Half of UK financial firms lack AI strategy, despite feeling ‘AI-ready’

Your financial firm’s AI strategy is important to define. There is a significant gap between confidence and action in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption across the UK financial sector, a new report has found.

Professional services firm Forvis Mazars‘ report revealed that while all surveyed C-suite executives claim to be “AI-ready”, only 43 per cent of firms have a well-developed AI strategy.” – City A.M.

The financial industry is just one of many industries that requires businesses to use the latest AI tools to improve operations, enhance the customer experience, mitigate risks and improve fraud detection. Leveraging AI in your financial organisation can help control manual errors in data processing, improve analytics, reduce the time of document processing and onboarding, improve customer intractions and relations through detailed reports and other tasks through automation and algorithms and AI tools provide.

At CSG, we help our financial customers use AI-based technologies, such as machine learning, deep learning and natural language processing to automate financial processes, detect fraud and identify investment opportunities.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot, combined with Microsoft Business Premium, offers a powerful suite of features designed to help your financial business achieve its goals while also contributing to sustainability efforts.

1. Enhanced data analysis and insights: Copilot connects to your financial data sources, including ERP systems, to surface actionable insights. It helps financial analysts conduct variance analysis in Excel using natural language prompts, identifying anomalies and risks quickly.
2. Streamlined financial reporting: generate accurate and comprehensive financial reports with ease. Copilot assists in creating presentation-ready visuals and summaries, saving time and reducing manual effort.
3. Improved decision-making: with predictive analytics and data-driven insights, Copilot supports strategic decision-making, helping you optimise your financial strategies and operations.

Boosting your finance business with Microsoft Business Premium

Microsoft Business Premium complements Copilot by providing a security-driven set of tools and services that have been designed to help meet the requirements for financial businesses:

1. The latest security measures: protect your business from cyber threats with enterprise-grade security features, including Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Microsoft Intune.
2. Collaboration and communication: enhance team collaboration with Microsoft Teams, which offers group chat, online meetings, and secure file sharing. Store and share files with 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage per user.
3. Advanced productivity tools: Get the most out of the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook to make your daily workflow more productive and engaging. When working with your clients, Business Premium allows you to easily manage appointments and client meetings efficiently with Microsoft Bookings.

Reducing your carbon footprint with Microsoft Copilot

Sustainability is a growing priority for financial businesses. Microsoft Copilot can help reduce your carbon footprint by:

1. Optimising energy consumption: Copilot provides insights into energy usage across your operations, identifying areas for efficiency improvements.
2. Sustainability reporting: use natural language input to create calculation models for carbon emissions and other sustainability metrics, simplifying the reporting process.
3. Enhancing data collection: automate data collection for sustainability initiatives, ensuring accurate and timely reporting.

Bevan and Buckland LLP migrate their server workloads to Microsoft Azure

CSG supported Bevan and Buckland LLP, leading chartered accountants, tax and financial planners, in achieving more with Azure. By migrating their server workloads to Microsoft Azure and implementing Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), CSG provided a solution that enhanced security, eliminated single points of failure, and improved business continuity. This migration allowed Bevan and Buckland LLP to leverage the latest technologies and maintain seamless operations even during unexpected events.

 “CSG recommended we migrate our IT systems into MS Azure to take advantage of latest technologies and cyber security systems. We have recently had a fire in our server room and it didn’t impact the business in anyway. AVD enables our staff to work smart and access all the important apps and data wherever they are based.” – Ian Thomas, IT Manager, of Bevan Buckland LLP.

Get in touch

Ready to transform your financial firm’s AI strategy? Contact CSG today to learn how we can help you refine your AI strategy and achieve your business goals. Our experts are here to support you every step of the way.

Call us at 0330 400 5465

Email us at sales@csgrp.co.uk