Gaining a Competitive Advantage with Generative AI
Gaining a competitive advantage from generative AI (Gen AI) is about implementing technology at the right time. Go too early and you could implement a service that creates more challenges than solutions; go too late and your business could be left behind.
Striking the Right Balance
Wendy Redshaw, chief digital information officer at NatWest Retail Bank, recognizes the scale of this challenge better than most. In her role leading digital operations for the finance giant, Redshaw manages 4,500 people across four locations globally and oversees the delivery of retail banking technology for Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, and Ulster Bank North.
The team is focused on digitalizing services to make life easier for the group’s customers. Their work is supported by a planned investment of £3.5bn from 2023 to 2025, with more than 70% of spending targeted at data and technology.
Implementing Cora+
Redshaw recognizes there’s been a lot of hype about AI, and with good reason — companies and their customers can see the potential benefits. "When Gen AI came out, everybody got excited about it," she said. "It was being discussed in our personal lives. It was a very federated piece of technology."
Yet hype sometimes needs to be tempered, particularly if you’re applying technology in a tightly governed industry like financial services, which uses huge amounts of personal data. "When you’re in a regulated environment, and you have to keep your customers safe, then obviously just going out and using Gen AI isn’t safe," she said.
The team let colleagues explore this technology within a safe space, which suggested some areas to focus on. Personalization was an obvious place to focus for customers.
Scaling Up the Platform
Internally, the team explored the technology within the bank’s AI and data framework. This framework covered key principles, such as maintaining human oversight, removing bias, and considering socio-economic impacts, including how AI models consume energy.
To develop Cora+, the team worked with experts from IBM’s Client Engineering team. The virtual assistant technology is powered by IBM watsonx Assistant and built on IBM Cloud. This multichannel agent provides natural answers to customers using data from multiple sources, including products, services, and banking information.
Taking the Next Steps
Beyond the benefit of improved customer experiences, Redshaw said implementing Cora+ has taught the business an important lesson: You can give your customers a more satisfying experience via emerging technology. "That’s given us a sense of comfort," she said. "There was always the possibility that this technology wouldn’t scale, wouldn’t behave itself, would hallucinate, and wouldn’t work well in an environment where it was constrained, severed from the internet, and only learning about bank-related things."
Conclusion
Gen AI has huge potential to gain a competitive advantage, but implementing it at the right time and in the right way is crucial. NatWest’s experience with Cora+ shows that a cautious and considerate approach can lead to success. As AI continues to evolve, businesses will need to find the right balance between innovation and caution to unlock its full potential.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is gen AI?
A: Gen AI refers to generative AI, which is a type of AI that can create new content or data, rather than just analyzing or processing it.
Q: How does gen AI differ from traditional AI?
A: Traditional AI is designed to perform specific tasks, while gen AI has the ability to generate new data or content, such as language, images, or music.
Q: Why is gen AI important for business?
A: Gen AI has the potential to revolutionize customer experiences, enable new business models, and provide competitive advantages, but it must be implemented cautiously and responsibly.
