The financial world is constantly evolving with several daily processes being taken care of by digital or artificial assistants. This shift in the use of technology has enabled us to explore and focus our research on more complicated matters.
The Belgian banking giant KBC was the latest member to be bitten by a digital bug as it revealed plans to move from an omnichannel to a digital-first distribution model. This idea was accelerated by the seismic shift triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the company, all KBC products, services, and commercial processes will be designed with the emphasis of staying on digital architecture. KBC also created a digital assistant called Kate, which will encompass all digital functionalities for the bank’s virtual plane shift. Johan Thijs, the KBC chief executive4 stated:
“Kate is a core element of a disruptive strategy that has an impact on all products and processes, as well as on how we steer our organization and interact with our customers. Ultimately, all product and process development and updates will be driven by Kate. Interaction between the branches, KBC Live (our remote contact center) and Kate will be maximized to boost the pickup rate of Kate-driven solutions.”
The use of a digital setup was seen as a necessary step by the company with future applications drawing from the current roadmap. KBC’s first plans to roll out the technology to retail customers in Belgium and the Czech Republic. Although the launch is expected to take a few weeks, fans of the technology were eagerly waiting for it. Apart from acting as a digital assistant, Kate will also impart personalized banking advice to users.
Sources close to the developments of Kate claimed that the AI would get smarter as more users jump on-board. The success rate of the service and the product is dependent on the feedback loop between the customer and the platform. KBC expects to see a surge in adoption once then technology moves across borders.