Chatbots won’t stop super funds needing human advisers

CMSF/superannuation/financial-advice/AustralianSuper/HESTA/data/member-engagement/georgie-obst/artificial-intelligence/technology/

15 March 2019
| By Hannah Wootton |
image
image image
expand image

While making full use of member engagement data will inevitably involve the use of artificial intelligence (AI), superannuation funds need to remember that positive member advice offerings will still involve humans.

Speaking on robo-advice, AustralianSuper’s head of brand behaviour change, Mario Garrido this morning told delegates at the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds that funds needed to strike a balance between the efficiency that data-driven AI would enable and human interaction.

“Humans need to be in the advice channel … [because] robots cannot show empathy, robots cannot be creative in their approach to problem solving, and robots will never show the passion another human can when interacting with each other,” he said. “With AI … the value of human interaction will actually increase.”

Garrido said that super funds could take a leaf from the books of industries that were striking this balance well, pointing to the hotel sector where automatic check-in processes sat alongside human staffing in service-heavy areas.

HESTA general manager, campaigns and customer growth, Georgie Obst, suggested that AI wouldn’t save as much money as many expected either: “I read a recent McKinsey study that found a lot of companies invested in chatbots but that it hadn’t driven down cost, [as] people were still calling call centres … so I think it’s about balancing [cost and efficiency] with what members want and what their plans are.”

Obst said that data and AI could assist in informing when members needed human advice, with HESTA’s advice team already getting direct leads through these means.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

5 months ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

5 months ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

7 months 1 week ago

The FSCP has issued a written direction to an adviser who charged clients “extraordinary fees” for inappropriate and conflicted advice, as well as encouraged them to swit...

1 week 5 days ago

ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of an advice firm associated with Shield and First Guardian collapses, and permanently banned its responsible manager. ...

3 weeks 1 day ago

ASIC has confirmed the industry funding levy for the 2024–25 financial year, and how much licensees can expect to pay....

2 days 16 hours ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS

ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
2
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
95.46 3 y p.a(%)
5