Blog

3 Powerful Reasons to Invest in AI Today

artificial intelligence hand and a human hand pointing to each other
By Fotis Konstantinidis

2 minutes

It’s time for credit unions to unleash the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence.

Sponsored by CUES Supplier member CO-OP Financial Services

While 2018 is quickly being dubbed “the year of AI,” by all indicators fintech’s latest phenomenon is just getting started.

According to IDC, global spending on cognitive and artificial intelligence systems will reach $19.1 billion in 2018, an increase of 54.2 percent over 2017 levels. By 2021, AI spending is expected to grow to $52.2 billion. 

Gartner predicts that in 2021, “AI augmentation will generate $2.9 trillion in business value and recover 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity.” By 2022, one in five workers engaged in mostly non-routine tasks will rely on AI to do a job.

While these and other projections speak volumes about AI’s vast untapped potential, the question for credit unions remains: How can the technology unleash opportunities for us? 

Here are three compelling reasons to invest in artificial intelligence and machine learning today.

1. Personalized Products and Services

The more we know about members, the better we can serve them. AI technologies allow credit unions to access both internal and external data, including publicly available information from social media feeds that tell us exactly who our members are. The ability to build richer, more complex profiles of members allows us to customize products and services in ways that better reflect their needs. 

2. 24/7 Member Service

AI-driven systems hold tremendous potential to improve member service. In fact, bots are already being deployed throughout the industry to answer questions and deliver services around the clock, providing unprecedented access to members and much-needed relief to call centers

3. Better Security

Fraud losses and false positives cost credit unions dearly. By applying advanced data mining techniques in high performance computational environments, AI allows us to take a more predictive approach to fraud detection, one that yields more precise results faster, and a more seamless member experience overall.

CO-OP has made its own investment in the AI and machine learning space with the launch of COOPER, an advanced data-driven machine learning platform. As the data-driven “brain” inside CO-OP, COOPER will ingest and process data on our members and transactions happening within the CO-OP ecosystem in order to predict, prevent and adapt to complex fraud patterns. Eventually, we see COOPER being more than a security tool. The system will eventually yield the breadth of data needed to help credit unions serve members more intelligently, holistically and personally

Ultimately, member relationships are built one interaction at a time. AI promises to bring a wealth of data to our fingertips, giving us a truly unique opportunity to make every member touchpoint count.

Fotis Konstantinidis is SVP/fraud products for CUES Supplier member CO-OP Financial Services, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Learn more about how COOPER can bring the benefits of AI and machine learning to your credit union.

Compass Subscription