![headshot of Sunayna Tuteja of TD Ameritrade](https://images.thinkadvisor.com/contrib/content/uploads/sites/415/2019/01/Tuteja-Sunayna-MI.jpg)
The investments that TD Ameritrade has made in artificial intelligence and other technologies over the past few years have proven to be invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sunayna Tuteja, head of digital assets and blockchain at the company.
AI, machine learning and how they are “being integrated within financial services has jumped leaps and bounds from just a few years ago,” while messaging and automation have “really proved [their] mettle during COVID,” she told the Finovate Fall Digital online conference Thursday.
“We had to migrate over 10,000 employees to be able to work from home, including the call centers and the back offices, and migrate millions and millions of clients to engage with us on digital-first channels” in March as much of the world went into a lockdown mode, she explained.
That all happened while the capital markets were “gyrating and nobody knew what was kind of happening — and that’s when your clients need you the most,” she pointed out.
During this period, “what really proved its mettle were the bets that we had been making over the years in terms of engaging with our clients via messaging powered by AI, machine learning and automation, so that we could still maintain our best-in-class experience even though we had to do it in this ‘new normal’ setting,” Tuteja said.
AI can also help personalize experiences for clients, she stressed, as did executives with Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Merrill Lynch during another Finovate session.
Other Tech Is Taking Off
Meanwhile, the trend of voice and audio serving as user interfaces is proliferating, as content is being distributed and consumed in new ways via AI-powered smart speakers and podcasts, she explained.
Short-form content that can be accessed easily and quickly is “gaining a lot of traction,” Tuteja noted, adding this is proving to be useful in making financial services “become part of people’s lifestyles.”
Turning to augmented reality and virtual reality, she noted these “last few months have really shown us the power of immersive content and immersive interaction” to create experiences that allow us to remain close to loved ones and others we know even if we can’t see them in person.
She predicted AR and VR experiences are “going to be the next big step change in terms of user expectation.”