Technology should remove work, not just digest it

There is no shortage of conversation about AI in financial services.

The more important conversation is what it actually improves.

The latest evidence suggests adoption is accelerating quickly. Bank of England and FCA research found that 75% of surveyed financial services firms were already using AI, with a further 10% planning to adopt it within three years.

Mortgage lenders are similarly focused on technology. Research highlighted by UK Finance this year found that 48% of lenders are actively investing in AI to optimise operations, while 75% believe it will enhance customer engagement and 68% expect improvements in data analysis and decision-making.

Those are impressive numbers.

But there is another statistic which perhaps tells us more about where our industry's attention should be focused.

Some 40% of mortgage lenders surveyed said the length of transactions was now their biggest frustration.

That suggests the challenge isn't a lack of technology. It's turning technology into meaningful operational improvement.

Specialist finance provides a particularly good example.

Our market inevitably involves complexity. A case can contain multiple properties, unusual income, corporate structures, refurbishment plans, valuation considerations and numerous supporting documents.

Every time information has to be entered twice, an email manually interpreted, a document unnecessarily reviewed or a case passed between systems which don't communicate with each other, we introduce friction.

The technology opportunity is therefore much broader than AI.

Better APIs can remove rekeying. Automated document classification can accelerate initial assessment. Smarter criteria technology can help brokers identify viable solutions earlier. Workflow automation can identify stalled cases before somebody has to go looking for them. Better management information can tell businesses where cases are slowing down rather than simply reporting how many have completed.

AI can then add another layer – interrogating information, summarising documents, identifying missing data and supporting people to make quicker, better-informed decisions.

But there is an important distinction.

Technology should support judgement, not disguise poor process.

Automating an inefficient process simply allows you to be inefficient faster.

That is why operational transformation should begin with the customer and work backwards. Where does the journey slow down? Where are brokers repeatedly chasing? What information do underwriters regularly have to request? Where are people performing low-value administration instead of using their expertise?

Solve those questions first and then determine where technology can help.

There is also a responsibility attached to this.

The FCA's recently published Mills Review identified the transformation of firms' operations as one of four major shifts AI could create within retail financial services. But alongside the opportunities sit questions around governance, cyber risk, consumer outcomes and accountability.

That means successful adoption cannot simply be measured by how many AI tools a business implements.

We should measure minutes removed from processes, fewer touches per case, reduced rekeying, faster responses, fewer errors and ultimately better outcomes for brokers and customers.

The winners in specialist finance won't necessarily be the businesses with the most technology.

They will be those which combine technology with experienced people, good data and well-designed processes to make complicated transactions feel considerably simpler.

That, ultimately, is what operational innovation should achieve.

Kris Corns

Operations Director