How Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services fosters AI adoption and innovation

As generative AI adoption accelerates across the financial services sector, it is important for experts and solution providers to meet customers at their level of understanding. Sharing not just conceptual capabilities but also concrete examples of what this powerful technology can do is essential. 

In this conversation with Jared Lambert, Principal Group Program Manager, Microsoft Cloud for Industry, we offer insight into how stakeholders from various business areas are approaching generative AI adoption. We introduce diverse ways of thinking about the efficiencies and customer outreach that generative AI brings. The following video features a discussion about the transformative impact of AI on the financial services industry, focusing on the foundational capabilities of Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services. These capabilities help banks, insurance carriers, and capital markets firms optimize costs, reduce time to value, enhance collaboration, and use data and AI to deliver more impactful business outcomes. For ease of reference, the summary below is indexed with timestamps corresponding to the main chapters of our discussion. 

Introduction 

The transformation of financial services with AI is emphasized, highlighting the democratization of AI technologies like OpenAI. Businesses are now more engaged in using these technologies to create efficiencies and new customer interactions. The creation of natural language interfaces has opened up previously complicated AI scenarios, allowing business functions to innovate and take advantage of these capabilities. Additionally, the three phases financial services institutions go through with AI are explained: improving internal productivity, making AI tools available to customers, and creating new offers using AI and data insights. Organizations initially focus on enhancing their staff’s productivity, then extend these tools to customers, and finally create unique offers using their data and AI capabilities. 

Prioritizing responsible AI

Microsoft’s responsible AI approach focuses on three key areas: security, privacy, and bias mitigation. Microsoft is dedicated to protecting user data and privacy, implementing strong security measures, and ensuring fair outcomes by mitigating biases in AI systems. The financial services industry is still developing regulations and standards for AI, and Microsoft is creating reference architectures to guide organizations in implementing AI solutions while adhering to these evolving standards. The importance of having clear standards and compliance capabilities to ensure the safe and responsible deployment of AI technologies is emphasized. By prioritizing security, privacy, and bias mitigation, and working towards clear regulations, the industry can ensure responsible and ethical AI deployment.

Addressing data challenges

The importance of data readiness for AI is discussed, including governance, ownership, and protection. Data readiness involves ensuring that data is clean, well-organized, and accessible for AI applications. Microsoft Azure confidential computing is mentioned as a solution for protecting data while making it usable for insights. This technology allows businesses to process sensitive data securely, helping to ensure that it remains protected throughout the AI analysis process. The discussion also highlights the need for businesses to engage with the development community to clean up and protect their data, enabling AI to unlock business value and efficiencies. By addressing data challenges, organizations can maximize the potential of AI to drive innovation and improve operations. 

Tackling compliance concerns

The compliance challenges posed by generative AI are emphasized, along with the need for secure and resilient data access. Compliance in the financial services industry is critical, and AI can help manage these requirements more efficiently. Microsoft uses AI internally to manage compliance requirements, helping to rapidly map new requirement sets to existing controls. This approach allows for efficient compliance management and demonstrates the potential of AI in regulatory contexts.

Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services

The predefined policy packs and transparency tools in Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services are described, which help customers manage configurations and demonstrate control over their data. These tools provide a framework for financial services organizations to help address compliance and transparency in their operations. Investments in creating a platform for financial services are highlighted, focusing on compliance, transparency, and enabling partner ecosystems. 

The power of the partner ecosystem

The benefits for partners deploying their products on Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services are highlighted, simplifying the request for proposal (RFP) and request for information (RFI) processes. Shared compliance and threat mitigation standards are emphasized, making it easier for partners to meet regulatory requirements and deliver secure solutions.

The shape of AI things to come

The future of AI is discussed, including the standardization of natural language interfaces, the introduction of agents, and the integration of AI with productivity applications and market data. Natural language interfaces will become more standardized, making it easier for users to interact with AI systems. The introduction of AI agents will enable more advanced automation and proactive information delivery. Additionally, the integration of AI with productivity applications and market data will enhance decision-making and operational efficiency. The vision is for AI capabilities to become standard, enabling organizations to use AI for a wide range of applications.

Innovating the financial services experience today

An example of an AI innovation with LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) is shared, where a Microsoft Teams app called Financial Meeting Prep provides relevant information for meetings, streamlining the preparation process. This application demonstrates the practical benefits of AI in enhancing productivity and efficiency in financial services.

Learn more 

• Read the related blog post, “Accelerating financial services transformation with AI,” for a business overview of the topics and themes conveyed in this video.
• Refer to Microsoft Learn for in-depth information about technical capabilities including the financial services landing zones described in this video.
• Watch a video on the security and compliance dimensions of Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services and how they support the needs of financial services organizations with differentiated technologies, services, and programs.
• See more about Financial Meeting Prep and refer to Microsoft Learn for information about how to install and use the Microsoft Teams app (with required licensing). 

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Source: Microsoft Industry Blog