The need for a continuous modernisation of digital products and services cannot be overemphasised owing to the meteoric advancement in science and technology. The advent of Artificial Intelligence – AI and automations have brought a big rethink to how digital solutions are designed, created, and served to consumers. One can say the futuristic imaginations of the early 21st century are beginning to come to reality. This is not to say that there has been a drastic deployment of technology which is out of the ordinary, but it will relate well to say a clearer vision and path for redefining technology and digital services is being set. Adaptive and augmented realities have come to stay and can only get better, and the thought of having to shelf off some of one’s brain tasking schedules for an adaptive AI solution gives the relief to focus on what matters ahead.
It is also worth noting that there is the need for properly tendered data, and data storage as these realities fuel the availability of data to create patterns that define intelligent outcomes needed to handle futuristic tasks. The need for data collection to understand business, sales, customer trends and patterns has intensified the overactive use of browser cookies, intentional survey analysis about products, services and goods reviews, traffic information from speed and motion cameras, entry and exit data information, transactions from financial institutions, parking and road users from tolls and the list goes on. The need for this data cannot be overlooked as it forms the bedrock of any intelligence or algorithms that can birth several forms of automations, integrations for the emergence of these contemporary technologies.
Another astonishing digitisation is the increasing use of metaverse as a means of virtual augmentation and reality. Most of the top digital and tech institutions are beginning to focus more on leveraging this artificial reality as a means of promoting their businesses, services, and superiority over other contemporaries. Accenture in recent years have been a foremost driver of the use of augmented reality and are well convinced that they can get their spread of global clients to subscribe to their new inventions as a means for ease of doing business. Institutions like Google and Apple have constantly been rolling out Virtual Reality devices, software, and applications that have enticed their users and made them begin to have a closer perspective towards what the world of Artificial Intelligence can offer.
The beauty and ease of life and doing business that come or would eventually come with these realities can be well pictured with an open mindset, and so far, there hasn’t been any disadvantage bar consumer privacy that has outweighed the positivity and advantages surrounding the use of AI. The most common of these advantages is seen in the automation of production lines, employee workflows, recurring tasks and schedules, self-driven vehicles, robotic engineering, bots, virtual reality, and trending. Immersive virtual reality is now being used for simulated on-field training, teaching, meetings, and interviews. This model not only brings individuals continents apart into closer realities, but it also creates timesaving, cost-effective, and agile ways to getting things done. Another use case is seen in the health sector where augmented reality – AR is driving the use of HoloLens (Microsoft) AR to perform surgical procedures which give accessibility to information and visualisation of data in real time to surgeons during surgery, making diagnosis, treatment, and procedures faster and more reliable.
Emphatically, the availability of proper data can only bring transformation to any institution and the effectiveness of their participation in the new digitisation conundrum would readily be a positive leap. These said, one can affirm that the domiciliation of this modern technology is not geographical, and it is important that Africa is not left out of this movement. Another can argue that digitisation in Africa may not always make the rounds in the world of newer inventions, but it will always be said that Africa possesses the environment where disruptive transformation can be easily reckoned and is still a bedrock for innovative ideas and business re-imaginations. This is owed to the abundance of natural, human, and multi-cultural resources embedded in the continent.
While the fundamental question of data gathering and availability would be the first objection for any progressive integration of digitisation into Africa, it is most proven that with the right and important first steps, this can be surmountable. The issue would not be the availability of data resources but the right technology and tools to harvest these chunks of data. This is the most expensive part of the contemporary trends, and it is what big corporations like Google and Apple feed on to promote their new realities. Another restraining argument would be around the political unrest in the continent which has marred the influx of corporates pitching their branches and even worse led to the exodus of a few ones whose stakes were in developing their brands in the continent.
However, these negativities are not enough recipes to deter the integration of these new forms. The issue of data gathering is a global thing, and while one can close an eye towards the general issue of privacy invasion and the possibilities of socially engineered attacks when personal information gets to the hand of wrong entities, data gathering becomes a continuum and never-ending process. The fact that newer trends are emerging daily means there must be the right set of data to be collected to improve these trends and transform them into what AI would understand, learn, and feature. This alone proves that if Africa started today or chose to integrate what it currently has, the possibilities of matching the world realities are quite unending. So, first things first, we need to get our infrastructure, policies, support systems, vision, and corporate cooperation right.
It is also important to note that collaborative efforts and research would help achieve these realities faster than having to saddle a few daring ones with whatever is made available to them. Example of this is seen with Accenture, KPMG and other digitisation firms who leverage the contributions of their global clients to create shared solutions that not only benefit one (the firm), but all involved. With the right investors and political support, research institutes in foremost academic institutions in the continent could be used to front this campaign. Similarly, bigger corporations in Africa can take the bold step to replicate or partner with already established western companies.
