From movies to television to literature, almost every imagining of the future has inevitably involved robots and artificial intelligence. For those who have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, Futurama, or I, Robot, artificial intelligence could be a main staple in many industries.
For many years, we’ve flirted with the idea of artificial intelligence, and mechanical beings walking beside us acting and thinking human-like. Scientists are trying to replicate a physical representation of our advancing knowledge and there could be an overwhelming desire to create intelligent beings like us.
The PEW Research Center conducted a study showing that two-thirds of Americans expect robots and computers to replace majority of human work within the next 50 years. It seems we’ve reached a tipping point during this decade.
For example, the automated vehicle industry is expected to grow to $1.5 billion by 2024, according to Grand View Research Inc. Moreover, Research and Markets announced that it expected the worldwide cloud automation market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 25% between 2016 and 2022! It’s no surprise that automation is here to stay. Machine learning is already empowering computers and machines with more capabilities that both improve safety and efficiency.
Automation Makes Work Easier
Take a step back from the future and look at the present for a second. From quad-copters to the Roomba to mechanical arms on assembly lines, these bots have a single defining feature: automation. Robots today are basically designed, created and deployed to take over processes that were previously done by humans.
While the idea that robots represent ingenuity and advancement of knowledge, at its heart robotics is still mostly about automating certain processes to make our lives easier. Simply put, human efforts can only go so far, and we are increasingly reliant on automating tasks in order to do things faster and better.
With robots able to sustain immense weight and the burden of constant work, projects would be completed much more quickly and with much less human involvement.
Automation Drives Business Efficiency
Automation and artificial intelligence span a wide variety of purposes other than manual labor. Automation helps with repetitive processes and makes life easier for humas. In addition, it increases accuracy, minimizes errors, and so on.
With the advent of the Internet, computers and other applications that people use everyday, society today considers technology as the norm. We are comfortable working with machines of all kinds, which simplify both trivial and complicated tasks.
Business could be sometimes repetitive, but needs a high degree of accuracy. While automation clearly relieves numerous human-related concerns, the more significant contribution to society is how it improves business processes.
That being said, this goes beyond the mechanical and industrial setting. In fact, AI, robotics and other disruptive technologies are challenging white-collar jobs more than ever.
Automation in the Financial Sector
The financial sector is one of the best examples, in which decision-makers will need the guidance of automated systems in making better data-driven decisions. Another example is in marketing and sales industries, which clearly benefit from automated data-gathering and analytics, with the goal of optimizing the user experience, in turn, increasing profitability.
No matter how hard we try, we simply cannot compete with the calculated precision of software and automation. One business that leverages automation in the finance industry is international software and technology provider Leverate. One of its senior executives indicated that we are now entering an increasingly technology-reliant era, in which “aggressive selling tactics are no longer effective.” Now, investors will not be forced into any investments that don’t fit within their parameters because of the advancements in automated systems.
Leverate offers automated technology as a trading platform for traditional brokerage businesses seeking to reduce their costs in human capital while increasing the effectiveness of their services. According to Leverate’s CEO, Kobi Gur, “trader acquisition costs across the financial trading industry are increasing dramatically and competition is getting fiercer.”
Additionally, he stated, “For brokers to survive, they need to improve their acquisition, conversion and retention funnels through automation. By automating the conversion and retention processes, brokers can guide traders through the funnel and contact them at key decision making points, resulting in higher reach, reduced staffing needs and ultimately a boost in ROI.”
With competition constantly growing in the financial world, automation provides these companies with a unique opportunity “to improve their acquisition, conversion and retention funnels.”
Automation Optimizes Marketing Goals
Automation not only improves the performance of human brokers, but it also improves customer relationship management by catering to the habits of each customer. The prevalence of connected devices like smartphones and smartwatches, automated applications can send real-time notifications in times when “key decision-making” or some form action is required, which human brokers simply cannot provide at all times.
In similar cases, automation effectively revamps productivity and usefulness of businesses that traditionally relying on human workers.
Leverate’s Chief Marketing Officer Nicc Lewis stated, “Marketing in the financial trading industry has seen automation evolve as demand to reach further often hinges on decision making within a fraction of second and the need for personalization rises.”
Moreover, Lewis said, “To maximize conversion and lifetime value, it has become critical to have automated flows running on multiple simultaneous micro segments. It is only through automation that brokers can hope to make budgets stretch to meet demands of reach.”
That being said, we’re not saying that robots are capable of improving all jobs and tasks. There are still professions and roles that only humans can fill because of physical, emotional, or mental requirements, which some technologies certainly cannot provide.
Nonetheless, automation still has its place in companies requiring quick decisions and machine-like precision.
How Automation Can Optimize FinTech
Let’s go back to the topic of trading. Reducing human involvement in the process is ideal because of a number of factors can affect portfolio returns. Factors, such as human capacity for error, hesitation, emotions, client-broker interactions (good and bad) and inconsistencies in broker performances play key roles in trading.
If you’re not a veteran trader or investor, these factors could have a negative impact on your investments. However, automation could be the solution. The use of an automated system, in some degree or completely, solves all of these problems.
Particularly in financial services, AI provides trusted and actionable real-world insights at a faster rate than human decision-making can ever accomplish.
The final reason why automation is beneficial to the end user is that it’s actually determined by the consumer. It’s no secret that today’s customers are more connected with information than ever before.
For that reason, it seems a little counter-intuitive to listen to a human broker about what assets to go after when the information is largely accessible on the Internet and social media.
Social trading forces technology providers to offer better tools, creating the need for automation in the trading business.
The Takeaway
Today, consumers have high expectations. The quickly-adapting information base of automated software that directly notifies consumers on their devices is highly beneficial to consumers.
Automation plainly provides a more informative and complete service to consumers than human brokers are currently able to.
By minimizing human error, freeing up capital, and staying updated on information, automated technologies can increase the effectiveness in a plethora of industries. Automated technologies perform tasks, which were primarily human-based, without any of the traditional constraints.
