Improving the financial sector in 2023

Advances in the AI-powered financial industry are clearly being held back by a skills shortage. How to train your employees and take advantage of the career opportunities AI offers?

The transformative power of AI has already advanced many financial services functions such as risk management, personalization, fraud detection and CSR analytics. The World Economic Forum estimates that 97 million new jobs could be created by 2025 as artificial intelligence (AI) changes the nature of work and affects a new division of labor between humans, machines and algorithms. In banking in particular, a recent McKinsey survey found that AI technologies could add up to $1 trillion in added value annually. Admittedly, AI continues to advance and is starting to have a significant impact on the financial services sector, but its potential is still far from being fully exploited, especially due to the lack of talent in this area.

Develop data literacy with customizable learning paths

Any digital transformation requires leaders to focus their investments on two modern sources of competitive advantage: data and people. First, improving data literacy across the enterprise helps businesses collaborate with cross-disciplinary professionals (sales, HR, marketing, financial analysts, etc.) with AI experts and machine learning (ML), which is critical to moving beyond proof of concept. and experience.

The widespread adoption of AI tools means that employees whose work involves interacting with AI systems need to understand how these systems work, their limits, and limitations. Retraining staff may know how to interpret the results of AI/ML models or how to intervene with AI/ML experts when the results appear incorrect. In addition to the financial sector, many industries across the country are struggling to hire AI developers. The Microsoft AI School in France is a concrete example of a response to the acute shortage of a new generation of digital talent. The inauguration of the 3rd presentation of the Microsoft IA School in partnership with La Manufacture des Talents Michelin aims to train job seekers in the region through digital technology. This 50th IA School is driven by the desire to put innovation at the heart of the regions and the commitment of French companies to train digital skills in the region.

Build on existing built-in tools and groups

A Deloitte survey found that 94% of employees would stay with a company if it helped them grow and learn new skills. However, only 15% of them can use learning opportunities directly related to their work. Retraining your employees on AI certainly requires investments of money and time, which can be daunting. But companies often have the option of using existing tools instead of buying new ones. Here are three great resources to accelerate AI/ML training and implementation:

• Industry consortia: You may also consider joining industry consortia that support your team’s growth and promote employee development through collaborative groups. For example, FINOS (an open source fintech consortium under the Linux Foundation) helps facilitate the processing and exchange of financial data in the banking ecosystem.
• Cloud Service Provider (FCS) training and certification programs: Many FCS, such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft, offer ML training and certification programs for free or at subsidized rates.
• AI-based solution accelerators from technology vendors: In addition, many companies offer easy-to-deploy tools and solution accelerators for common analytics and machine learning use cases that organizations can use.

The benefits of a culture that integrates recycling into AI

Investing in employee skills and knowledge helps build a positive company culture and reduce employee turnover by increasing employee confidence and productivity, while creating a more experienced workforce that increases team effectiveness. For example, AI retraining programs are helping financial services companies better develop their diversity, equity and inclusion methodologies, making learning more accessible to people who may not have access to Higher Education. To address this problem and skills shortage, banks such as Bank of America, BBVA, Capital One, CIBC and JPMorgan Chase have invested in such programs. Bank of America’s career tools and resources have helped more than 21,000 employees find new positions with the company. Continuous training in new technologies and certifications helps create the future of work to ensure employees stay ahead of current trends and industry demands.

The leader of a data and AI-driven company must keep a constant eye on data to set internal priorities, including prioritizing the AI ​​retraining program, as well as to evaluate the success of the programs being implemented. A recent study by LinkedIn shows that current training program impact metrics are based largely on non-technical metrics such as completion rates, satisfaction rates, and employee feedback. This is a missed opportunity. To learn the most valuable lessons from internal mobility and reskilling programs, business leaders should consider using more rigorous metrics that measure business value, including increased employee retention, productivity or revenue. If there aren’t good results, it’s time to think about adjusting programs and the company’s overall experience by introducing new technologies or new tools. A step towards success and a guarantee of a head start in the battle for talent.