{"id":1680,"date":"2016-05-09T23:53:54","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T23:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/industry\/blog\/uncategorized\/banking-on-bots\/"},"modified":"2023-05-31T16:17:08","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T23:17:08","slug":"banking-on-bots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/","title":{"rendered":"Banking on bots"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Improving the customer experience with bots<\/h2>\n<p>You may have seen the recent announcements from #Microsoft\u2019s CEO declaring that bots are the next big thing with the company creating a platform for the creation of bots on other platforms \u2013 including its own Skype Instant Messenger channel. Following this, Facebook also premiered their platform at their f8 conference.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been looking at the technology from a FinTech perspective and have recently come across an exciting startup, Action.ai, that is specializing in the creation of intelligent chat bots that can be used to extend and enhance existing commerce channels. These #bots are not the clunky rules-based bots currently being debuted, but make use of Natural Language Processing, a category of artificial intelligence used to elicit meaning from words and dialogue.<\/p>\n<p>The recent popularity of chat bots is due to the fact that a great number of people are spending a good deal of their time in Instant Messaging platforms, chatting with friends, privately debating, even playing games. Facebook just announced 900m monthly users on Messenger with 60billion messages sent every single month.<\/p>\n<p>We got chatting about the crossover with #FinTech, and this video provides a taster of the potential in #Banking:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\".\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/TI5DTVhF75A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The more interesting chat bot technology will algorithmically learn based on instructions taught to it, and interacts with users using natural language. Bots learn to understand what you write. The recent announcements by Microsoft and Facebook along with the likes of Kik Messenger and Line, and the opening of IM platforms to third-party services, herald the start of a boom that parallels the arrival of smartphone apps.<\/p>\n<p>Intelligent chat bots provide an intuitive end\u00a0user experience without boundaries\u00a0in which transactions can be made whilst on the move with a mobile phone. The premise is simple, an intelligent chat bot doesn\u2019t require you to make a banking transaction and get all of the variables right or ask for the transaction to be made using a geeky language. If you miss something important, like the source account, it simply asks you or even makes an intelligent assumption that you\u2019re talking about your principal account \u2013 a bit like a bank-teller would confirm. You could message an intelligent banking bot in the same way you\u2019d message a friend, and it will understand you via its nifty artificial intelligence engine.<\/p>\n<h2>The AI takes care of all of the tedious detail for you<\/h2>\n<p>Conversational Commerce allows you to do pretty-much anything that\u2019s possible with an app, such as making financial transactions and just via a text-based interface. There\u2019s no need for tediously specified instructions or worrying about spelling errors or writing in code or a particular format. None of that will matter if you undertake financial instructions using Conversational Commerce. And the SaaS model allows seamless portability to other channels.<\/p>\n<p>The #AI takes care of all of the detail for you, recognizing what you want to do from a normal textual dialogue, like \u201cI wanna stop a transaction\u201d. Easy. It knows you\u2019re talking about your bank, knows your account details, and knows that you likely want to go to stop a direct debit. Now imagine the possibilities, and you\u2019ll see why everyone\u2019s getting so excited about it. It\u2019s like Siri on steroids and, as a bonus, nobody gets to hear you clumsily and repeatedly speaking out loud into your phone like you\u2019ve gone clinically insane. But we need quality bots.<\/p>\n<p>Intelligent Chatbots can act as channel extensions or supplement existing channels, and can automatically triage to a real person when needed, just like in the Action.ai video. The promise of ubiquitous computing and ambient banking looks even more likely with this technology, accessing FinTech transactions in a frictionless way, from anywhere and at any time. Why shouldn\u2019t you be able to access your bank balance directly from your xBox by simply asking a bot, and why shouldn\u2019t you be given the option to open a dialogue with a real person during a transaction? And where best to receive triggered alerts for transactions, at real time, with the option to then ask about that event?<\/p>\n<p>Well, if you embrace the future of technology, you\u2019ll be excited to know that it\u2019s a world that\u2019s not so far away, especially with the major platforms opening their doors to allow software developers to create intelligent bots. And where is that channel best located? Why, in your pocket, of course. On your mobile phone.<\/p>\n<h2>The technology potential is enormous<\/h2>\n<p>Finally, there\u2019s no reason why this bot technology needs to interact solely with just text. Not only can a bot send you a picture of the hotel you\u2019re thinking of, or the taxi rating and a picture of your driver, but it can send you video \u2013 and video now can be made interactive. #Skype\u2019s new APIs available through Microsoft\u2019s Cognitive Services are offering some very wizzy functionality, and it won\u2019t be long before you can ask to change the color of a clothing item worn by a catwalk model you\u2019re watching on your phone through Skype video. And why not check into a physical store by simply sending a message? Your phone will be doing it all \u2013 and probably just using a single app, an IM Messenger.