The next question would be what sources of data would be needed to fuel these realities. Before answering this question, it is worth emphasising again that Artificial Intelligence, Virtual realities, and augmented systems need chunks of data with proper availability to process and make precise predictions and decisions. With a more conscious policy, the continent can begin to emphasise and enforce the need to have their footprints online. Health record keeping needs to be taken off files and hard materials into digital systems with availability to less personal patient data. Another data pool which may be readily available is the Census and Political registration of various geo-political zones that participate in these exercises. It is a great development that most of the leading African countries are beginning to digitise their voters’ registration and voting exercises which would be a great pool of data if it can be made accessible with the right policies.
Super Malls and businesses also have a great deal of daily data stored away in the hard drive of their monitoring units. With the right incentive, these businesses can be easy contributors to national or geographical data gathering. Telecommunications, Mobile phone, Internet providing corporates can be made to provide access to the daily data they collect off the citizens of nations where they are domiciled. This comes with properly structured user policies and incentives for giving such access. Grassroot digital banking is currently being driven massively by the freedom given through the financial inclusion drive for banked and unbanked individuals. This can be seen driven by indigenous Fintechs across the continent. These tech companies command a whole lot of data even from the most remote locations where technology has been minimal and constrained. These raw data can do a lot in transforming the needs of these communities and help usher in tailored realities from generative intelligence.
Once data gathering, data models and storage is gotten right, the next question would be what use cases there are to solve that could not be a direct plug to existing intelligence and augmented realities. The peculiarity of the African terrain, diversity in culture and languages make the need for tailored solutions become profound and evident. To buttress these peculiarities, one can focus on a use case in digital banking across Africa. Having in recent times drawn a contrast between banking services in Africa and Europe to be specific, it is obvious that the driving factors for security, customer reliability, fraud, customer complaints and overall success of financial institutions in both continents differ. For example, the use of USSD as a means of short code banking is prominent in Africa but an avoidable luxury in Europe. Also, the means of KYC verification for onboarding is also somewhat different. While one can do face capturing and upload relevant documents and have access to fully functional accounts in some countries in Europe, this method would have to be controlled in most institutions across Africa. This generally centres around inadequate real time security data to verify an onboarding user. In most cases a customer gets access to basic accounts and would probably have to walk into a bank’s branch to complete their verification processes.
This said, the following can highlight some of the benefits tailored AI, AR, VR can immediately bring to digital banking in Africa:
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Smarter targeting of customers by products – In most cases, digital sales is targeted at every prospective person. With AI, it would be easy to analyse impending and existing customers’ data to identify what their needs are and what product benefits them more. With this customised approach, it is easy to have a win-win customer influence and retention.
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Better insight about customers – nothing beats having a summarised insight of who your customers are before and when they reach out. It not only builds customers’ trust but also creates a strategic approach to satisfying them. AI can help identify spend patterns, vulnerabilities, and sentiments in customer dealings much quicker and better than humans, and this in turn frees up time any personnel would use to analyse such information.
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Improved efficiency – apart from AI creating time saving experiences, it enables processes and services to be automated and optimised. Automation is another part of generative AI that is fast improving globally, and it really helps to greatly reduce the stress of carrying out repeated tasks, monitoring, drafting proposals, identifying sales opportunities, scheduling of follow ups and the list continues.
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Elimination of trial and error – the precision of predictive modelling algorithms used in data science and AI would not be overemphasised especially when each prediction comes with a percentage accuracy. With the right set of data, generative systems can properly advise about financial processes, strategies, and campaigns that would help drive assured profitability. This approach greatly reduces risk, loss, and time inherent from any traditional trial and error method.
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Near-human interactions – the use of chatbot in customer service is generally improving with time even across Africa. This technology can only become more seamless with the introduction of VR and AR. With a properly structured data approach, conversions driven by these realities can become more intelligent and closer to humans, both in delivering tailored customer service and human-like experiences. Natural language processing is another means of providing tailored customer experience in culturally diverse continents like Africa.
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Analytic reporting and interpretation – one of the challenges facing financial institutions in Africa is not knowing what to make out of the pool of customer data and transactions they sit on. Predictive models can help create instant reporting based on customer historic dealing and generate a pattern that can be easily used to tailor existing and newer products to customers. Another great benefit of analytic AI is to proactively help in preventing fraudulent activities on account holders through valuable insight into their spend patterns, in a faster and efficiently reliable manner.
