Tips for Harnessing AI and Innovation in Professional Services

Professional service firms are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance operations and deliver superior client service. As AI continues to advance, firms must strategically integrate technology to stay competitive and drive innovation.

While many firms have taken the first step to introduce AI into everyday tasks such as email communications, personal time management, and basic research, finding ways to integrate AI into your firm’s client service processes may not be as clear:

• How is AI used in client onboarding?
• How can AI bring innovation to the client experience?
• How can I infuse AI into firm operations?

Consider AI proficiencies in client onboarding

To begin answering these questions, explore a process common to most professional service firms: new client onboarding. Consider a partial list of how current AI proficiencies can help:

Information gathering

• Initial client inquiries
• Client profile building
• Document management

Compliance

• Industry regulation checks
• Evaluation of risk
• Adherence to internal quality control standards

Process assistance

• Handle routine inquiries
• Reach out for scheduled check-ins
• Escalate problems requiring immediate attention

Create process to bring AI and innovation to the client experience

To embrace AI and identify innovation in your industry, first take a hard look in the mirror. If you don’t know where to start, a digital readiness assessment might help. The assessment defines your current state, assesses what’s possible, and creates a roadmap for digital-driven initiatives customized to your objectives.

After you’ve identified potential AI proficiencies to develop, follow a structured process to elevate innovation in your firm across various processes, including the client experience.

Observe the current process

Carefully observe your current process and how it affects customers. If you can, complete the process as a new customer would.

• Are the instructions clear?
• Are there any points of confusion or frustration?
• Is the same information provided at multiple points or by multiple people?

Get feedback

Next, talk to your employees and new customers. Ask them questions, identify challenges, and take note of wishes or wants.

Imagine the perfect client experience

Now comes the fun part — brainstorming and innovation. Think as if you have no restrictions:

• How would the process work?
• What information would the AI-powered technology provide?
• Most importantly: What would the perfect experience be for the customer?

Keep things concise and efficient as well as personal and on brand. You do not have to write out a full process yet — a bullet pointed list or numbered steps are fine.

Create a job description

The next step is often overlooked but vital when considering how AI can help — write a job description for your AI-powered worker. If you were looking for a human to do the work, think about what questions you might be asking to define the role:

• What would be the needed strengths, background, and current abilities?
• What would the job responsibilities entail?
• How would success be defined?

Use this to help define what you need the AI technology solution to do. Keep in mind AI doesn’t have to perform the entire process.

The beauty of true human connection is it can’t be replaced. If your process needs areas of human interaction, clearly identify and include it as part of the design.

Infuse AI into your professional services firm’s operations

Finally, how do you make it all work? Deciding whether to build an AI-powered solution in-house or hire an IT consultant depends on many factors, including your business’s resources, IT experience, desired timeline, and goals.

Even companies with a large IT team may hire a consultant if they can leverage a pre-built solution or framework to speed up the implementation timeline. Take your job descriptions to an IT consultant (internal or external) and say, how much of this can we make work with our given resources and technology?

Some may argue that’s a conversation to have at the start of the process, not the end.

But innovation comes from believing all things can work. Yes, it comes from customer needs, feedback, market trends, analysis, research and development, employee insights, collaboration, competitive pressure, and technological advancements, but it relies on pushing the boundaries on all these things and imagining perfection, even if we can’t quite get there yet. AI can help with so many processes, including email sorting, contract monitoring, proposal generation, and just about any lengthy process involving manual data entry.