Volume XXIII, Number 8 Issue 1117 | February 24, 2025
Is It Possible to Prosper with a Foot in Each Realm?
Last week’s theme – namely, humankind’s interdependent nature contrasted with the growing likelihood machines will soon pass from tool to partner to unfettered boss – requires some follow up. Specifically, I want us to explore the tension those two dynamic forces exert on organizations and individuals alike. Let’s take community financial institutions as a prime (no pun intended) example. In my experience, community FIs pride themselves on their devotion to personalized service. Actually, it goes beyond that since they point to personalized, exceptional service as the great differentiator or source of competitive advantage. But now that technological solutions are all the rage, especially for the younger generations of bank customers, community FIs have little choice but to make substantial investments in their tech-based delivery channels.
On the one hand, AI affords banks the opportunity to offer more customization as well as much faster response times and uniform decisioning. Conversely, people offer a personal connection that machines cannot match. Beyond that people bring intuition to the table whereas machines’ responses are governed by their algorithms – at least for now.
Another factor in this dilemma is that high quality, personalized service requires a well-trained, cohesive team. That does not come cheap. On the contrary, having sufficient well qualified people represents a major investment. Keeping up with the Jones when it comes to technology is also expensive. Moreover, while software requires routine updating, wholesale conversions are not uncommon. And, as we all know, software upgrades and conversions are replete with headaches and frustrations for both customers and staff. What then is an organization to do? More to the point, can it stand and prosper with a foot in both realms?
Much of the time we focus on improvement at the margin – a little tweak here, a little tweak there. But when technological advances are occurring at breakneck speed such that the trend lines between our reliance on technology and technology’s reliance on humankind are about to cross, can we afford to continue relying on adjustments at the margin? Or do we need to be thinking and acting strategically, especially when it comes to satisfying the needs and expectations of our customers, people, and organization(s)? Is there a viable path to a winning outcome when we are resource constrained?
As I stated in the opening paragraph, we (more precisely, those who are smarter than I) need to explore this as we will be ill-served if we ignore the problem. No doubt we benefit from improvements at the margin; yet we also need transformation if we are to meet the challenges of the near future.
When I got into banking in the 1970s, the smart money was predicting we would be a checkless society by 2000. We missed that forecast though we are nearly there now. Not long ago, the gurus were telling us we would soon be a cashless economy. It seems the penny is going the way of the dodo bird, but a cashless society? We are not there yet. Likewise, and for the record, the term “artificial intelligence” was coined seventy years ago. To date, progress on that front has been slow, but that is no longer the case when it comes to the capabilities, contribution of, and reliance on AI.
Thus, while I ask the following question a bit tongue in cheek, given AI’s ability to solve complex problems, perhaps we should ask the machines to give us an answer regarding how or if we should follow a two-pronged approach. As someone who has spent much of their career assisting clients develop and implement strategic plans, I am a firm believer in knowing and leveraging your strengths and core competency. It is difficult to be all things to all people, let alone serve multiple masters. That said, strategic partnerships have proven their worth. What do you think?
Soli Deo Gloria
“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Matthew 6:24a
J. Keith Hughey
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E-mail: keith@jkeithhughey.com
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