U S. Firms Seek Service Partners for AI-Ready Hybrid Clouds

Beyond enabling transactions, AI has transformed how banks engage and build relationships with customers through digital channels. In 2024, banks used AI to become more proactive, conversational and timely in customer interactions, rather than just reactive. This led to higher customer engagement, measured by increased logins, more frequent interactions and deeper usage of digital services.

Experiment and Play With Generative AI Tools

In the area of customer experience, Persistent Systems is named the global ISG CX Star Performer for 2025 among private/hybrid cloud data center service providers. Persistent Systems earned the highest customer satisfaction scores in ISG’s Voice of the Customer survey, part of the ISG Star of Excellence™ program , the premier quality recognition for the technology and business services industry. AI assistants resolve a large portion of common inquiries—balance requests, card activation, password resets, loan rate questions, etc.—in a self-service manner. For example, one report highlighted that customer service teams using AI can scale productivity without adding headcount, deflecting repetitive inquiries and freeing human agents for more complex issues. One of the clearest impacts of AI is the proliferation of virtual assistants and chat interfaces that empower customers to get things done on their own. From simple tasks, like checking a balance or paying a bill, to more complex actions like applying for a loan, AI has made self-service more convenient.

• Recent studies on AI-based personalisation have revealed impressive prediction accuracy above 88 % for recommending credit-risk-aware products.
• Areas like time tracking, communications, and job reporting with minimal industry-specific business needs are early use cases that will appear in vendor applications.
• Providers are helping companies virtualize workloads, move them to cloud or colocation data centers and manage them with cloud-agnostic tools, the report says.
• BofA’s Erica not only answered questions but could perform actions (like bill pay or Zelle transfers via voice commands), and the bank attributed part of its high digital engagement to Erica’s success.

Advanced capabilities with AI agents, wearables, and 5G

Machine-learning algorithms continuously analyse individuals’ spending patterns, lifestyle signals and financial goal trajectories to determine “next-best actions”. Recent studies on AI-based personalisation have revealed impressive prediction accuracy above 88 % for recommending credit-risk-aware products. A study conducted by Forrester Consulting reveals that while nearly 70% of respondents use generative AI for some or all of their writing — 80% work at companies that haven’t officially adopted a comprehensive strategy for its use.

A survey by Zendesk noted that self-service adoption in financial services has grown 5.4× in recent times, as banks provide more useful tools like searchable knowledge bases and intelligent chatbots. Once the realm of science fiction, today the use of generative AI in customer experience and marketing is shaping real-world interactions between brands and consumers. From smart chatbots that offer instant customer service to intricate data analytics that enable personalized recommendations, generative AI technologies are no longer optional — but increasingly integral — to effective, customer experiences and engagement strategies. Providers are helping companies virtualize workloads, move them to cloud or colocation data centers and manage them with cloud-agnostic tools, the report says. The transition from traditional data centers to cloud-based infrastructure can improve scalability, security and efficiency. Reducing IT spending is a growing priority for U.S. enterprises as they face macroeconomic uncertainty on several fronts.

Customer experience specialist Five9 has always led with AI, even before it was a buzzword. The company recently launched Agentic CX capabilities, a set of AI agent features built into its popular Genius AI platform. The company said that these new capabilities are designed to drive intelligent CX and AI at scale with reasoning, adapting, and action for secure, seamless, and context-aware experiences. The collaboration market has seen a frenzy of AI activity this year as the industry’s largest collaboration giants and UCaaS specialists pack their platforms full of new features and agentic AI technology. In summary, 2024 cemented self-service as an essential component of banking CX—largely enabled by AI—with customers embracing the flexibility to “do it yourself” and banks enjoying higher digital adoption rates as a result. In the UK, for instance, 87% of adults use online banking, and 60% use mobile banking as of 2024, according to UK Finance, and 40% of Brits in 2025 have an account with a digital-only bank—a number that has risen sharply in recent years.

A Game Plan for Generative AI in Customer Experience & Marketing

It can also take action to fulfil customer requests, while eliminating the need for queues or wait times, all while using human-like, natural language during conversations. Banks reported, for example, increased usage of mobile apps among senior customers after adding voice-command features and larger, adaptive text, indicating that AI features can bring in demographics that previously stuck to branches. Moreover, designing for extreme use cases often improves the experience for everyone (the curb-cut effect). In 2024, many banks rolled out or upgraded chat services (e.g., in-app chat, WhatsApp banking, etc.) in which AI would be the first to respond. A Cornerstone Advisors study showed digital banking users reached 77% of checking account customers in 2024, reflecting that digital adoption is at near-saturation among many demographics.

• « These AI agents are now making employees more productive, delivering more personalized services in real time, and automating functions to reduce costs, » shared Malcolm DeMayo, Global Vice President – Financial Services Industry at NVIDIA.
• Reducing IT spending is a growing priority for U.S. enterprises as they face macroeconomic uncertainty on several fronts.
• AI and ML bring valuable new capabilities to managed services for both private and hybrid clouds, ISG says.
• AI is no longer a laboratory curiosity; it has become the new operating system of finance.

Measuring success in dataops, data governance, and data security

This technology can execute transactions and escalate complex cases, saving institutions an estimated US $7.3 billion in annual service costs, according toJuniper Research, and freeing up resources that banks can redeploy to higher-value client work. After two years of explosive progress in generative models, artificial intelligence (AI) has become the defining force behind innovation within financial services. At bank branches, employees focusing on complex and high-stakes financial decisions can be augmented by AI agents at kiosks that perform automated tasks such as scheduling appointments or even providing a primer on a financial literacy topic. However, he cautions, context and personalization are critical for businesses to gain value from generative AI — otherwise, they’re left with generic, lackluster content that isn’t relevant to their business or customers. CMSWire’s Marketing & Customer Experience Leadership channel is the go-to hub for actionable research, editorial and opinion for CMOs, aspiring CMOs and today’s customer experience innovators.

As development tools improved, organizations adopted a “mobile first” mindset and designed phone and tablet apps for specific user personas and job contexts. The ISG Provider Lens ® Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG’s global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG’s enterprise clients. AI and ML bring valuable new capabilities to managed services for both private and hybrid clouds, ISG says.