the news on our smartphones instead of reading the newspaper, we measure our calories burnt on our fitbits while completing our morning jog, we check the weather forecast on our smartwatches, we connect with friends or look up job offers on our laptops, we book our tickets for the evening movie, we make reservations for dinner, all of it through the internet on our laptops.
While this has made a huge difference to our convenience, the underlying issue of security still persists. Many of these conveniences and applications require us to provide our personal details, geographic location and even contact numbers. While these are of no consequence to a service provider, it still makes consumers vulnerable to data theft. Theft of identity is a major problem that many of us underestimate. An even bigger problem is financial fraud where your credit card details are hacked and misused.
Most websites and apps which need a financial transaction from customers have multiple levels of security for their websites so that user data is not compromised. But it is still true that 99 percent of computers are still vulnerable to cyber-attacks or malware. The first reason for is that data volume has increased exponentially over the last few years, and to keep all of it clean requires a huge effort. Second, companies wanting to integrate cybersecurity into their systems are unable to scale up the defenses using regular tools based on SQL without incurring huge expenses. This is the reason Big Data and Analytics is being used in a big way to ensure payment security. This kind of cyber security must have three levels of defense – to prevent any instances, to detect risks before they actually occur, and to adequately respond to any cyber threats to security.
First, advanced analytics can detect unusual activity in a system. For example, if an employee’s mobile device is being inadvertently or purposefully used to download company data, an alarm would be sounded in advance. Secondly, Fintech applications can also plough through tens and hundreds of previous instances and try to form patterns how the attack was done. This will make it easier to come up with an adequate response and proper defenses. Thirdly, these analytics solutions would be able to look at the worldwide macro trends of malware movements that will help to understand possible threats and how best to tackle them.
As a way of protecting themselves from cyber attacks, many companies are also opting for cyber insurance. Just like a health insurance provides protection against major illnesses and hospitalization costs, a cyber insurance protects the insured company against loss of revenue, data, reputation and future business due to a cyber attack or a malware attack. The underwriting of a cyber insurance policy would be very complicated because the landscape of cyber crime is still very hazy and unclear. Also, it is not easy to estimate the extent of loss due to a cyber attack, or at least to convert it into the dollar value.
Even governments have woken up to the real and present danger of cyber crimes, and the immense potential for damage that a data leak or a data theft carries. That is why many countries are putting in place cyber regulations to protect the owner of data and the initiator of e-commerce transactions.

Why Change Doesn’t Happen and What to Do About It?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning
Reading Time: 3 minutes

This is a time of the year when courses get over, the market is filled with new opportunities and talent, the best time to issue changes in an organization. But why do changes not happen? Decisions have been taken to either offer a new product or refine the offering, yet it seems too difficult for the change to occur.

Change is not to be taken lightly, no matter how slow its impacts are. People generally are comfortable with the old schedule and any change in that makes them get prepared along, so they do not allow changes quickly. Changes also do not happen overnight, they take time to be felt upon.

Even when it is felt for a recommended change, its pitfalls of done shabbily affects the whole process of welcoming a new change. The reasons and their possible solutions are discussed below-

No decision is taken

A change is propelled by an idea, constant work on it turn them into projects. Work is done for several weeks, yet a major step can be missed if the idea runs out of fizz as a decision was hard to be taken as simple as that.

Resolution- This can be avoided if the decision maker is chosen initially.

Whether an individual or a committee consisting of several, decision making must be unbiased and benefits to the organization. This speeds up the process, the project comes under the direct purview of the leader. Implementing decisions can be a big step for changes.

 

Change lacks luster or that extra edge

The changes need to be supported by the management and also be positively welcomed into. Choosing the right people for the job makes it easier to complete a task. For example, human resources managers are better to tell who will be benefited with corporate training rather than some top-level bureaucrat.

Resolution- The changes can be proved more useful if supported by case studies or performance reports that are sure to excite everyone. This eliminated guesswork and drives up efficiency.

Communication gap

Let’s face it, most of the decisions are taken in the boardroom within private enclosures, and little to no communication takes place. When there is a change in works, any delay in the final announcement gets the worst of the team, they expect something to change but still not clear what change is to take place themselves. This could to leaks of information or even spread of rumours underlying the effectiveness of employees.

Resolution– Communication is the best way to remove fears of the team, it must be the duty of the organization to promote friendliness and effective communication channels within the organization. A preview can be given to chosen executives to gather the feedback and working on the improvements. Communication about the change can be done through editorial messages or notices boards. Informal messaging can be done through social media or corporate Intranet.

Change not Followed by Training

Announcement leading to changes can be discussed with proper presentations of the situations now and to be expected later and must be clear to all attendees. Arrangements may be made to post this discussion in internal channels for quick delegation of the information. As reiterated earlier, humans are comfortable in doing their habits, any change in them will make them uncomfortable. To alleviate this tension, training must be arranged to provide the team with confidence.

Resolution– For counseling and training purpose, the organization can take the help of certified trainers to help their employees. A good training can help them excellently.

Effective Date to Get Started

A gap might exist between the announcement, the training and the effective date of getting started. There should be no gap in the ideal situations, as change is not a distant process and should be welcomed into the work culture of the organization as effectively as possible.

Resolution– The team should be well informed about the go-live date and a change can be ranging from a new feature on the webpage, a new product is to be launched or new performance evaluation system. A small time period may be provided to tweak and make effective improvements to that mentioned earlier.