New research reveals that the majority (52%) of financial services employees feel positive or very positive about the growth of AI, and 62% say learning to use new technologies increases their motivation at work and improves customer experience. More than half (56%) are also confident they have the necessary skills to work with more AI tools.

The research, which polled 500 financial services employees (banking and insurance) in the UK and Ireland, was commissioned by payroll and HR software provider Zellis and suggests most employees are set to embrace new technologies as adoption increases across the banking and insurance industries.

Other notable findings show that 42% of respondents believe AI will help them to learn new skills, a figure that rises to 60% amongst those who work for larger financial services organisations (+1,000 employees). Thirty-eight percent also believe new technologies will increase their productivity and efficiency at work.

Financial services employees are also more comfortable with the idea of using AI for certain tasks over others. Across the board, respondents are most confident using it to recommend products and services (60%), perform admin tasks such as note taking (58%), and review documents and applications (57%). Confidence drops notably when it comes to using AI for higher risk activities, however: those who work in banking would be least confident in using AI to make investment decisions or inform lending agreements (36% and 28% respectively), and insurance workers are least comfortable in using it to inform underwriting decisions (41%) or handle customer queries (38%).

Overall, the research presents a positive outlook for financial services companies looking to increase their adoption and application of new technologies, though some concerns remain: one in ten feels very negative about the growth of AI, 22% believe the adoption of AI will create difficulties and challenges, and nearly a quarter (23%) are not confident they have the necessary skills to work with new technologies.

Commenting on the findings, Rebecca Mullins, Director of HCM Solutions at Zellis, said: “This research confirms that the majority of financial services employees are primed to embrace new technologies, and that spells good news for the industry’s future success. AI is creating opportunities for banks and building societies to enhance customer experiences through personalisation, while insurance companies are leveraging AI to gather and assess data more quickly for use in decision making and underwriting.”

Mullins continued: “The opportunities are immense but to thrive in this shifting landscape, employers must now focus on identifying how and where to optimise outcomes as new tools and platforms are introduced.”

The research also asked about respondents’ use of current technologies, and while the majority say their existing tools are easy to understand and use (67%), and make their work easier (66%), a smaller number were less positive: two in ten respondents feel frustrated because their current technology is not reliable, does not improve the customer experience, and fails to increase customer spend.

“By leveraging these critical insights to better understand employees’ needs, wants, and concerns, financial services providers will be much better positioned to tackle issues of employee motivation and confidence – and crucially, build technology skills where they are most needed,” concluded Mullins.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash