The financial services sector is undergoing a rapid and profound transformation driven by the emergence and adoption of AI technologies. AI can enable financial institutions to:

• Enhance customer experience
• Optimize operations
• Improve risk management
• Generate new revenue streams

According to a recent report by PwC, AI could add $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, and the financial services sector could capture $1.2 trillion of this value. However, AI also poses significant challenges and risks for the financial services sector, such as ethical, regulatory, technical, and organizational issues. To succeed in the AI era, financial institutions need to develop:

• Clear vision
• Strategy
• Roadmap for AI readiness

Furthermore, to reap these benefits, the financial services sector needs to invest in the capabilities, infrastructure, and governance required to implement AI solutions effectively and responsibly.

AI readiness is not a one-time event, but a continuous and dynamic process that requires constant adaptation and innovation – essentially ongoing change management. These AI change management requirements involve not only adopting AI technologies but also transforming the culture, processes, and skills of the organization to become more:

• Agile
• Data-driven
• Customer-centric

AI readiness requires a holistic and integrated approach that aligns the business objectives, the customer needs, the regulatory environment, and the ethical principles of the organization. AI readiness demands strong collaboration and coordination among different stakeholders, such as business units, IT, data, compliance, legal, and external partners. Nonetheless, transforming an organization faces many barriers and challenges, such as:

• Data quality and availability
• Talent scarcity and retention
• Legacy systems and silos
• Security and privacy
• Ethical and social implications

To meet these challenges through the effective utilization of AI, proactive financial services organizations understand AI readiness has the potential to:

• Create significant enterprise value and competitive advantage for the financial services sector, by enabling new and improved products, services, and business models.
• Enhance customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention, by providing personalized, convenient, and seamless experiences across channels and touchpoints.
• Optimize costs, efficiency, and productivity, by automating and augmenting various tasks and processes, such as customer service, fraud detection, credit scoring, and compliance.
• Improve decision making, risk management, and performance, by leveraging advanced analytics, insights, and predictions.
• Innovate and differentiate, by creating new revenue streams, markets, and partnerships, and by fostering a culture of experimentation and learning.

Organizations should recognize that to take advantage of these opportunities, they are not alone. There are products and solutions already on the market with proven ROI that are ready to be integrated into the financial institutions' value chain.

To achieve AI readiness, financial institutions need to follow some leading practices, such as:

• Define a clear and compelling vision and strategy for AI, aligned with the business goals, customer expectations, and market opportunities.
• Assess the current state of AI maturity and readiness, and identify the gaps and priorities for improvement.
• Develop a roadmap and action plan for AI readiness, with clear objectives, milestones, and metrics.
• Build a robust and scalable AI infrastructure and architecture, that can support the data, computing, and security needs of AI solutions.
• Establish a strong AI governance and ethics framework, that can ensure the quality, reliability, accountability, and transparency of AI solutions.
• Develop and nurture a diverse and skilled AI talent pool, that can design, develop, deploy, and maintain AI solutions.
• Foster a culture of collaboration and innovation, that can enable cross-functional teams, agile methodologies, and continuous learning and improvement.

We offer a comprehensive range of AI & Advanced Analytics solutions and services, tailored to the specific needs and objectives of the financial services sector, such as:

• Data Governance: We help you design and implement data governance frameworks that ensure the quality, security, and compliance of your data assets.
• AI Readiness: We assess your AI maturity and readiness, and provide you with a roadmap and best practices to accelerate your AI adoption and transformation.
• Risk Analytics: We leverage advanced analytics and AI to help you measure, monitor, and manage various types of risks, such as credit, market, operational, and regulatory risks.
• Credit Risk: We apply AI and machine learning techniques to enhance your credit risk modeling, scoring, and decisioning, and to optimize your credit portfolio and strategy.