Sustained Growth and Competitiveness Demand Gen AI Adoption: Hemant Sood, Ludhiana

82% believe GenAI will significantly change their industry, as found by Google Cloud and why not.

Afterall, despite us being in the most technologically saturated times, very few technologies can be termed as transformative in the real sense and AI is definitely one of them. 

In essence, going by the recent developments, AI has emerged as powerful force capable enough to alter the course of human evolution. Something many compare with the discovery of fire and the recent advent of the internet.

Furthermore, we find that it is the Generative AI or GenAI that is making the maximum waves in the AI domain itself. All thanks to its amazing capability of generating output by understanding and following instruction in simple human language. 

That is why GenAI is finding grounds across various business domains and the finance domain is no different.

In our quest to further explore how AI, specifically Gen AI, will disrupt the finance industry, we connected with Hemant Sood, Managing Director of Findoc Investmart, a Fintech company based in Ludhiana. His understanding of the AI technology and finance industry enlightened us with some amazingly fascinating insights.

Gen AI Adoption - “Cautious yet Optimistic”: Hemant Sood, Ludhiana 

"The arrival of GenAI is likened to the internet, underscoring its transformative potential in reshaping financial services.", Hemant Sood analyzed. “However, there is a cautious yet optimistic approach to GenAI adoption” he pointed out. 

Further adding weight to his statement Hemant Sood said, “a Gartner survey found 49% of senior executives in financial services see a moderate impact and only 2% see it as disruptive in the short term.”  

Thus, there is no denying that GenAI will be surely entering the financial space in one way or the other. It is the kind of disruption that it will bring is what remains to be seen. However, there are some patterns that have started to emerge.

Finance Sector and GenAI – The Data-based Perfect Synergy 

To start with, the finance sector generates vast amounts of data, and GenAI is extremely capable of processing data in large quantities and at high speed – a match made in heaven. 

This enables institutions to analyze data more effectively and make better-informed decisions and strategies. 

"With GenAI, Now is the time when we will see FIs tapping the full potential of their data. They will make well-informed strategies and decisions and easily beat those who will be slow on adoption" Sood states.

Productivity is the top Dividend of GenAI Adoption

Gartner’s 2023 AI Survey: CIOs and Technology Leaders View found that 75% cited increased productivity as a primary benefit of GenAI. On the other hand, 60% noted improvements in customer experience and 54% recognized reduced costs as GenAI automated manual tasks for them. 

These numbers are nothing but a clear indication that GenAI is improving productivity and operational efficiency across businesses including those in finance. 

In finance, it allows the employees to speed up their work such as the one related to data analysis and reporting. 

Talking about productivity boost with Gen AI, Hemant Sood said, “Using GenAI, finance professionals can quickly process large datasets. This will help them analyze market trends or financial statements to identify patterns and generate detailed reports in minutes, which traditionally would take hours or days.” 

Building over it he said, “Gen AI often includes NLP capabilities, using this finance profession can interpret and summarize financial news, earnings calls, and reports to quickly understand key information and pull-out insights without manually reading through lengthy documents.”

Application of GenAI is Only limited by FIs Imagination: Hemant Sood, Ludhiana

On the question of the ways in which Gen AI can be or are being deployed, Hemant Sood said, “I feel there is no limitation to what you can do with GenAI, it depends on your own creativity, imagination and of course, intelligence. Afterall, how many intelligent technologies have you seen before, none. AI is the only intelligence technology, in fact, it's very base is to mimic human intelligence. So, when it comes to GenAI, FIs can and should use it to automate market analysis, generate quick insights, revitalize their customer service, prevent fraud and make compliance easy for them.”

Complex Regulatory Compliance Made Simple

Regulations in the finance industry are of critical importance. They are the guardrails that prevent industry from veering off into dangerous territory. Further, they have a significant impact on finance businesses, often shaping their entire operational framework and strategic decisions. 

However, more often than not, navigating these regulatory frameworks becomes a daunting and complex task due to ever-evolving nature of regulations, varying compliance requirements across regions, and the intricate processes involved in ensuring full adherence to legal standards.

Gen AI is a true savior in this space. It simplifies the complexity, reduces manual workloads and ensures institutions stay ahead of regulatory changes.

Explaining this aspect, Hemant Sood said, “GenAI can prove to be a game changer. It is capable of automating compliance processes, helps in interpreting complex regulatory texts, and even predicts regulatory impacts on business strategies. Not to forget, how easy it makes the dreaded compliant documentation process, reducing the burden significantly. So whether, it is monitoring regulatory changes in real-time or implementing new ones efficiently, GenAI is surely a savior.” 

Time Consuming Capital Markets Research Gets Accelerated

Capitalizing on advanced Natural Language Processing and machine learning techniques, investment professionals are using GenAI to rapidly sift through massive volumes of financial documents. 

It helps them make faster, more informed investment decisions underpinned by vast amounts of complex financial data that are thoroughly processed and analyzed in ways that were previously impossible or extremely time-consuming for human analysts.

Hemant highlighted “These AI systems are smart enough to understand the context, detect patterns, and even analyze sentiment to extract key insights in real-time. So, in just matter of minutes, they will bring you the deepest insights that used to go undetected earlier.” 

He further added, “GenAI is now able to summarize lengthy reports, flag anomalies, cross-reference information across multiple sources, and make predictive analyses based on historical data allowing investment professionals to quickly access and act on critical information”  

Customer Service Experiences the Much-Needed Breakthrough

Customer service is one of the most critical functions of an organization forming the primary link between businesses and their customers. However, given that it is difficult to scale and maintain high-quality customer interactions, many businesses end up sacrificing customer service in favor of revenue generation and other operational activities. 

However, Gen AI is ushering in a paradigm shift. Businesses, including those in finance, are deploying advanced virtual assistants taking customer service to a different level. 

Hemant Sood explains: "GenAI-driven virtual assistants are setting new benchmarks in personalized customer support, far surpassing traditional chatbots in efficiency and effectiveness They are intelligent enough to understand user concerns shared in natural human language and provide specialized and accurate solution.” 

Explaining further, he says, “This basically gives you an assurance that you customer inquiries are being handled in the right and the most efficient manner, on par, if not better, with human customer executives. Mind you, these GenAI virtual assistants operate around the clock without fatigue or throwing any error”. 

Fraud Prevention Gains Intelligence 

While not directly related but GenAI is also contributing to improving security in financial institutions by generating synthetic data to improve AI model training. Thereby, it leads to the creation of even more advanced AI models, significantly intelligent and efficient in understanding and predicting fraudulent behavior. 

In fact, as mentioned by HCL Tech, 13% of financial institutions are implementing AI tools for fraud detection. 

"Proactive fraud detection through AI showcases the industry's commitment to leveraging advanced technologies for enhanced risk management." Sood Said.

Challenges Are There

Despite all the promising potential we discussed above, there are certain challenges that FIs need to consider. This includes the challenge of data quality, integration with legacy systems, and many others. 

Realizing the full potential of GenAI will not be possible without overcoming these hurdles. Sharing his suggestion, Hemant Sood advises, "Financial institutions must invest in robust data management practices and advanced integration technologies. Prioritizing data accuracy and consistency, along with modernizing legacy systems, will be crucial. Additionally, adopting a phased approach to integration and leveraging expert partnerships can ensure a smoother transition to GenAI-powered solutions."

Conclusion

The integration of Generative AI in financial services marks a new era of innovation, efficiency, and customer-centricity. In his concluding remarks, Hemant Sood emphasizes, "GenAI has arrived, and it is here to stay. The faster you move towards it, the better for sustained growth and competitiveness."