<\/p>\n<p>So watch out for #ConversationalCommerce. It\u2019s heading your way, strong and hard. It won\u2019t of course replace all of our standard high street nor our eCommerce and FinTech experiences, but it\u2019ll add to the mix, and make the whole experience richer and potentially more fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You may have seen the recent announcements from #Microsoft\u2019s CEO declaring that bots are the next big thing with the company creating a platform for the creation of bots on other platforms \u2013 including its own Skype Instant Messenger channel. Following this, Facebook also premiered their platform at their f8 conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":624,"featured_media":9771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4253,1523],"post_tag":[],"content-type":[1492],"coauthors":[1616],"class_list":["post-1680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","category-financial-services","content-type-news-and-announcements"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Banking on bots - Microsoft Industry Blogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Banking on bots - Microsoft Industry Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You may have seen the recent announcements from #Microsoft\u2019s CEO declaring that bots are the next big thing with the company creating a platform for the creation of bots on other platforms \u2013 including its own Skype Instant Messenger channel. Following this, Facebook also premiered their platform at their f8 conference.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Microsoft Industry Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-09T23:53:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-31T23:17:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Capture32.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1674\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"672\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Peers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Peers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 min read\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/\"},\"author\":[{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/author\/richard-peers\/\",\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@name\":\"Richard Peers\"}],\"headline\":\"Banking on bots\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-09T23:53:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-31T23:17:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/\"},\"wordCount\":946,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Capture32.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Banking\",\"Financial services\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/\",\"name\":\"Banking on bots - Microsoft Industry Blogs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Capture32.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-09T23:53:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-31T23:17:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Capture32.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Capture32.jpg\",\"width\":1674,\"height\":672},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Banking on bots\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Microsoft Industry Blogs\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Microsoft Industry Blogs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Microsoft-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Microsoft-Logo.png\",\"width\":259,\"height\":194,\"caption\":\"Microsoft Industry Blogs\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Banking on bots - Microsoft Industry Blogs","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Banking on bots - Microsoft Industry Blogs","og_description":"You may have seen the recent announcements from #Microsoft\u2019s CEO declaring that bots are the next big thing with the company creating a platform for the creation of bots on other platforms \u2013 including its own Skype Instant Messenger channel. Following this, Facebook also premiered their platform at their f8 conference.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/","og_site_name":"Microsoft Industry Blogs","article_published_time":"2016-05-09T23:53:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-31T23:17:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1674,"height":672,"url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Capture32.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Richard Peers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard Peers","Est. reading time":"4 min read"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/"},"author":[{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/author\/richard-peers\/","@type":"Person","@name":"Richard Peers"}],"headline":"Banking on bots","datePublished":"2016-05-09T23:53:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-31T23:17:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/"},"wordCount":946,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Capture32.jpg","articleSection":["Banking","Financial services"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/","name":"Banking on bots - Microsoft Industry Blogs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Capture32.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-09T23:53:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-31T23:17:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Capture32.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Capture32.jpg","width":1674,"height":672},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/financial-services\/2016\/05\/09\/banking-on-bots\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Banking on bots"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/","name":"Microsoft Industry Blogs","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#organization","name":"Microsoft Industry Blogs","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Microsoft-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Microsoft-Logo.png","width":259,"height":194,"caption":"Microsoft Industry Blogs"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Microsoft Industry Blogs","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/624"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_tag?post=1680"},{"taxonomy":"content-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-type?post=1680"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}