Amy Lynch and Jonathan Rez from the Bank of England.

At the Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services Conference 2024, Amy Lynch, senior service designer at the Bank of England and Jonathan Rez, head of service design at the Bank of England, spoke about AI, users and the customer journey.

In a presentation about enhancing the design of customer journeys, the pair from the Bank of England highlighted that organisations across a range of sectors are not necessarily considering the needs of users when implementing AI.

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The talk was a “plea to start with users when thinking about implementing AI technologies and ideas”.

Lynch said: “What has been striking is that those who are implementing AI use cases aren’t necessarily starting with what their users or customers need.”

This is not the first time design and technology teams have been asked to implement solutions without a problem to solve or a need to fulfil. In recent history there have been similar conversations about VR and blockchain. Now, it is AI’s turn.

The industry is full of ideas regarding AI, but not thinking about the user can result in classic delivery “downfalls”.

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“We can end up with increased failure to meet customer needs and expectations,” Lynch describes.

“Damaging errors, a lack of accessibility and a loss of trust all combine to lead to user dissatisfaction.”

When discussing AI, people can often go blank. Therefore, the conversation needs to change and be rephrased. Rez explained: “Rather than talk about AI, we say what can we do with personalisation? What parts of the journey can we automate?”

“People react differently to different words.”

Lynch concluded: “It is vital that you test your ideas with your user. You need to validate that your ideas meet user needs and that they do truly augment the user experience. A plea to start with your users and not just sprinkle AI on to your products and services.”